Paul Christensen

..... a man who sang his way through life, who always had a ready smile, an optimist to the extreme, boundless infectious energy, who loved his community, promoted good health and leaves a lasting philanthropic legacy to a broad array of charitable organizations in Vancouver and Clark County.

Our adored Father, Grandfather, Brother, Uncle, Founder, and Friend, passed onto the heavenly choir at the age of 91, in peace, after saying his prayers and expressing gratitude for a good life. He was preceded in death by the love of his life, his wife of 64 years, Loti, as well as his older brother Dave Christensen, who was his father figure for much of his young life.

Born in Flaxton, North Dakota, Paul spent his young life on the family farm among many relatives who immigrated from Denmark to North Dakota due to the offer of free land. This is where his love of music, education, and spiritual life was developed as these three pursuits were highly valued by his family. His mother, Madalyne, was the teacher at the one room schoolhouse and Paul had many stories of how he always seemed to get into trouble as his Mother never favored her three children. Paul had many fond memories of the large farm, and his mischievousness featured prominently in the telling of many stories which often involved pranks around the family's outhouse. Tragically for the family, his father John, a gifted singer and hard-working farmer, passed away in a farming accident when Paul was only 9 years old. In 1943, his mother then moved Paul, Dave, and his younger sister Sue to Vancouver to be closer to her family.

Once in Vancouver, Paul attended Hough Elementary School and in later years founded the Hough Foundation to support the school and low-income community. He graduated from Fort Vancouver High School in 1952 where his love of music, continued mischievousness, and cars featured prominently. Paul sang in a barbershop quartet, and cruised Main Street in his large 1934 Ford

Paul joined the US Army in 1953 where he was assigned to the NATO forces in Europe. Although initially assigned to Germany, a request was made to the troops for anyone who spoke French. Paul answered "Oui", the only word in French he knew. He was then assigned to Paris, France, with no one testing his knowledge to verify his linguistic skills. His role was to be an interpreter for his superior officer.

Once in Paris, aside from taking a crash course in French, Paul sought out a church to attend and landed on the American Cathedral in Paris. When attending service there, he spotted a beautiful Jewish Bulgarian in the (paid) choir and successfully auditioned to join the choir for the sole purpose of meeting her. He quickly pursued the object of his desires and married her in 1956. Paul did become proficient in the French language, which Loti and Paul later used to try to keep secrets from their three daughters until their daughters in turn learned that beautiful language.

After his military service, Paul and Loti settled in Seattle where Paul utilized the GI Bill to attend the University of Washington. There he obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy, whose principles he expounded on throughout his life to all who would listen. After college, with his baby daughter Stephanie in tow, Paul moved his family to Oakland, California where he obtained a theology degree from the Divinity School of Theology. This piece of his education was funded by an anonymous donor whose identity he never discovered. The family flourished in Oakland even though living in low-income family housing, with limited funds. Two more daughters joined the family, Andrea and Tamar. Paul learned to cut hair in order to supplement their meager income and often had a long line of prospective customers every Saturday morning.

Upon graduation from seminary, Paul moved his family to Bellevue, Washington, where he was an Episcopal priest for five years. His religious views changed during that turbulent political time with the Vietnam War in high gear. He ultimately left the ministry to return to Vancouver, where he managed a company that sold concrete batch systems. In 1969, with a small loan from his brother, he founded Property Management Services, which later became Realvest Corporation. His daughters joked at the time that he founded a company so he could continue to "preach" his many strongly held principles of life to his new corporate "parish."

As Realvest flourished - notably due in large part to a talented group of staff. Paul turned his attention to philanthropy, music, travel and adventure. In addition to the Hough Foundation, Paul was one of the founders and benefactors (along with his wife Loti) of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He also lent his time and funds to the Community Foundation for SW Washington and The Historic Trust among many other charitable organizations. Due in part to his charitable work, Paul was named Vancouver First Citizen in 1998. In 2022, he was honored with the Clark County Art Commission's Lifetime Achievement Award. A few days before his death, Realvest won the 2025 Corporate Philanthropy Award for small businesses from the Portland Business Journal. Under his direction, Realvest has contributed more than $5 million to area nonprofits.

Paul was an instrument rated pilot who flew his single engine airplane around the world in 1977 alongside his flight instructor a month after obtaining his pilot's license. There were many adventures including a forced landing in Bulgaria by Bulgarian fighter pilots. Loti was along as a passenger on this leg of the journey. She spoke Bulgarian and secretly interpreted that the Bulgarian government thought they were spies. Thereafter, heading from Japan to Alaska, Paul and his co-pilot had to don survival suits when they struggled to locate a small island in the Pacific with only minutes left of fuel.

In 2020 Paul took a visionary step by establishing a supporting organization that allows his business to continue operating into the future to support its dedicated team of 60 employees while funneling profits toward local causes that support music, children and education. That plan is now being put into action.

Paul's favorite word was "Fantastic!" which matched his larger-than-life personality. His survivors include his three loving daughters and their spouses, Stephanie (Rob), Andrea (Jim), Tamar (Steve), and six grandchildren (Nick, Kelsey, Kael, Olivia, Gailen & Katrina) as well as three great grandchildren, the Realvest Corporation staff, his sister Sue & several nieces/nephews. We will all honor Paul with a Celebration of Life ceremony early in January 2026. For more information, please email rbradford@realvestcorp.com.

For those philanthropically inclined like Paul, contributions in memory of Paul will be gratefully accepted from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Hough Foundation, the Community Foundation for SW Washington or The Historic Trust.