Paul Steffen Finot

Paul Steffen Finot, 84, died August 6, 2007, at home in Fallbrook, CA. Born in St. Louis, MO, on December 26, 1922, he lived in Fallbrook for 20 years.

He briefly attended the University of Missouri before joining the US Army’s Air Cadet Program in 1942. As a tail-gunner on a B17 he flew 21 missions over France and Germany, where he was shot down in November 1944 and remained a POW until the end of World War II. His military decorations include two Purple Hearts, three Air Medals, a European Theater Ribbon with two Stars, a Victory in Europe Medal, a Presidential Unit Citation and a POW Medal.

He graduated from Arizona State College in 1954 and was a dedicated and innovative educator in the Pasadena Unified School District until 1980. He taught high school political science and history and served for four years as director of the Community Evening School and for four years as principal of Washington Center, the Community Evening School and the District Alternative School combined. He was a charter member of the American Federation of Teachers and organized teachers in 56 school districts in North Los Angeles County. He headed the grievance committee and was president of the Pasadena Local.

After retiring from teaching he worked for Parsons Company, Pasadena, assigned to the Royal Commission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he lived and worked in Yanbu as career development manager from 1980 to 1983. The following year he worked for Al Hoty/Aramco in Dhahran, where he filled a similar position.

In 1986 he retired to Fallbrook, where he served on the board of the Fallbrook Land Conservancy during its first years of existence and on the Fallbrook High School Board of Education from 1992 to 1996.

Passionate about quality education, Paul devoted untold hours to his students and to organizations and committees dedicated to improving the education of all students. He loved to build things – houses, boats, furniture – and had a special place in his heart for the California Sierras, where he and his family hiked, camped and skied. He approached all aspects of his life with enormous energy, an unfailing sense of humor and a deep-rooted sense of the value of every day of his life… a result of his POW experience, he said.

He is survived by his wife Pat; daughters Suzanne Gilmore, Colorado Springs, and Nannette Finot, Dallas, TX; son Paul Finot Jr., San Francisco; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be held in Fallbrook later this month.