Paul Stephen Jayne was born on 1 November 1942, his mother’s birthday, in Camden, NJ.  He grew up in the Fairview section of Camden with his father, mother, sister Joanna, and a rotation of foster brothers and sisters.

When Paul was 9, his father died suddenly of a heart attack and, due to his mother’s financial constraints, Paul was sent to Girard College in Philadelphia, a boarding school for boys without fathers. It was a difficult time for him, following the loss of his father and, in effect, the loss of his mother and sister as well.  While at Girard, Paul also survived rheumatic fever, spending 3 months in bed at Girard’s infirmary.  He recovered and later went on to sing in glee club and play in the concert band. 

Immediately after graduating from Girard, Paul got a job in the mailroom at Bell of PA beginning a long career with the company.  While working, he started taking college courses at Philadelphia College of Bible, but never finished as he went through a string of promotions at “Ma Bell.”  In between, he did a short-term missions trip to El Salvador where he helped build a camp for kids through the American Baptist Churches, USA.  Moving up from the mailroom and out to manholes and telephone polls as a switcher’s helper, he eventually wound up as a switchman and then chief switchman in the South Philly office. Work held additional benefits.  On the midnight to 8am shift, Paul’s partner was habitually late, so he often took the time to go exploring.  One night, on the 3rd floor, he came across two women working at the switchboard.  The younger one wouldn’t talk to him initially, but persistence (and wooing with midnight snack runs) paid off.  They eventually started dating and Paul married Joyce in October of 1969.

After honeymooning in Bermuda, Paul and Joyce lived in an apartment in Oaklyn, NJ for a year before buying their first house in the Fairview section of Camden, NJ.  They lived there 22 years, raised their three children: Paula and their twin boys, Andrew & Timothy.

Paul was very active in their neighborhood church, Fairview Community Baptist, where he served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher for many years.  He also enjoyed gardening in their small yard, choosing seeds (and once, memorably, praying mantises) from the Burpee catalog and carefully cultivating a myriad of flowers.  He “encouraged” his children to tend sections of the garden and was always very proud of his tomato and pepper plants.

At Bell, Paul continued to rise through the ranks, first becoming a supervisor/instructor at the Bell of PA Tech Services School on Arch St. in Philadelphia and then transferring out to Wayne, PA when he became a database manager, coordinating the changeover to computer control of electronic switching.   Paul was selected along with twelve other people nationwide to first learn and then teach AT&T’s network management philosophy and procedures up in Morristown, NJ. Paul greatly enjoyed teaching and was calm and patient in his instruction, a trait that carried over to many areas of his life.  He later came back to Philly to supervise two computer rooms on Race St.

Paul and Joyce moved to Woodbury Heights, NJ after their sons graduated from high school.  He closed out his career with Bell by preparing the network for area code splits (like the 610 area code split from 215) and, as cell phone popularity increased, there were always splits to plan and execute.  He spent the last two and a half years working from home before downsizing struck.  Paul was  “RIF’d” (retired in force) in 1998 with 38 years at Bell.   Paul and Joyce and their longtime friends, the Reads, took a cruise to Alaska to celebrate their retirement, a trip they had talked about for years. 

Paul was always very proud of his family and they were blessed to be able to spend two weeks each summer down in Ocean City, NJ, starting in 1975 until the early ‘90s, for family vacation.  Ocean City always held a special place in his heart thanks to all the memories there.  For their 25th wedding anniversary, Paul’s children helped to send Paul and Joyce on a cross-country train trip to the Grand Canyon and on to Yosemite National Park– it was a beautiful trip.

In 1995, the same year that his first grandchild was born, Paul was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which gradually slowed him down over the next 17 years.  “It is a battle every day,” he would say, but he still managed to stay active at his new church, Southwood Baptist, where he served as an elder and as a ministries coordinator for the lead pastor.  Paul was also able to continue bowling for some time, which brought him a lot of enjoyment.

Managing his Parkinson’s very well over the years, it wasn’t until 2012 that his mobility became more severely restricted and in January 2013, Paul entered hospice, still managing to joke frequently with those who came in to care for him. In June 2013, Paul died at home, surrounded with love by his family (and his loyal cat).