PAUL EBAUGH WAS GENUINE HERO TO MANY

Cape Girardeau lost one its most remarkable and beloved leaders in the passing of Paul Ebaugh this week. Here was a Christian gentleman and superb family man who was a world traveler, an accomplished international construction executive, a leading banker and a nearly peerless civic leader for Cape Girardeau and Missouri. He was a hero to many.

It was a great day for Cape Girardeau and for all of Missouri when then-Gov. Christopher Bond appointed Ebaugh to the Missouri Highway Commission in the early 1980s. What a superbly qualified commissioner Ebaugh made for all Missourians. Quiet, reliable, solidly knowledgeable, slow to act until he had all the facts, Paul Ebaugh was the very model of what any commissioner on such a vital state panel should be.

Ebaugh had traveled the world as a relatively young man in his years as president of Cape Construction Co. He became especially knowledgeable about the Middle East, where he had spent huge amounts of time in the pipeline construction business. Until late in his life Ebaugh had subscribed to the Jerusalem Post, reading it on a regular basis to remain well-informed on that vital region of the world.

When his career in the construction industry ended 27 years ago, many like him would have left Cape Girardeau. Not Paul Ebaugh. Here he elected to stay, near so much of his family, as he began a second and equally distinguished career in banking. In this second act he earned many plaudits, vast respect and still more friends.

Paul Ebaugh loved Cape Girardeau and Missouri and had absolute confidence in its people. That love is returned from a grateful community who joins his family in mourning the loss of this great and good man.