Roll Call Tribute

Paul Foster Law 

October 23, 1931 - November 26, 2022 

Paul Foster Law passed away on November 26, 2022, at his farm in Gonzales County, Texas with his wife, Vonnie, by his side. Paul was loved as a husband, Dad, brother, engineer, doctor, farmer, and mentor who will be missed by his family and the many people he loved and served during his 91 years.

Paul was born on October 23, 1931, in Georgetown, Texas, to Aubrey Beamon Law and Annie McCann Law. He grew up on a farm and graduated from Georgetown High School. Life was simpler in the 1930s and 1940s, but maintaining a family farm required hard work and all the Law children contributed their share. As Paul would explain, sometimes even school became second priority "when the cotton needed to get in." Growing up on the farm resulted in a strong work ethic that would characterize Paul's entire life.

In the humble community in which Paul was raised, not many children could afford to go to college. To the delight of his family and community, Paul, always a bright student, received an ROTC scholarship to attend The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas–what we now know as Texas A&M University. Paul joined the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M and graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Following graduation, Paul was commissioned into the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant. He was deployed to Greenland where he served as a member of a communications surveillance team. Using mobile listening posts, Paul and his fellow soldiers detected and monitored radio transmissions of U.S. adversaries in eastern Europe and Asia, providing the locations of the adversaries' radio transmitters to Army Headquarters.

Following his Army service, Paul earned a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas in 1961. Paul's engineering skills landed him at the General Dynamics aircraft company in Fort Worth, where he served as the Lead Avionics Engineer for the B-58 Hustler, America's first supersonic bomber.

In 1959, Paul married Nancy Neill in her hometown of Sonora, Texas. Paul and Nancy lived on a small farm in Leon Springs where they enjoyed raising pigs, chickens, horses, cows, and their three children, David, Judith, and Jack. Paul and Nancy divorced in 1978.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, while living in Leon Springs, Paul was a research engineer at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. In 1971, at the age of 39, he entered medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Following graduation from medical school, Paul pursued a specialty in Anesthesiology. During his time as a doctor, Paul served on the faculty of the medical school, served the military community at the many military hospitals around San Antonio, and went on missions to Honduras with Rotary International teams to provide cleft palate and cleft lip surgeries to those without access or funds. Paul joined the Spillar Anesthesia group and practiced, predominantly, Obstetrical Anesthesiology until he retired from medicine in 1989.

After leaving medical practice, Paul moved to Mound City, Kansas to continue his lifelong passion for farming. In 1989, Paul married Mariko Uenishi. Paul, Mariko, and Mariko's son, Hiroyuki, lived in Mound City and in Overland Park, Kansas until Paul and Mariko divorced in 1996.

While farming in Kansas, Paul met and became close with fellow farmers, Wanda and O'Neal Linson. Wanda and O'Neal had a beautiful daughter, Ella Yvonne. As a single man with a heart for farming, it is no surprise that Paul would fall for the farmer's daughter. Paul and Yvonne were married in December, 1997 in Overland Park, Kansas, and moved to Gonzales County, Texas, where they enjoyed 25 years of marriage, living on a farm on the banks of the Guadalupe River. Paul would enjoy visits from family and friends and enjoyed taking his grandsons for canoe rides in the river and teaching them to drive tractors. A man of simple pleasures, Paul enjoyed walking among his cattle, watching the deer in the fields, and sitting with Vonnie, enjoying a cool drink in the shade on a warm Texas evening.

In addition to raising cattle, hay, and pecans, Paul and Vonnie served their community as mentors at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Seguin. During their time of service as mentors, Paul was recognized by the County Court for his services to the youth of Gonzales County and for helping turn lives around in their community.

Paul inspired many during his life. He possessed a wisdom, grace, and wit that put people at ease and enabled him to feel comfortable talking to folks from all walks of life. His friends included academics, farmers, laborers, and overlooked troubled youth. Paul didn't consider anyone either unapproachable or not worth his time. The combination of a gentle and humble manner, a down-to-earth demeanor, and impressive intellect made Paul a truly remarkable person.

Paul was preceded in death by his parents, his son David Paul Law, his brother Aubrey Law and his wife Verta Lee, his brother Wayne Law, his sister Dorothy Ickes Corbett, his nephew Charles Ray Ickes, his niece Carolyn Earwood, and his niece Nancy Harville.

Paul is survived by his wife Ella Yvonne Law, his daughter Judith Neill Law, his son Jack Neill Law (Commander, U.S. Navy, retired) and his wife Rebecca, his stepdaughter Terra Ramsey and her husband Chris, his stepson Nathan Hagman, his grandchildren Paul Carter Law and his wife Abigail, Tanner David Law, and Cooper Thomas Law, his sister-in-law Doris Law, his sister Margie Nell Myers and her husband Al, his brother Wilburn Law and his wife Natasha, his nieces Charlotte Franklin and her husband John, Margie Ann Nunn, Barbara Myers, Jean Ickes, Elizabeth Davis, and Kathy Law, and his nephews Ken Myers and his wife Connie, Bill Ickes and his wife Wanda, Greg Law and his wife Kim, Jeff Law and his wife Yi Uncha, and Michael Wayne Law.

A memorial service to honor Paul will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 11:00 am at First Baptist Church in Seguin, TX.