by Gayleen Gindy

All my history articles up to this time have been about structures in Sylvania that are at least 100 years old, but this history article is about a man who is 100 years old, has long ties to Sylvania and literally helped build Sylvania. On March 7,1925 this man was born in Toledo and on March 7, 2025 he will be 100 years old. He has lived in Sylvania since he was a young boy.
This boy’s name is Eugene F. Paul, and he was born to Frank and Fern (Bartlett) Paul. His parents divorced in 1929, and Gene, as he was called, lived in Toledo with his mother. He also spent some time living with his Bartlett grandparents in Amboy Township in Fulton County, Ohio.
On Dec. 30, 1933 his mother married Lloyd Dewey who was a great influence on Gene. Until he entered the Navy, he used the last name Dewey.
The Deweys purchased the home at 6775 Roosevelt Ct., in Sylvania. According to the 1940 census Lloyd Dewey was 51 years old; Fern, 40 years old; and Eugene Dewey was 15 years old and attending school.
From 1934 until 1941 Gene attended Maplewood and then Burnham High School. For a short time the Dewey family went to California, but only stayed for about one year and returned.
In the late 1930s, Lloyd Dewey, began operating The Dewey Oil Company at 3536 Holland-Sylvania Rd., in Sylvania Township, and purchased that property in 1942. Gene built his first structure, a doghouse for his dog Scottie behind the building. (See photo).
History records of Sylvania’s First Methodist Church state that in 1940 the responsibility of ushering was given to the younger men of the church. Eugene Dewey was one of four young men who were the chosen ushers at their church.
Gene attended Sylvania’s Burnham High School from seventh grade through his senior year. The 1943 Burnham High School yearbook does include Eugene under the name of Eugene Dewey and lists all his extra-curricular activities.
In 1941 the Deweys sold their home on Roosevelt Court and purchased property at 9555 Brint Rd. in Sylvania Township. Dewey, with Gene’s help, built a ranch home, and this is where Gene lived and continued to attend Burnham High School. He was supposed to graduate in May 1943, but in January 1943, at the age of 17, he joined the U.S. Navy and World War II. He became part of the crew of the U.S.S. Oakland (CL-95) on July 17, 1943 (this was the date that the USS Oakland was first commissioned) and was listed as a Seaman First Class. The Muster Roll of the Crew of the U.S.S. Oakland (CL-95), which was completed every quarter, listed Eugene F. Paul through Feb. 1, 1946. That Muster Roll “change” report shows Eugene Paul’s final rating was FC 2C and that he was released at San Francisco, Calif.
The USS Oakland was involved in the Invasion of the Gilbert Islands. The crew raided enemy-held islands throughout the Central Pacific, attacked Saipan and fought the Japanese Mobile Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. They conquered Guam, took part in carrier strikes against the Bonin, Palaus, Okinawa and Formosan Islands, and then in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. They supported the campaign to liberate the Philippines and hit Japanese facilities on the Asian mainland and the Western Pacific. They helped protect the Pacific Fleet’s aircraft carriers from enemy counterattacks during the bitter fight for Okinawa and strikes against the Japanese Home Islands. They were also in attendance in Tokyo Bay when the enemy formally surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945.
The following was printed in the Sept. 6, 1945 Sylvania Sentinel: “On the USS Oakland in Tokyo Bay—Eugene F. Paul, fire control man, third class, USN, Brint Road, Sylvania, Ohio, is serving on this cruiser, which is part of the powerful Pacific fleet completing the first stages of the occupation of Japan. Under the operational control of Admiral William F. Halsey, USN.”
After Gene was released he returned to Sylvania, received his high school diploma, and met Phyllis Ann Petrecca who he married on June 23, 1947. She had graduated from Burnham High School in 1940 and received her RN degree from Robinwood Hospital School of Nursing. They had four children: Jennifer; Patricia; Thomas; and William. According to Paul they first lived in an apartment above his stepfather’s gas and oil distributor business on Holland-Sylvania Road, and later in the concrete block building adjacent, for some time thereafter.
In 1950 they purchased the home at 6708 Maplewood Ave. in Sylvania and lived there until 1963 when they moved to the new home that Gene built in the newly developed Sleepy Hollow subdivision.
After working at the bulk-oil plant for his stepfather, Gene started his own business Gene Paul Builders, Inc. By 1956, he was building houses in Griffith Park Subdivision on San Reno Drive>
In an interview in 2016 he said, “When I came back home after the war, I wasn’t sure what to do. I just knew I did not want to be on relief, so, I built a house and it sold. Then I built another and another and at last count, there are 100 or more homes.” He also said he constructed five Toledo Home Federal Banks and two shopping centers, including Haymarket Square and Southbriar Shopping complex.
These are some of his other accomplishments I discovered in my research:
• 1956 – named to the Village of Sylvania Board of Public Affairs and became president of that board.
• 1961 – Purchased property at 5151 S. Main St. and built Southbriar shopping complex, starting with medical offices and adding retail spaces through the 1960s and early 1970s.
• 1962 – Appointed to the Sylvania Planning Commission as a board member and served through December 31, 1973.
• 1962-1963 – Built his home in Sleepy Hollow where he and his family lived.
• 1964 – Helped start a 30-member code revision committee for the City of Toledo, while representing the Toledo Association of Home Builders, which he became president of.
• 1968 – Appointed to the building committee of Sylvania’s First Methodist Church with plans to build a new church at 7000 Erie Street. He has been a member since he was a child and they will celebrate his 100th birthday at the church on March 9 after their 9:30 service.
• 1970 – Appointed to Sylvania Savings Bank Board of Directors.
• 1971 – Purchased Sylvania’s old, abandoned train depot and moved it to behind his Southbriar Shopping Complex.
• 1972 – Purchased the property at 5749 Summit Street and built a three-unit apartment complex, where his mother lived until she passed away in June of 1989.
• 1973 – Purchased the property at 5758 Main and built Haymarket Shopping complex with an old-fashioned atmosphere with a saloon, restaurant, etc. He still owns it and has offices on the second floor.
• 1974 – Receives congratulations from Mayor Schuster of the City of Sylvania and a plaque for his 15 years of service as a member of the Sylvania Municipal Plan Commission.
• 1977 – Purchased the home at 5753 Main Street, and converted it into three apartment units, and built the three-car garage behind. He still owns this today.
• 1980 – Purchased 16 historic homes along Centennial Road, just south of Brint Road, known as Medusa Gardens. Built in the 1920s by Medusa Cement Co. for employees, insulated them, made repairs and still rents them out today.
• 1981 – Re-appointed to the Board of Directors for the Sylvania Savings Bank.
• 1982 – Honored by the Northview High School Vocational Education Department as a member of the Vocational Education Advisory Committee for more than five years of service.
• 1983 – Still listed as a Board of Directors for the Sylvania Savings Bank.
• 1983 – Building permit to build an addition to the home at 6745 Erie Street.
• 1985 – Gene Paul Builders, Inc. purchased a parcel on Convent Blvd., split it into three parcels and constructed homes at 7048, 7056 and 7062 Convent.
• 1989 – Gene’s mother, Fern Bartlett Dewey, passed away. After his stepfather, Lloyd Dewey, passed away in 1960, Gene always made sure she was living comfortably. Her obituary lists that she had four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
• 1990 – Awarded the Meritorious Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
• 1992 – The Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet awarded Eugene Paul with the Meritorious Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his work during World War II.
• 1993 – At the Toledo Post of the American Legion, held at the Toledo Club, Gene discussed his adventures as a co-pilot of a two-engine Cessna that he flew around the world in the Arc En Ciel Air Race.
• 1997 – Donated Sylvania’s original 1858 built Train Depot that he had purchased in 1971 and used for office space, to the City of Sylvania. He donated it to, and it was moved to, the Sylvania Historical Village.
• 2011 – Gene’s wife of 64 years, Phyllis Ann Petrecca Paul, passed away. She loved to paint, was a gourmet cook, an avid tennis player, a world traveler, volunteered for Meals on Wheels, was a member of the Sub-Debs, St. Luke Hospital Auxiliary, Toledo Home Builders Ladies Auxiliary, Sylvania First United Methodist Church and lived in Sylvania for 74 years.
• 2016 – Gene Paul was still out and about in his 90s: The April 2016 issue of the Sylvania Advantage featured an article and photo of “four friends, who happen to be WW II war veterans as well,” who had been meeting for breakfast every Thursday morning at Mayberry Diner for the past several years. Those friends included: Jerry Benore, 90, Bob Dietsch, 91, Bob Mohr, 85, and Gene Paul, 91.
• 2024 – According to a picture and caption in the Sylvania Advantage, “World War II Navy Veteran Gene Paul is 2024 Parade Grand Marshal and rides with his son-in-law Tom Wilkinson in Tom’s 1957 Corvette.”