Death of Paul Denton, former education professor

Paul Henry Denton, 80, died on Nov. 7, 2016 in St. George, Utah. He received his doctorate from Andrews University and devoted many years to the School of Education here. His obituary is included below.

Paul Henry Denton, 80, died on Nov. 7, 2016 in St. George, Utah. He was born Dec. 31, 1935 in Woodlake, California to Erwin D. and Paula Bachman Denton. Paul was born and raised in Woodlake, California, where he attended elementary and high school. He graduated from Fresno State University in California with his bachelor’s and master's degrees. He received his doctorate from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.

Paul devoted much of his life in service to others. While pursuing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he worked with the U.S. Forest Service fighting forest fires in King’s Canyon National Park in California. In 1965, Paul and his young family moved from their home in California to Zambia, Africa where Paul served as a missionary and teacher at Rusangu Secondary School.. Following those years abroad, Paul obtained a position at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where he devoted the rest of his professional career  to teaching and especially toward preparing other teachers for the field.

Paul loved woodworking, photography and learning. He was endlessly fascinated by technology and invention, and focused his teaching specialty in the use of media in education. These interests led him to unusual adventures. Having developed new techniques for ‘point-of-view’ media, he stood for hours in hospital operating rooms, filming surgical techniques for training surgeons. Shortly after the Arab-Israeli War in the early 1970’s Paul found himself serving as the chief photographer for a major archaeology expedition co-sponsored by Israel and its neighbor the  Kingdom of Jordan. In the late 1970s, Paul traveled over 27,000 miles on trains, buses, Jeeps, taxis and trucks throughout India, Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh and Nepal making a documentary film about the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Surviving family include his wife, Beverly of Washington, Utah; sons, Kevin (Jody) of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Kris (Holly) of Winnetka, Illinois; four grandchildren, McKenzie, Taggart, Connelly, Sawyer; sister, Margery Tonascia of San Moreno, California. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers.

A service to celebrate Paul’s life was held on Dec. 17, 2016 in St. George, Utah. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Andrews University School of Education.