Paula A. Ervin

Paula Anne Dillon Ervin was born a citizen of Chicago to immigrant parents, in the cultural hub of the Irish Catholic South Side. Paula's father Tim was a decorated Battalion Chief in the Chicago Fire Department while her mother Anne, kept house in the family's three flat. Her early years found her surrounded by the humor and wisdom of numerous uncles, aunts and cousins who, in turn, found Paula to be a live wire and absolutely nobody's pushover. She took ballet, spoke French and played Chopin on the piano, but it was the lyrical nature and gentleness of "her people" that was the foundation that would sustain her all her life. Paula's parents knew the value of an education and sent their daughter to the University of Chicago, where she would cross paths with a young English professor, Norman MacLean, author of A River Runs Through It. He would inspire and encourage Paula thus instilling an appreciation for literature that would remain her constant companion for the rest of her years. When Paula was just 20, her father died of stomach cancer, and his death was the source of Paula's Great Regret. She had not told him that she loved him dearly. After coming home every day and crying on her bed, she made herself a promise that she would never again keep her love a secret from those she held dear, a promise that she kept unto her death. Upon graduating, Paula became secretary to the Marshall Field of Field's Department Store. Although she would see great and powerful of the city walk past her from that position, she was "wholly unimpressed." However, she was immediately smitten with a skinny guy from South Bend having met on a blind date. A breathless romance ensued with Bob Marrying Paula in Sacred Heart Chapel on Notre Dame Campus. Bob turned to Paula and said "This is the happiest day of my life!" and her response was "Get your foot off my veil!" Bob and Paula immediately set out to build a family of five boys and a daughter. This would mark the advent of Paula's lifelong devotion to St. Jude (patron of hopeless cases.) The kids were hard on the furniture, but the bond of Paula's obvious love for Bob and for each one of her children individually was the glue for her family that will long survive her. In 1967 Paula was a founding member of Right to Life-LIFESPAN in Western Wayne County. She and Bob would spend the rest of their lives helping to raise a chorus of voices in defense of the least desirable members of society, the unborn, the imperfectly born, and the elderly. From this passion was born Paula's first book, Women Exploited. She would go on to author hundreds of articles, letters to the editor, position papers and attend thousands of meetings, marches and any sort of gathering that might somehow protect our most helpless citizens. Along the way, all the kids married and went into the baby business. The active grandparenting that Paula and Bob pursued made for an even stronger stock of the next generation. Paula never abandoned her passion for writing, eventually penning two novels, Mentioned in the Will and Without Strangers, the second being autobiographical about Bob and Paula's life associated with the University of Notre Dame. After 62 years of marriage, Bob's death in October of 2002 broke Paula's heart of hearts. However she taught us all that life is never about quitting or throwing in the towel, and she remained a vital part of the family for the next four years. Her health turned and she came to live with her son Bob and Barbara Ervin's home, where Barbara's loving care gladdened Paula's days. She passed amidst a family that shall always hold her as a most stunning example of faith and love in action. Paula is survived by her six children and their spouses, her 32 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren, all of whom were tenderly loved by her.

Paula A. Ervin

October 9, 2006