Robert A Paulis

Robert “Bob” Paulis, 80 died Easter Sunday April 12, 2020 at 8:50pm. He was predeceased by his older sister Elaine Evangelista and her husband Hank. Bob is survived by his wife Agnes Daly Paulis, their three children Mary Lou Paulis Nowak, Robert Paulis and Patrick Paulis, their spouses Mark Nowak, Shannon Paulis and Stacey Paulis, five grandchildren Marek and Katharine Nowak, Jack Paulis, Connor Paulis and Vivian Paulis as well as his two brothers Fred and Steven Paulis and their wives Oneyda and Lynn. Bob met his wife Agnes of 58 years in the town of Newark, NJ, where they both lived as young people and neighbors on the same street. In the early 1950’s before courting his future wife, Bob and his friends could be found trying to earn a dollar shining shoes or learning his way around the city of Newark driving his father’s taxicab, after hours. I’m sure his passengers had quite an interesting ride since he was learning his way around on their dime. After settling down and starting his family, Bob would take on second jobs to make ends meet and afford Agnes to be a stay at home mother. After the little family moved to the suburbs, Bob began his over forty-year career with” MA Bell”. For the twenty plus years beginning in 1959, he repaired and installed telephones. At that time the company was called Western Electric, and then changed to Bell Telephone and later AT&T. In 1984, Bob’s job and company name changed to Lucent and required him to now commute over one hour to work from central New Jersey to Allentown, Pennsylvania to work as a Cleanroom Technician. He joined a merry band of “early shift” workers who would share this long daily commute, all having been displaced too. "Carpooling” reduced the hardship of the distant commute. Great stories were told at the kitchen table about this group’s funny and harrowing experiences. Including one time the back seat of the car they were sharing caught on fire, and another time one of them fell asleep at the wheel. Fortunately, the sleeping driver incident turned out OK once the thumping of the reflector strips woke them all up. Why did Bob take the very early morning shift and not just move closer to his work? It was for his family. He didn’t want to pull them from friends, church and all things familiar to them. Instead, for over 20 years he commuted almost one and a half hours each way and worked the early shift so he could be free in the evening to be with his family. This meant that Bob was there every day, for family dinners, attending every school, sports, church and scouting event in the evenings for his children and wife. Bob was extremely handy. Before cars became computerized, he did every bit of car diagnostics, repair and engine work himself, all of his family, and even some friend’s cars. He completely remodeled a kitchen and bathroom in his home from barebones to finishes, despite not having any formal training. Before computers were common, you would find Bob at the local library researching any aspect of car or home repair, carpentry, plumbing, or wiring he needed to know. His children had the job to hold the flashlight, either over the engine or under a sink, but like many youngsters, they were not patient to hold it steady or long enough to be of great help, so hanging lights became his go-to tool. To this day you can see his collection of hanging lights in and around his work bench and storage areas. One of his grandchildren is following in his footsteps being professionally trained to work on cars and is using some of handed down tools Bob himself used. Officially retired from Lucent in 1991, Bob continued to give to others by regularly offering rides to the elderly and infirmed who could not get to store or doctor appointments. He became a caretaker to a relative for many years and he attended church mass every day followed by a stop at the local coffee shop. In retirement Bob also found special joy spending time with each of his grandchildren, actively participating in their pay and games. There is a story about letting two of his grandchildren tie him to a tree, making him pay them change from his pocket to let him free. Of course he could have escaped anytime but thoroughly enjoyed every minute and shared his belly laugh that was contagious. He loved sharing that story again and again with a bit of a grin and a hug for them when he did. Other grandchildren would find him right on the floor next to them rolling the matchbox, playing characters of ​ Fisher Price Wee People Village, Lego building and even the occasional Barbie dolls. There were many trips to local playgrounds and walks to the lake exploring too. He gave his full attention to each grandchild having them feel loved. Over the last year and a half Bob survived five brain bleeds that unfortunately created advanced dementia rather quickly. His family is grateful for having gathered last summer from four states to be under one roof and all visited with him daily. They are saddened by his passing but happy he now has peace of mind with the Lord. Due to the pandemic the immediate family spread across, the states of New Jersey, California, Tennessee and Georgia will be joining together on a group social media application to see their dear Father, Grandfather, Grandpa Blue and Husband leave Hagan-Chamberlain funeral home of Bound Brook, NJ with a short prayer from the parking lot by Catholic Priest Father Dave on Wednesday April 15th at 10:00 eastern time. The family will virtually follow to the Resurrection Cemetery, where he will be laid to rest.