LENTZ, PAUL W.
CONCORD – Paul Weir Lentz, 80, of 456 Brook Valley Court, N.E., Concord, died at home on September 18, 1997.
Service will be at First Presbyterian Church on Saturday, September 20, at 11 a.m. Interment will follow in Oakwood Cemetery. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Fellowship House, adjacent to the sanctuary.
Mr. Lentz was born January 31, 1917, in Gold Hill, NC, son of Dr. Clarence M. Lentz and Nellie Jones Lentz. He graduated from Albemarle High School and Guilford College, receiving his Master’s degree from the University of North Carolina.
After a year of teaching in public school following graduation from Guilford, he returned to the college and served on the coaching staff until enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. He received his officer’s commission prior to leaving for three years in various military engagements in the Pacific Theater.
He returned to Guilford College at the end of World War II and was on the faculty and coaching staff until his return to the Marine Corps during the Korean War, assigned at Quantico, VA as coach and instructor in the Junior School until his transfer to Japan.
On leaving the Marine Corps, he joined his family in Concord, where he made his home for the rest of his life, He was at Stonewall Jackson Training School as teacher and academic principal for 23 years, until his retirement in May of 1976.
He was an Elder in First Presbyterian Church and taught Sunday School classes there for some 30 years. He served on the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army from 1990 and was on the Board of Directors of Meals on Wheels from 1987 to 1990. He was a volunteer with Communities in Schools and was a member of Concord Kiwanis Club from 1965, serving as president 1975-76. In 1970, he was inducted into the first Hall of Fame at Guilford College, where he had been a 4-letter athlete each of his college years.
Mr. Lentz is survived by his wife, Mary F. Hopkins Lentz; son, Paul W. Lentz Jr. and wife, Charlotte Robinson Lentz, of Arlington, VA; daughter, Mary L. (Lani) Clancy and husband, Joseph E. Clancy, of Springfield, VA; son, Lawrence M. Lentz and wife, Patty Pavel Lentz, of Concord; two grandchildren, Catharon E. Johnston of Atlanta, GA, and Paul Weir Lentz of Concord; brother, Albert S. Lentz of Concord; sister, Lydia Lentz Hearne of Albemarle; and several nieces.
A daughter, Elizabeth Gilbert Lentz, preceded him in death.
Should friends so wish, memorial contributions may be directed to the Heritage Room Fund at First Presbyterian Church, PO Box 789, Concord, NC; The Salvation Army, PO Box 511, Concord, NC; or Cabarrus Meals on Wheels, PO Box 953, Concord, NC.
Wilkinson Funeral Home, Concord, is in charge of arrangements.