J. Paul Molloy

MOLLOY

J. PAUL MOLLOY

John 'Paul' Molloy died at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland on June 11, 2022, at the age of 83. A recovering alcoholic (or 'drunk' as he would call it), he lived a long and highly productive life. He will be sorely missed by all of his family, his friends and the many residents and alumni of Oxford House. He relished life, story-telling, his family, an audience and active recovery. He was never anonymous about his addiction and always encouraged others to celebrate their recovery to show others the way.



Paul was born on August 3, 1938 and spent his youth in Arlington, Vermont. Following graduation from Arlington High School, he went to UVM where he was a star debater and where he met his future wife, Jane Wells, a fellow student and debater. They were married on January 2, 1960. Following their UVM graduation in 1961, they headed to Washington – with an infant daughter in tow -- to attend Catholic University Law School. They both graduated in 1965 following the birth of their second child and became members of the DC Bar in 1966.



Following a stint at the Civil Service Commission (now OPM) as a Death Claims Inviter during law school, Paul moved to the Hill and served as a legislative assistant to Vermont Senator Winston Prouty; as a Republican Counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee and, a few years later, to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. His major accomplishments included being the primary staff author of the National Rail Passenger Act of 1970 (AMTRAK), the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act of 1976 and the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. A former staff colleague of his – from the other side of the aisle – noted that when a bill they had worked on together became law, Paul always insisted that the staff of both parties who had worked on the bill go out to dinner together. Paul believed in bipartisanship and made it work. After leaving the Hill in 1981, Paul worked as a Washington partner with Isham. Lincoln and Beale until the later 1980s when he began working fulltime as CEO of Oxford House, Inc.



By early 1975, after leaving the Senate Committee in 1972 and before starting work with the House Committee late in 1975, Paul's alcoholism dominated his life. Jane had him committed and divorced him. He resisted treatment and became a street drunk, living homeless on the streets and begging for money. (He had some good stories from that time.) Eventually he went into a County-run halfway house in Silver Spring. When the County closed the house, the residents took it over, called it Oxford House and decided to run it themselves as a recovery house – electing House officers, each paying an equal share of expenses and agreeing to immediately expel anyone who relapsed. The program worked and when the first Oxford House became full, the residents split up and rented a second house, and then a third and on and on. The rest is history, much of which is chronicled on the Oxford House website.



In the 1980s, Paul began devoting himself full-time to Oxford House and remained as CEO of Oxford House, Inc. (OHI) until his death. There are now over 3,300 Oxford Houses and many grateful recovering residents and alumni. OHI hires outreach workers – all of whom are Oxford House alumni – to help open new Oxford Houses. They are not House managers; Oxford House residents continue to run their own Houses following the Oxford House Manual created in the early days of Oxford House. Paul always relished presiding at annual Oxford House conventions; meeting new and old Oxford House residents and alumni and exhorting them to work with other recovering 'drunks and druggies' to show them the path to long-term recovery. In his final email to Oxford folks, Paul said: "Count blessings; not grievances."



Paul was predeceased by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Jane, whom he remarried in 1988; his five children, Elizabeth (Tim Welch), Robert (Dawn), James (Maureen O'Rourke), Sarah (Austin Jackson) and Mark (Lietza); and eight grandchildren, and his brother and sister-in-law, Larry and Barbara Molloy of Bennington, Vermont.



Paul's funeral was held on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, where he had been a long-time parishioner. The service was streamed and is available at: https://youtu.be/v3v3pGvHm2A.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Paul's memory to: Oxford House, Inc., Suite 300, 1010 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 or via the "Donate Now" link at: www.oxfordhouse.org.