DONIPHAN, MO. -- Sixty-five years ago, a young teacher found his first job in a county that shared his last name.
"It was my first job," he recalled. "I was broke and in debt. I had a lot of people mentor me and welcome me."
Now 86 years old, Paul Ripley still calls it the best decision of his life.
"I met Joe Anne (Phillips) and fell in love with her and fell in love with Ripley County," he said. "... and I married them both."
Although he and his late wife enjoyed traveling the world, he's never wanted to live anywhere else.
"I do love this area," he said. "I've traveled the world quite a bit and nothing to me has surpassed Ripley County."
Friday night, Mr. Ripley was honored as 2017 Citizen Of The Year at the annual Ripley County Chamber Banquet at Murray's Event Venue east of Doniphan.
It's an honor long overdue for a modest and humble man who carries a business card today that reads 'Retired - musician, educator, soldier and photographer.'
Ripley came to Doniphan soon after graduating from Arkansas State University in 1953 with a degree in music education. For 15 years, he taught instrumental music at the high school.
"The kids always have been friends of mine and still are," he said. "I get Christmas cards from students as far back as the 1950s and 60s."
This past year was a good one for class reunions. Ripley attended seven of those events. He proudly points to a line of DHS band teachers dating back to his own teaching days.
"Vernon Allen was one of my students and he replaced me," he said. "Brenda Pigg (who served as band instructor for several years) was one of Vernon's students. And current band teacher (Donald Falk) was one of Brenda's students."
After receiving his masters degree from Mizzou, he became an administrative assistant for the R-I schools, a position he held until retiring in 1982.
As the district's first federal programs director, he was instrumental in many improvements made possible through federal, state and local funding.
"One of Paul's greatest accomplishments happened in his early years as R-I federal program director," said Bill R. Wright, who nominate Ripley for the Citizen Of The Year award.
By the late 1960s, Vitronic - the community's largest employer - had moved to a new location on the north edge of the city limits. The former factory building at Walnut and Spring streets was empty and offered great potential for school use.
"After months of work, Paul submitted a grant application for funding a vocational school at Doniphan R-I, " Wright said. "After fine tuning said grant was approved, enabling the school to purchase the building from Vitronic for the school."
The grant had an immediate impact on the entire community and still does today.
It gave many students who were not college bound, the opportunity to learn a trade and enter the work force earning an above average wage, Wright said. More are graduating every year, and hundreds of students are using that trade knowledge on their daily jobs.
The building purchase gave Vitronic funds to build an addition to its manufacturing plant.
"This addition, plus four more since then, enabled Vitronic to grow and continue to be Ripley County's largest private employer," Wright said.
The move also created additional teaching jobs and administration for the school district.
Along with the Current River Career Center, other projects that became a reality during his time as federal programs director included the Vincent Wright Elementary Library, a new high school gymnasium in 1979 (the district's first since a fire claimed the old one in the 1930s) and Quick Creek Park.
Additionally, more than 30 local business and community leaders signed a nomination letter supporting Ripley's selection as Citizen Of The Year. Most likely a first for the chamber selection process.
Retiring from education in 1982 at the same time his wife retired from her job with the Division Of Family Services, the couple set out on a new chapter in life operating a photography studio in their home.
Ripley had first learned photography in a makeshift dark room in the barn of the family farm near McCrory, Ark. With encouragement from his father, it became a nearly a full-time endeavor while also attending school.
"My wife and I retired and we didn't want to sit around talking about the things we had done," he said.
The Ripleys became active in state and national photographic organizations. Paul earned the Photographic Fellowship degree from The Professional Photographers of the Ozarks and his Certification Degree (CPP) from the Professional Photographers of American. He earned many competition print awards for photographic excellence.
Today his home contains many of his favorite works as a photographer along with numerous awards earned during his 'retirement career.'
"Photographers consider themselves craftsman and not artists," he said with a smile. "But if anyone wants to call me artist that's all right, too."
From 1950-82, Ripley served in the Missouri National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve. He served three years as commanding officer of the Doniphan/West Plains Mechanized Infantry Company. He retired with the rank of U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry in 1982.
"I was expensively and extensively trained to fight a war that never happened," said Ripley, referring to his service during the Cold War era of the 1960s and 70s.
Ripley also is a past president of the Doniphan Kiwanis Club and a past district lieutenant governor. He is a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church. At various times, he has served as secretary of the Municipal Airport Board, the county Chamber of Commerce and the Ripley County Industrial Development Board.
He also maintained his connection with education, joining the Missouri Retired Teachers Association when the local unit was formed in 1995. He served three years as vice president and two years as president. Since that time, he has served as the group's legislative chair.
Paul and Joe Anne (who passed away in 2010) also founded a music awards endowment for R-I students through the Foundation of the Ozarks.
Another passion has been the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, where Paul has undergone life-saving surgery. The foundation featured him in their 2016 Honor Roll publication.,
"I'm very blessed," he said. "The things for which I've been credited, most all of them included a lot of help from a lot of people. Things in my life always have seemed to jump into place at the right time."