PAUL T. KURAS
Paul was born Jan. 7, 1928, in Chicago, the sixth child of Jan (John) Kuras and Karolina (Caroline) Stella Machowska Kuras. Both parents were born in Sufczyn, the Austrian section of Poland, and immigrated in 1911 through Ellis Island to earn economic opportunities in the United States.
Over his long life, Paul met pioneering pilots to astronauts. In 1933, his father took him to see Italian general Italo Balbo’s plane after it landed near Lake Michigan as well as watch planes at the Chicago Air Park, later renamed Chicago Midway International Airport.
Paul’s passion for airplanes piloted his career as an aviation engineer.
He served 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He enlisted during WWII and was being trained to invade Japan before the surrender. When he was sent to Japan a few years later, he volunteered to help orphans.
January 7, 1928 - December 18, 2021
Gunnery Sgt. Paul T. Kuras was deployed to Korea and Vietnam, but mostly served at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in Orange County, Calif.
He then worked 24 years with the Mcdonnell Douglas aerospace corporation, later Boeing, in Long Beach, Calif.
Paul and his former wife, the late Nancy Mcgrath, raised their four children in Tustin.
After he retired, Paul lived on a gentleman’s farm in Fallbrook, Calif., and then in Green Valley, Ariz., where he volunteered for 10 years as a docent at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson.
He truly enjoyed the last six years of his life at the Towers retirement community in San Antonio and continued to exhibit his wide-ranging knowledge by correctly answering “Jeopardy!” questions as well as expressing his sense of humor.
When someone asked how he was doing, he quipped, “Everything hurts and nothing works!” or he inquired with a smile, “How much time do you have?”
Paul is survived by daughters Charmaine (Jim) Duquesnel, Loretta Patterson and Janet Eastman; grandsons, Will and Monte Banowsky, Sean and Brian Mchugh, and Eric (Nora) Eastman; and great grandchildren, Katie, Ella, Wyatt and Sean Jr.
His son, Paul Jr., died in 2016.
Information on memorial services in San Antonio and Orange County is available through Porter Loring Mortuaries. In lieu of flowers, Paul wished that donations be made to the all-volunteer Camp Pendleton Marine Toys for Tots, which provides toys, books and gifts to children year-round (https://rb.gy/2rovgt , 760-6226166).
Arrangements with