Paul Gray Poston

Paul Gray (P.G.) Poston passed away in a Temple hospital at age 100, August 10, 2018.  He was born August 19, 1917, in Princeton, Texas to Ridley John and Minnie Gay Poston.  Working on his family farm until age twenty-one, he decided to work his way through what is now the University of North Texas.  There he met and later married Mary Neal Conditt in 1941.   They had one child, Paul Gray Poston, Jr. born in 1942. 

P.G. worked in the Engineering Department of Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant near Texarkana, Texas starting in World War II.  With the war over he launched Poston Neon Sales and Service in Texarkana until the Korean War when he was offered an opportunity to return to the ammunition plant.  There, as an engineer, he designed many innovative and classified multi-station ammunition assembly machines.  In the early sixties he was selected to develop the first computer data processing division at Lone Star where he served also as a director until retirement in 1984.  At that time Lone Star’s operator, Day & Zimmermann Corporation, recruited him for a special assignment in Philadelphia for a year to consult with the Taiwan munitions industry before he permanently retired.  

In November 2017, the University of North Texas honored him in Temple with a Presidential Citation in recognition of his engineering design work in the war effort during both WWII and the Korean War.

He was a competitive amateur golfer, often winning his flight at the Texarkana Country Club.  For years he was in charge of the Senior Olympics Pool Playing competition, and you could not be average and beat him.  At age 80 he learned to fly single engine planes.  He held FCC Amateur Radio license K5JWY since 1957 that began as a father-son hobby.   Nothing seemed too technical for him to comprehend and he seemingly could fix anything.

P.G. is survived by his son and only child, Paul Gray Poston, Jr., and wife, Susan Poston, of Temple, Texas.  Also, his grandson, Matthew Poston and wife Dawn, of Aledo, Texas, and granddaughter Jennifer Poston Stanley and husband, Mark, of Texarkana, Texas.  His great-grandchildren are Morgan Sthele, Hayden Gray Poston, Madison Lindley Poston, Brooks Edward Stanley, and Matthew Gray Stanley.

A private family memorial service will be held in Fort Worth, Texas, at a future date.