Paul Wilchek was born and raised in Brookpark, Ohio, a community just southwest of Cleveland. He played the trumpet in the high school band and orchestra, then attended Cleveland Engineering Institute for a two-year degree in Architectural, Engineering Drafting. After a few local drafting jobs, he ended up as a design draftsman at Carrier Air Conditioning Company, Cleveland, Ohio. In 1954 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and attended cartographic (map drafting) school at Fort Belvoir Virginia, Corps of Engineers. He ended up teaching cartographic drafting as well as construction drafting. While stationed in Virginia, Paul attended night college at George Washington University.
In 1956 Paul returned back to Carrier Air Conditioning Company and continued night college at Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. In 1959 he was transferred to Detroit, Michigan as a branch engineer technician and continued his night college at the University of Detroit, specializing in mechanical engineering. Being a Jesuit college, they required some theology classes to be taken, which gave Paul some of his religious foundation.
In 1961 Paul married Lois Jean Baumgardner, a lifelong Catholic. Their first son was born in Dearborn, Michigan. About three months after his birth, they were transferred to Columbus, Ohio as the Branch Service Manager. Paul and Lois had three more sons in Ohio then in 1972 they were transferred to Chicago, Illinois as the Regional Service Sales Manager, then after a short time the job became the Zone Service Marketing Manager.
An executive of Carrier worked on Paul and Lois for over three months trying to convince them to transfer to Syracuse, New York, Carrier's home office. Finally, in 1979 they accepted the transfer as the National Service Marketing Manager. Paul and Lois never liked the climate conditions in Syracuse and were looking forward to maybe another transfer at some point, which never came about. They attended St. Ann's Church in Manlius, NY, where Paul was asked to attend a "Life in the Spirit Seminar" (in 1982). He experienced his first religious experience after being introduced to the Holy Spirit within. For several years, Paul assisted in putting on "Life in the Spirit Seminars" at various churches within the Syracuse diocese under the direction of Father Regis. Also, with Father Regis, Paul was very involved in the charismatic movement which mainly consisted of weekly prayer group meetings and attending monthly first Friday charismatic masses at various churches within the diocese. Paul has quite a story to tell of another religious experience in 1988 while attending a first Friday charismatic mass.
Paul's religious experiences may have been what were needed to prepare him for what was about to happen. Lois his wife of 37 years, had a stroke while going down the stairs at home and her fall caused serious brain damage. She was in a non-responsive coma for one and a half years then passed away in 1997. About a year later, after 45 years with Carrier Corporation, he retired. About two years later, Paul married Shirley Marie Holmes, a religious Baptist. She attended a non-denominational church, Eastern Hills Bible Church in Manlius, NY.
At that point in time, the Catholic Church in Manlius, NY was not offering bible study classes. Shirley invited Paul to attend bible study classes with her and he accepted. After about a year Paul was asked to lead the bible class, which was a surprise to Paul being Catholic at a non-Catholic church. The classes were strictly according to the bible and they went very well.
Shirley and Paul purchased an RV motor home and through the course of over six years they traveled to almost every state including Alaska. They spent most winters in Florida and ended up liking the Bradenton area. They sold their RV motor home and purchased a small Florida villa house there. For the next five years or so they were "snow birds."
Shirley and Paul were married eleven years when in December of 2010 Shirley passed away from a somewhat rare bile duct cancer. About one year after Shirley passed, Paul attended a hospice memorial service where doves were released to signify the rising of the spirit. A photograph of the doves reviled seven significant facts about Shirley and Paul which was a remarkable religious experience.
At Our Lady of the Angels Church in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, Paul attended a week-end retreat called "Christ Renews His Parish" which greatly helped the depression thing. After which he assisted in putting on three similar retreats. After several years, Paul was asked to attend training and become a member of the bereavement committee. Paul has served as an usher at Our Lady of the Angels since 2004.
June of 2017 Paul self-printed his book called "Holland Road" which was the result of 28 years of part-time family-tree research. It summarizes the Wilchek family going back to the oldest available record of his fourth great-grandfather, Joannes Vilcek, who was married in 1755. In addition to family tree research, Holland Road, has many stories of Paul's experiences growing up. The final chapter of Holland Road describes Paul's October 2016 visit to Nova Lubovna and Stara Lubovna, Slovakia. His research traced the Wilchek family to the Vilcek ancestors in Nova Lubovna, where Paul met up with his third cousin once removed, Milan Vilcek. Milan's great grandfather, Stephanus, and Paul's great grandfather, Gasparus, were brothers.
