Paul Burdette Hinds

Born in Fort Collins, Colorado, his family moved to Laramie, Wyoming when he was eight because his dad got a position as a fireman on the local railroad line.

Paul grew up fishing and hunting and doing summer jobs like loading railroad ice cars—where he severed a toe and successfully had it sewn back on—and working as a cowboy, which became a bragging point throughout his life.

He joined the Army in 1954 and despite the Korean War was stationed in Arizona where he “moved rocks around.” Discharged in 1956, he enrolled at the University of Wyoming and pledged Sigma Chi, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering.

At the university, he met his wife of 63 years, Marian Jones. Marian went to UW after working in Washington, D.C. for a stint, and Paul noticed her in class because they were both older students. He asked her out for coffee, and they were wedded December 27, 1958. The ceremony was held in her hometown in Lingle (WY) Community Presbyterian Church.

After graduating, they both found teaching jobs first in Lincoln, Nebraska then in Lakewood, Washington. In Washington, they settled in Steilacoom, which became their chosen home. Paul eventually accepted a job with Kodak in Rochester, New York, working first as an engineer and then in marketing. While in Rochester, they had their daughter Maria (now Maria McKinley) and son Tom.

Steilacoom beckoned them back in 1980. Paul tried various entrepreneurial ventures until he earned a master’s degree in astronomy from Swinburne University of Technology in an early online degree program, and became a Pierce County community college instructor in astronomy and physics. He was an early creator of online courses and taught both online and in person into his 80s.

Paul is survived by his daughter Maria McKinley, her partner Matt Mereba, daughter Tanika and son Sebastian. He is also survived by his son Tom Hinds, and his wife Shannon Hickey and daughter Audriel. He is also survived by his brother Philip Gerald Hinds and his wife Carolyn, and their family. He is preceded in death by his wife, Marian Allene Hinds, and his granddaughter Ella Kathleen Hinds, who passed away from cancer in 2007, and his parents, Philip Park Hinds and Gladys Virginia Hinds. Paul will be buried with Marian in Old Lingle Cemetery in Lingle, WY.