Paul Schrag

SCHRAG, Paul, On November 6, 2008, after a weeklong trip in the mountains of North Carolina with his immediate family, to view the glorious fall colors, Paul Schrag has gone home to higher ground. He was 61 years old. Paul had endured the debilitating symptoms of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy PSP for the past 6 years. Paul decided early in the course of his illness that after his death he would donate his brain to the Mayo Clinic PSP Brain Bank in Jacksonville, FL. The brain bank does research to determine a cause and find a cure. PSP is a rare neurological disease that causes brain cells in the brain stem to die. Currently there is no known cause or treatment for PSP. He will be cremated with a private burial in the Jackson Eleazer Cemetery in Montgomery Bell State Park, Burns, TN. Paul grew up on his family farm outside Kingman, KA; he graduated in 1969 from Bethel College in Newton, KA; with a long family Mennonite history, he worked in Alternative Service in Denver, CO, as a community organizer with troubled teenagers. After moving to Nashville in 1971 he was a premier exhibit builder at the Tennessee State Museum. He worked in construction, began working in historical restoration with Charlie Howell. At the Tennessee Department of Conservation he held several positions including Deputy Commissioner. Paul was one of the four original employees with Corporate Child Care/Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which created and managed childcare centers within businesses to care for the children of their employees. In 1997 Paul left this company to create Enterprise Resource Group ERG, a facilities consulting group and in 2002 began a solo counseling business which created places for children in homeless shelters. Some of Paul's beautiful and historically accurate restoration work included the Customs House, Nashville, TN; James K. Polk Home, Columbia, TN; Percy Cottage, Rugby, TN; Wynnewood Historic Stage Coach Inn, Castilian Springs, TN; Rock Castle, Hendersonville, TN; and the Bowen Campbell House in Moss Wright Park, Goodlettsville, TN. Paul was a quiet, diligent, perfectionist, and a loving, tender, devoted husband and father. He has many, many friends. Paul was very involved in the Nashville Society of Friends Quaker. He served on many non-profit boards including Mental Health Association, Renewal House, and the Ten Thousand Villages board. He was a founder of Ten Thousand Villages in Green Hills, which is a fair trade store that sells arts from third world artisans. Welcoming Paul home are his parents, Wanda Voth and Ralph Schrag; his brother, Maurice Schrag; father-in-law, C. Ray Dobbins and his beloved Golden Retriever, Bear. Left to cherish his memory is his wife of 30 years, Dot Dobbins, his daughter, Nan Gentry, and husband, Russell Gentry. Additional family members include his brother, Brian Carlin Schrag, Bloomington, IN, sister-in-law: Cindy Radcliff, Overland Park, KS; mother-in-law: Mary Alice Dobbins, Nashville, TN; brothers-in-law: James Dobbins Suzanne Gay, Oberlin, OH; Bill Dobbins Kathy Wood-Dobbins, Leapers Fork, TN; John Tammy Dobbins, Germantown, TN; sisters-in-law: Catherine Dobbins, Hillsborough, CA; Alyce James Ladd Dobyns Ladd, Nashville, TN; Cindy Dobbins, Atlanta, GA; nieces: Julia Dobbins, Emily Dobbins, Hayley Von Hollen; nephews: Steve Kim Schrag, Doug Schrag, Matthew Laura Schrag, along with great nieces Sara and Anna Schrag, Andy Belinda Bellew Schrag along with great nephew Carter Schrag, Nick Melody Dobbins with great niece Isobel Dobbins, Christian Dobbins, Jeffrey Dobbins, Seth Dobyns, Phillip Dobbin...Nina and Allie, Paul's puppies. On Thursday, November 13, in the Second Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall 3511 Belmont Blvd, 37215 visitation will be at noon with a 1 pm Memorial Service to Celebrate Paul's Life, under the care of the Nashville Friends Meeting. There will be a second visitation at 3 pm. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Society of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy in care of the West Harpeth Funeral Home, Nashville Ten Thousand Villages of Nashville, 3900 Hillsboro Pike, 37215, the Building Fund of Nashville Friends Meeting, 530-26th Ave North, 37209, or Alive Hospice, 1718 Patterson Street, 37203. The Nashville Friends Meeting is handling arrangements for the Memorial Service. WEST HARPETH FUNERAL HOME 615 352-9400