Paula E. Paddick

Paula Edwina Bennett Paddick died on October 26, 2025, at her home in Brevard, NC. A memorial service will be held in spring, 2026, in Brevard. Paula was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on February 8, 1947. 

She earned her BA degree from the University of Tennessee and her MA degree at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. A devoted educator, her teaching career started in Gatlinburg, TN and ended in Birmingham, AL 30 years later. Throughout her career, she was recognized many times for her teaching skills and accomplishments in creating innovative programs as well as her unwavering commitment to learning as a pathway to the highest levels of personal development. Impassioned by reading, writing, nature, travel, friendship and Western North Carolina, she lived her values in her volunteer activities at Rise ’N Shine, Vision, and AAUW, teaching writing workshops at Blue Ridge Community College, and traveling to Africa, the Galapagos, Central and South America and Europe over her lifetime. 

She and her husband Garry also traveled throughout almost every nook and cranny in America in an RV for two years. Singular among her involvements was her legion of friends and family whom she loved and nurtured all her life. Calling herself a Mountain Southerner, she was equally active in the civic and social life of Brevard - playing tennis, working at St. Timothy’s Methodist Church and supporting numerous charitable activities. Her support of local and global environmental issues was lifelong and vigorous. 

She was preceded in death by her husband Garry Paddick and survived by her daughter, Yu Hsing Kao (Matt Cozin), her stepdaughters, Lesa Paddick (Greg Grindstaff), Lonna Tucker (Gregg), Jaimie Ambrose (Ted), step grandchildren Trevor Tucker, Chris Tucker, Karly Kedzie, Hunter Ambrose and Brittany Ambrose, her sister Rea Abernethy Bennett (James Kaufman), her beloved dog Dakota and a teeming multitude of friends and loved ones.

 In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be directed to Bread of Life (238 S. Caldwell Street, Brevard, NC 28712) or Sharing House (PO Box 958, Brevard, NC 28712).