| Graduation Year | Class of 1968 |
| Date of Passing | Jul 14, 2012 |
| About | Paul Benson Blount Sept. 4, 1950 - July 14, 2012 High Flight "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air. Up, up the long delirious, burning blue, I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or even eagle flew- And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand and touched the face of God." ~John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Paul was born to Helen Benson Blount Sept. 4, 1950, in Los Angeles, Calif., and passed away Saturday, July 14, 2012. He was raised in Carlsbad, N.M., where he lived until 2007. He was raised by a group of women who loved him more than life itself, Bessie Benson (Grammy), Helen Benson Blount, Claire Benson Stevens (Auntie) and Charlyn Stevens Jonas (whom he identified as his sister). Charles Stevens (Idee) did the best he could to be a father to Paul, but was rarely able to get a word in edgewise! He taught Paul to hunt, fish, camp, spelunk and fostered Paul's love for motors and engines of all sorts. Paul loved muscle cars, airplanes (anything air and space), trains and guns. He loved to tinker with little things that were broken. He could get through a honey-do list like nothing you have ever seen. He was generous, loving and silly. He loved his friends as though they were family. His cats, Nickolas and Alexandra Romanov, were his children since his kids have grown and gone. Paul was a 1968 graduate of Carlsbad Senior High School. He was a 1971 graduate of the airframe and power plant program at ENMU. He was a 1986 graduate of the Spartan School of Aeronautics where he received his private pilot's license. He loved to fly; it was his passion. Paul had worked at Kerr-McGee potash mine, McCausland Aviation, Ford Town and WIPP (1989-2006). In the last two years, he was active with the Stillwater, Okla., Habitat for Humanity. Paul was predeceased by his mother, Helen; his aunt and uncle, Charles and Claire Stevens; and cousins, Derek and Rudy Jonas. He is survived by his daughter, Laura Holcomb and husband, Corey of Stillwater, Oklahoma; son, Joey Armstrong and wife, Michelle of Beaumont, Texas; daughter, Lora Hanson of Tucson, Arizona; cousins: Charlyn Jonas, Rodney Jonas and wife, Tina and their son, Jordan, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Michelle Rinardand and husband, Ray and their son, Dustin, of Midland, Texas. Paul is also survived by his grandchildren: Helen "Betsy" and Kylie Holcomb of Stillwater; Cory, Bradley and Tommy Armstrong of Beaumont, and Maggie Hanson of Tucson. He is also survived by former spouses and good friends Sue Armstrong Blount and Linda Ground Sanders. Honorary pallbearers are Dan Boyd, Laura Boyd, Travis Humphreys, Tom Duffin, Charlie McIlvain, Arnold Dennison and Paul Paneral. A memorial will be held at a later date which will be published in a separate obituary. "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return." ~Leonardo da Vinci (ca. 1500) Published in Carlsbad Current-Argus from July 29 to July 30, 2012 |
