Paul grew up in Murlin Heights/Butler Twp. and graduated from Vandalia Butler High school in 1971. His father, also Paul, was a watchmaker by trade and his son went to Gem City Jewelers college and joined his dad in the business.
Betsy moved to Dayton in 1990 with her first husband and her children. With a degree in journalism from Western Kentucky University, she started freelancing with local advertising agencies.
She and Paul met years later and married in 2006, blending their families of five teenagers.
“Paul’s father owned Shaw Jewelers for 25 years,” Betsy said. “Then Paul had it for 32 years before he retired.”
Paul and his father closed the downtown location and moved it to Centerville where it was for many years before Paul decided to sell the business in 2006.
“It was a tough business because everything was going online,” Paul said.
Paul started a residential remodeling business and did that until he retired in 2019. But never one to sit idle, he did things like woodworking, boating and fishing to keep himself busy.
Betsy founded a company called the Congruity Group about 10 years ago.
“We work with executive leadership teams and help them engage with each other,” she said.
The couple enjoy vacations every year, visiting different lakes and taking their boat with them. In July of 2024, they rented a cabin with friends at Norris Lake, famous for its many A-frame houses, many with treacherous steep steps leading down to the lake.
“Most people who go to Norris hate that part of it,” Paul said.
Paul and Betsy started the morning of July 23, 2024, like any other on the lake. It was sunny and warm when their group boarded the boat. But within a few hours the weather shifted.
“I was in the water, and I noticed it was getting dark over my shoulder, so we decided to head back,” Paul said.
The group pulled into the marina, and by that time it was raining hard. When it slowed down, they decided to run for it. There were 98 steps leading up to their rented house and Paul was the last one to start climbing.
“I made it up 70 steps and went to grab the rail and slipped,” Paul said. “I fell back and slid down.”
Paul slid 20 steps to a walkway. He hit a post and went airborne, coming down on the top of his head on concrete.
“I didn’t feel pain at the time, but I knew I couldn’t move much so I figured it was bad,” Paul said.
Paul remembers being briefly unconscious, then tried to sit up. He saw blood everywhere and his scalp was torn open. Betsy, who had already made it up to the house, heard everyone yelling for someone to call an ambulance.
Paramedics arrived and Paul remembers them standing him up without a neck brace and having him walk 40 steps to the boat, then walking to get on a gurney. 45 minutes later, Paul arrived at a regional hospital in Tennessee where doctors stabilized him and stapled his head wound together. They sent him home because they couldn’t do anything additional for him there.
Betsy wanted her husband to go to the UC Health in Cincinnati because it is a research-based hospital. It took about a week to get an appointment and another week to see a specialist. Meanwhile, Paul was functioning in a neck brace with what turned out to be a broken neck. And he needed surgery as soon as possible.
“Paul’s injuries were grave,” Betsy said. “The doctor said that one bone was so close to severing his spinal cord and if it were to move, he could become a quadriplegic or worse, lose his life.”
Paul’s surgery at UC was Aug. 19 and his surgeons put in screws and rods to stabilize his cervical spine. Amazingly, Paul came out of surgery without a brace and no pain.
“The only trouble I have now is turning my head all the way,” Paul said. “The doctors at UC Health did such an amazing job, you would never know anything happened to me.”
Now 72-years old, Paul is always cautious when he walks up and down steps. Though his life looks a little different, he reflects on how far he has come. He has resumed woodworking and is back to running about six days per week.
“We won’t go back to Norris Lake, but we have a place at Lake Cumberland, and we’ll be spending summers there,” Paul said. “I know how lucky I am to be alive.”
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