Paul Eldridge

Paul, 71, of Chapel Hill, NC passed away suddenly from a heart attack while taking his beloved dog, Note, for a walk on the morning of June 10th, 2022. A memorial service will be held at Donaldson Funeral Home at 396 West St., in Pittsboro, NC on Wednesday, June 15th at 9:00 am followed by burial at the Dr. Clyde M. Gilmore Memorial Park at 6504 Liberty Road in Julian, NC. A dessert open house to celebrate his sweet life will be held at the Briar Chapel Clubhouse at 1600 Briar Chapel Parkway from 2:00 - 4:00 that afternoon.

Paul was born in Manhattan, KS on December 20th, 1950, to Dr. Franklin Eldridge and Della (Grabner) Eldridge. Paul’s family moved to Lincoln, NE around the time he started kindergarten where they lived in the Eastridge neighborhood. It was at the Eastridge pool that Paul honed his swimming skills leading to a lifelong love of the water, competitive swimming, boats, scuba diving, and snorkeling. Paul competed at an elite level in triathlon - including an Ironman triathlon (yes - a marathon is just one piece of that!).

He abandoned his young dreams to be a park ranger to join IBM after college. IBM took him many places including stays in Iowa, Texas, Florida, Japan, Paris, China (where he met Moon), Singapore, and Raleigh, NC. His colleagues describe him as unflappable, smart and with an uncanny ability to work through big, hairy projects.

Paul is survived by his wife Moon Eldridge, sons Blair and Morgan Eldridge, daughter from his first marriage, Ashley Eldridge Dart, son-in-law Matthew Dart and grandchildren Laura, Luke and Lily Dart of Hawaii. Paul is also survived by his older brother Larry (Kas) Eldridge and younger sister Kathy (Jim) Jaques. Paul was preceded in death by his parents and his precious first son, Brady Eldridge.

Paul was social - loving family, holidays, children, and meeting new people and learning about their lives. He loved nature - rescuing turtles from the middle of the road and hiking every trail he could find with his young boys and dog. He was also playful - welcoming trips to Disney World and telling wonderful, rich, funny stories about people he met. And he loved saving money - cutting out more coupons than you could imagine, shopping on senior discount day, cooking at home a lot, and restoring old items from the random dumpster. :-).

Paul lived a life thankful for the past while remaining fully engaged in the present and looking forward to the future. He will be so missed.