PARRIS (Jordan), Paula
Paula Jordan Parris, age 83, of Dunwoody, Georgia, went home to be with her husband and loved ones in the early hours of Monday, June 24, 2024. She is survived by her son, Robert Parris, Jr; and her daughter, Amy and her husband, Jeff Godwin of Grayson, Georgia.
Born in Forth Worth, Texas, Paula graduated from Texas Wesleyan College in Forth Worth and earned post graduate degrees from East Texas State University in Texarkana, Texas, and from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Paula devoted her life to education, teaching high school English and Spanish at schools in Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia. She ended her career in Norcross High School in 2006, teaching there for 24 years. She was a strict teacher who demanded the best from her students and inspired many over her career. Paula was the first to start an AP program in Spanish at Norcross and was an International Baccalaureate teacher. In her retirement, she continued to serve members of GCREA (Gwinnett County Retired Educators Association) helping members navigate the complexities of the state health benefits.
She married her husband, Robert S. Parris, Sr. "Bob" in Shreveport, LA, in July 1962. She spent over six decades serving as a Sunday School teacher, working as a team with Bob who served as a children's minister throughout the Southwest and Southeast. She also had extensive experience writing Christian children's curriculums and co-authored a fourth grade English textbook for Houghton-Mifflin.
Paula did not have it in her to have a quiet retirement and spent those years traveling the world with her husband and volunteering with the Friends of the Dunwoody Library. Her work at the library allowed her to continue her lifelong advocacy of literacy and learning for her community. In her final years she devoted her life to caring for her husband, Bob, who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.
Celebration of Life service will be held at Parkway Baptist Church at 5975 State Bridge Road in Duluth on Saturday, July 6, 2024 at 10 AM. Casual dress is appreciated.
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