Clarendon lost a man who was one of a kind Saturday when Paul Bivens was called to his great reward.
Our community was shocked, just as his family was, by his sudden passing; and as much as our hearts go out to his wife and family, we each probably selfishly thought of our own personal loss in his untimely death.
If you knew Paul Bivens, he most likely made an impression on you. He was a great man… a role model in business and in life. He was a friend to many, including myself, and a great servant of his church and his community.
My own relationship with Paul began not long after he and Elmonette moved to town in 1976. They were my family’s pharmacists, picking up those duties from Richard Tunnell. I don’t know how many school supplies, Hallmark Christmas ornaments, and prescriptions we picked up from the drug store downtown, but it was considerable and enough that the Bivens and their staff always seemed like extended family members.
The Bivens’ boys were not exactly the same age as my brother and I but close enough that our time in school and Boy Scouts overlapped, and our birth years were staggered just right so that blue jeans could be passed down between our families.
But I think it wasn’t until junior high or high school that I really got to know Paul better, especially his sense of humor and his laugh. Oh, how we will miss that laugh! They started a little place called “Salads & Such” in the back of the drug store, and I would frequent that establishment for lunch with my Dad as I worked with him in the summers. There, around a few tables pulled together, I got to sit with the businessmen of the day and listen to them joke and visit. It was sort of like going to an informal Lions Club but without any fund raisers… except for the high-low game they played to determine who paid for lunch.
Paul and Elmonette were always close family friends; and when I returned from college to take over the newspaper, I knew I could count on their support. In fact, I always felt that I could count on Paul’s support for anything, not just business. We didn’t necessarily agree on every issue, but he supported me in the same way a parent supports the best interests of his child. Having friends like that, when you lose your own parents, makes it a little easier to know that there are still people who care for you and your family.
In my experience, if Paul saw a need, he tried to take care of it. Whether that was his service in Lions Club, on the board of aldermen, with the Salvation Army, or on boards at church, he tried to do his part to serve his fellow man. That’s just part of who he was.
Immediately after his passing Saturday, a friend of mine said, “Did you know that Paul did this?” and told me of an act of charity that he had done. “No,” I replied. “I didn’t know that. But it doesn’t surprise me.”
Alan Jackson sings about “the little man who built this town.” Paul Bivens was one of those men… a small business man who, with his wife and family, helped make Clarendon what it is.
When I talk to people in other communities about where I’m from, they invariably know Clarendon for our college and our lake and sometimes an influential restaurant from days gone by – Mrs. Bromley’s or Sam Hill’s. But many times they also know Clarendon for something else… The Clarendon Outpost… a place you can get anything you need and find a clean bathroom.
When Paul and Bill Stavenhagen moved off main street and opened the Outpost in 1996, I’m not sure anyone fully realized the impact that business would have on the traveling public. And to this day it continues to pull people off US 287 and entice them to spend some money in Clarendon. And does anyone really know how many young people have gotten their first job at the Outpost?
Paul Bivens will be missed. He’s missed already. We will miss his generosity, his quick wit, his sarcasm, his honesty, his integrity, and his friendship. He leaves behind a family more than capable of carrying on his legacy, but there will never be another man like him. We give thanks for having shared our time on earth with him. We are richer for having had him in our lives, and our community is a better place because of him.
Rest well, my friend.
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