Paul Francis McCauley

On Sunday September 29th, Paul Francis McCauley lost his battle with cancer and passed away at the age of 72. Paul was born in Philadelphia on July 6th, 1947 as the second child of Frank and Dorothy McCauley (his older sister Helen McCauley Helfrich passed in 2017, while Paul is survived by his sister Maureen McCauley and brother Joe McCauley). Paul spent his formative years in the beloved town of Kennett Square, PA, and survived the first eight grades at St. Patrick's Catholic School until transitioning to Kennett High School for grades nine through twelve. While at St. Patrick's, Paul frequently raised the ire of the priests due to his antics as an altar boy, and they were relieved that Paul never expressed an interest in a vocation for the priesthood.             Early on Paul did express an interest in anything mechanical, and at the age of 16 caused a family crisis by pulling the engine out of the family Volkswagen – all was forgiven when he was able to put the pieces back together with no apparent harm. Paul was a mathematical wiz in high school, and would frequently bore his siblings with the intricacies of the slide rule. He was also proud to recite Pi out to dozens of digits – also without any encouragement from family members.  Paul subsequently put his mechanical aptitude to good use by getting a Mechanical Engineering Degree from Drexel University while working the co-op program at Westinghouse, and immediately went to work for Westinghouse Corporation in Lester, PA after graduation from Drexel in 1970 (Paul was especially proud of the fact that Drexel has never lost a football game). Paul worked with Westinghouse at the Lester plant until they moved the engineers to Orlando. Paul and his friend Dan Buquoi decided to bicycle from Philadelphia to Orlando – 1,300 miles in three weeks. Eventually they took their bikes to Ireland and toured the island. In total, Paul was proud that he put 130,000 miles on his bicycle (a figure we all questioned behind his back).            Paul was very active in Boy Scout Troop 53 in Kennett Square; received the Ad Altre Dei Scouting Religious Award in 1961; achieved Eagle Scout status in 1964; and ultimately went on to serve as the Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 53. Ironically, while Paul loved Troop 53 and all the associated cold-weather camping activities, in later years his house temperature in Florida had to be 78 or above. When Paul arrived in Florida there was no troop in his area so he organized a new unit (Boy Scout Troop 205 - which is still active) and served as their first Scout Master for 10 years.             Paul was a life-long bachelor; nonetheless he freely dispensed child-rearing advice to his relatives and friends – all of which was ignored. Regardless, Paul was beloved by all his nieces and nephews – possibly as they felt he was a kindred spirit in their antics. They often referred to him as their "crazy Uncle Paul" – due in part to Paul promising that if they unscrewed their dog or cat's head they'd find chocolate (no animals were harmed as their parents would quickly explain that Uncle Paul was just kidding). Paul was the quintessential engineer, and never bought into the "dress for success" mantra – Paul dressed for comfort, despite any embarrassment experienced by his relatives or friends.               Paul was an avid motorcycle enthusiast starting in his early 20's, and was blessed to be able to ride on countless trips with his like-minded friends for 50 years. The path through the garage into his Florida house was always circuitous due to the six or seven motorcycles stored in his garage at any one time, and typically motor cycle parts (or car parts) were in at least five rooms in the house.             Paul was beloved by all and will be sorely missed for his sense of humor and overall decency – he was taken from us all too early but can now share his humor with our loved ones in Heaven (and hopefully his fondest wish of finding a good-looking blonde who's crazy over short, fat, bald-headed Irishmen will now come true)! In lieu of flowers, a donation could be made in Paul's memory to the American Cancer Society…