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10/26/2022 08:30 AMPaul Knudsen is not a veteran. He does, however, have deep connection to those who have served in the military. His grandfather saw combat in World War I, his father fought in World War ll and his son Bryan was a helicopter crew chief in Iraq, where he served three tours.
And that is why Paul, who has lived in Deep River for over 40 years, is the House Committee Chair for the renovation of the Essex Veterans Memorial Hall.
“I’m honoring them,” he explains.
Paul himself was in the Vietnam draft lottery but his draw was the number was 237. That year, the lottery called up only men whose numbers were seven or below.
Paul estimates the renovation project will cost approximately $100,000, with members of the organization contributing, as Paul is, time and labor. The Essex Foundation will match gifts to the renovation project up to $50,000. The matching challenge will expire on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
The Veterans Memorial Hall was originally the Centerbrook Schoolhouse, when the three villages that make up Essex had separate elementary schools. After World War II, the town deeded the building to the veterans’ organization for $1, stipulating the group be responsible for its maintenance.
The impetus for the renovation is not simply to improve the Veterans Memorial Hall for its members but to make it more useful as a community resource in emergency situations. To that end, the facility, which already has a generator, plans to renovate its small kitchen to be able to provide hot meals in greater quantity.
“People can come here. It can be a warming center, and we can have food and supplies,” Paul says.
Paul has already had some experience with emergency services. Forty years ago, at the time of Flood of 1982, he was in charge of a Lions Club fundraiser at St. Joseph’s Parish Hall. With the weather, he was afraid all the food purchased for the event would go to waste, but that didn’t happen.
Several busloads of people from Avon, visiting this area, could not get home because bridges were washed out. They were brought to the parish hall for shelter; they spent the night, bedding down on the floor.
“All the food, all the coffee was gone,” Paul recalls.
In addition to use in emergencies, the Essex Veterans Memorial Hall is available to non-profit groups free of charge and available to others for rent.
“We’d like it to be a more attractive place for parties, baby showers, birthdays, that kind of thing,” Paul says. “You know, if you build it, they will come.”
Paul hopes work on the project can begin in the spring and finish by fall in time for the organization’s annual pig and beef roast. But work will not begin until all the money for the renovation is in hand. So far, with community contributions, about half the funds have been raised.
Paul, whose father was an immigrant from an island off the coast of Norway, grew up in Middlefield and has lived in Deep River for 43 years. He once thought he would like to be an oceanographer. But, after a year of college, he decided on a different career path.
“College wasn’t for me. I love to work with my hands,” he says. He has spent his professional career as a carpenter.
Paul has also had a long and dedicated volunteer career. He served two terms as president of the Deep River Lions Club, and two terms on the Deep River Board of Education, as well as two terms as a trustee of the Deep River Congregational Church and on the building committee for church’s Sunday school and kitchen expansion project some 20 years ago.
He designed, did fund-raising and was the lead carpenter for the construction of the press box and food stands at Valley Regional High School’s football field some 21 years ago when his son was playing football. He still cooks friend dough and French fries at home games.
Paul and his wife Cindy, who grew up in Ivoryton, met when they were 10 years old because their families both camped at Griswold Point. (The camping area has since been eroded away.)
“It was $100 a season and that was it,” Paul recalls.
They now have three grown children, Bryan, Eric, and Deanna.
Paul’s leisure hours in the summer are spent on his boat, a 36-foot Grand Banks Trawler. Every summer he takes a trip of at least 10 days on the boat as well as using it on weekends.
“It’s like a sailboat but it always has wind,” he says, describing it for a non-boater.
Once Paul had blonde hair; then he says it turned brown and then red. He walked into a place he had not been in a while and was greeted with the words, “Hi, Red.” Paul had a ready answer. “Take a look,” he said. Now his hair is white.
When he undertakes a major project these days, Paul often says that it is the last big job he will do.
“I say no more roof work, but then my kids ask me if I have gotten rid of all the equipment,” he recalls.
So far, that answer to that question is no.
To contribute to the Essex Veterans Memorial Hall Rehabilitation Project, go to: TheEssexFoundation.org/matching-gift-challenge or send a check payable to the Essex Foundation to The Essex Foundation, PO Box 64, Essex, CT 06426