Paul Day Cribbins

Paul Day Cribbins, 82, died February 17, 2010, at Rosewood Heath Center after a period of declining health. Paul had lived and worked in Raleigh for more than 50 years and was Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at N.C. State University. Born June 24, 1927 in Jacksonville, FL., to Dayatrice Hope and Warren Clinton Cribbins.
Survivors include: wife, Dorothy P. Cribbins; son, Paul Scott Cribbins (Ann) of Mechanicsburg, PA; son, David Ryan Cribbins (Beth) of Chapel Hill; daughter, Nina Cribbins Bernard (Kellum) of Wake Forest; stepson, Dave Phelps (Judy) of Greensboro; stepdaughter, Nancy Holmes (Tom) of Charlotte; grandchildren, Sara Cribbins of Raleigh, Holly Cribbins of Philadelphia, PA, Megan Bernard of Seattle, WA, Tyler Bernard of Nashville, TN, Drew Phelps of Greensboro, Chris Phelps of Greenville, SC, Brandon Holmes of Charlotte, Whitney Holmes of Charlotte, Lee Miller of Chapel Hill, Mary Beth Miller of Chapel Hill. Paul is also survived by many nieces and nephews, and cousins.
Paul grew up in Jacksonville, FL and upon graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in 1944, spent the next 15 years pursuing his education and serving in the military. He received Bachelors Degrees from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the University of Alabama.
He met Anne Thornton while home from college one weekend where she was attending Robert E. Lee High School. She and Paul were eventually married on December 23, 1951. They moved to West Lafayette, IN where Paul attended Purdue University for his Masters Degree, and later a PhD in Civil Engineering. Their son, Paul was born in 1953 in Bainbridge, MD, and son Ryan arrived in 1954. After receiving his PhD, he and Anne and the two boys moved to Cary, NC, where Paul became an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU) from 1959 to 1961. In 1961, he and Anne welcomed a daughter, Nina, and Paul became Associate Professor of Civil Engineering from 1961 to 1966, and then a full Professor at NCSU in 1966 where he taught for 26 more years until his retirement in 1991. Paul and Anne purchased a beach house at Long Beach, NC (now Oak Island) in the late 1970s, where they spent many happy days enjoying beach life and sailing.
He and Anne were married for 38 years, when Anne suddenly passed away in 1989 at the age of 59. After several months, he met Dot Phelps at a St. Giles Widows/Widowers Group and they began a courtship and later married on August 7th, 1990. After both he and Dot had experienced the loss of a spouse, they enjoyed a ‘second act’ that lasted nearly 20 years. He retired several years later from his full time position as a Professor at NCSU, and he and Dot spent the next decade traveling, attending Elder Hostels, and visiting friends and family and enjoying the beach cottage.
His love of sports lasted his whole life, whether playing basketball, running track in high school, coaching track in the Navy, cheering his sons in their little league games, attending any and every NCSU game, tournament, or practice, playing volleyball with graduate students, or his favorite pastime, tennis.
Paul received numerous awards in recognition of his teaching effectiveness, including those from NCSU, The Merchant Marine Academy, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the NCSU Alumni Association. He was a Registered Professional Engineer in North Carolina, and a strong advocate of student involvement in professional societies, especially the NC Section Institute of Transportation Engineers (President, 1967-68), and the NC Section American Society of Civil Engineers (President, 1970-71). Paul was proudly inducted into the Transportation Hall of Fame (Spencer, NC) in 2005. Most recently, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Southern District presented Paul with an Excellence in Transportation Engineering Award in April of 2009 and Paul was so pleased to have this award presented in person by former students.
A celebration of Paul’s life will be this Sunday, Feb. 21st at St. Giles Presbyterian Church at 2:30 p.m. There is a visitation at the church the night before (Saturday Feb. 20) at 7:00 in the Church Sanctuary.
Cremation Society of the Carolinas is handling arrangements.
Flowers are welcome, or donations can be made to Hospice of Wake County.
The Cribbins family wishes to express their sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Rosewood Health Center Staff for Paul’s care in the last year of his life, and to both Rosewood and Hospice of Wake County for their tender care in his last days and months. It has meant so much to have him loved as equally by his caregivers as he was by his family.