Paul Douglass January 22, 1927 - August 31, 2023

Paul Douglass, 96, of Gresham, Oregon, passed away peacefully, August 31, 2023.
Paul was born January 22, 1927, in Stevenson, Washington to Albert and Emma Douglass in the family home along the Columbia River. He was the eighth of ten children and the only remaining sibling.
Paul graduated from Stevenson (WA) High School in 1944. He worked for Ron Tonkin Ford in Portland before leaving in the fall of 1948 to attend San Jose Bible College.
After one year in San Jose, Paul enrolled in Midwestern School of Evangelism, Ottumwa, Iowa in the fall of 1949, graduating May 1953.
Paul and Marilyn (DeBord) were married May 14, 1950, in Palmer, Nebraska. Marilyn passed away February 24, 2015. Paul and Marilyn were blessed with six children. Gary, Beverly, Joyce, James, Stanley and Barbara.
Paul ministered to churches in Altamont, Missouri, Promise City, Iowa, Superior, Cozad and North Platte, Nebraska and Bandon, Oregon.
May 1980, Paul graduated from the University of Nebraska Kearney with a Master of Science in Education. He taught at Sam Barlow High School in Gresham and Crossroads Christian School in Portland.
In October 1988, Paul and Marilyn were sent by International Disaster Emergency Service (IDES) to Khartoum, Sudan. IDES had sent a mobile workshop to Sudan to be used to repair hospital equipment but no one in the country knew how to operate the machines. Paul was a journeyman machinist, an auto-truck mechanic and paint specialist, a draftsman and electrician. Because of Paul’s abilities and degree, he was accepted by the Sudanese government to teach the native men how to repair hospital equipment in the IDES workshop. Eight Sudanese men worked alongside Paul for nearly two years at the hospitals in Khartoum while he taught them how to use the equipment inside the workshop. One of the men working with Paul was Yournew Wol Kuot. Through the teaching and example of Paul and Marilyn, Yournew was baptized into Christ in September 1989. Soon the Sudan African Mission (later to be known as South Sudan African Mission) was formed with the sole purpose to support South Sudanese who attend Bible College and their ministries. To date over 35 churches have been established in South Sudan and there are over 500 baptisms each year. Malek Christian Hospital has been built along with a mobile medical vehicle that goes out to the remote villages to tend to medical needs.
Paul is survived by daughters Beverly (Dale) Meyer of Rochester, Minnesota, Joyce (Gene) Penn of Scottsbluff, Nebraska and James (Leona) of Ansonia, Ohio. Thirteen grandchildren, thirty-eight great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, daughter-in-laws Mary Ellen Jones, Janet Douglass and Yournew Wol Kuot of Aweil, South Sudan along with 100’s of South Sudanese who call him Father Paul. He was preceded in death by his wife of nearly 65 years, daughter Barbara, sons Gary and Stanley.
Interment will be at the Carson, Washington cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the South Sudan African Mission, PO Box 8396, Rochester, MN 55904 to further the Aweil Bible College in South Sudan.

From Yournew Wol Kuot
Co-Founder, South Sudan African Mission
It was on 31st of August 2023, when I sadly got the news of the passing of Paul Douglass. I was so devastated and shocked to learn on the loss of a person so dear to my heart and the people of South Sudan.
Paul Douglass was a person God called to the bring spiritual and social transformation to the disadvantaged human societies around the world, and especially among the South Sudanese communities. I am grateful to God for connecting me and other South Sudanese to a true man of God.
In 1988, Father Paul arrived in Khartoum, Sudan at the height of the civil war in the country. Paul recruited a number of South Sudanese to study outside the country to support the mission and their communities. Paul believed that South Sudanese must be part of the solution to spread the gospel to their own and participate in rebuilding their country when peace returned.
As we reflect on the friendship he built with me and the people of South Sudan, he leaves a legacy that many of us will forever cherish. Truly the mission has lost a champion of peace and love which can be emulated for ages. May God continue blessing his great family, SSAM, friends and the church community in the U.S.