MONROE, La. — Paul Kenneth Kirkpatrick, Jr.,

died painlessly on January 1, 2021. Born in 1927 in Jonesboro, Ark., to Paul Kenneth Kirkpatrick and Winifred Ford Kirkpatrick, he grew up in Walnut Ridge, Ark., a place that never left his heart.

At 17, he entered the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, but he left after one year upon receiving an appointment to train with the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps. During his service in World War II, he went to Japan and the Philippines, and he sailed around the tip of South America.

After the war, he lived in San Francisco, where he attended college part time and worked at a steel mill to earn enough to return to the University of Arkansas. There he eventually earned a B.S. in business administration. He next moved to St. Louis, where he worked as an accountant for several years. During the Korean War, he served there in the Army’s payroll office. At night, he studied law at St. Louis University.

In 1954 he married Charlotte Sallie Reynolds, and the couple soon moved to Washington, D.C. There he worked as a trial attorney for the U.S. Justice Department and attended Georgetown Law School, where he received a LLM in Taxation.

In 1960 he moved to Monroe, La., to join the law firm Hudson, Potts, & Bernstein, eventually becoming a partner. He enjoyed his career immensely.

A bon vivant, he liked to spend time with his family and friends, talking, watching sporting events, and playing golf. He was an avid and skilled golfer who shot his age several times and made a hole-in-one while well in his eighties. But he was also a thoughtful man who loved to read stimulating books and articles and to watch lectures about American history on C-SPAN. He cared deeply about his country— its politics and its culture.

He was a member of the Sigma Chi, Alpha Sigma Nu, and Phi Alpha Delta fraternities. Admitted to the Louisiana and Missouri Bar Associations, he was a fellow in the American College of Tax Counsel and the American College of Estate and Trust Counsel. He was listed in The Best Lawyers in America since its first publication in 1983.

He is survived by his two children, Christian Kirkpatrick and Timothy Paul Kirkpatrick; son-in-law, Robert Murdich; daughter-in-law, Jamie Kirkpatrick; grandchildren, Christopher Ludovici, Amanda Muir, Patricia Ludovici, Connor Kirkpatrick, and Riley Kirkpatrick; and great-grandson, Samuel Ludovici. He was predeceased by his wife, Charlotte.

A memorial service is being planned for the spring.