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| ARN File Photo |
By Greg Jaklewicz, Reporter
• Abilene Reporter-News
ABILENE, TEXAS - Paul Faulkner, who for years enriched marriages through counseling with his college buddy Carl Brecheen, died July 5 and was honored during a celebration of life service Saturday in North Richland Hills.
Faulkner was 92.
He was the roommate of Brecheen at then-Abilene Christian College, both graduating in 1952.
He taught freshman Bible classes for years.
The Marriage Enrichment Seminar he started in 1974 with Brecheen was popular for years. In 1989, the duo was honored by their alma mater with the Excellence in Mass Communication Evangelism Award.
Faulkner was goiven the Teacher of the Year Award in 1982 at ACU, and the Faulkner and Brecheen couples were honored in 2001 with the university's Christian Service Award. He also received Distinguished Christian Service Awards from Harding and Pepperdine universities and an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine.
Faulkner was director of now Abilene Christian University's Marriage and Family Institute, which he founded in 1979, when the two men chose to film their seminar, which had been given across the nation.
Its popularity exceeded expectations.
"We stand amazed," Brecheen said in 1989. "It has been amazing to me that anyone would want to listen to me talk."
Faulkner's reputation previously was as an athlete. He threw the javelin and was a pole vaulter, winning events for ACC at the Texas, Drake and Kansas Relays. He was a member of the ACC team that won three straight Texas Conference track championships (1950-52).
He was inducted into the university's hall of fame in 1994.
He was born Sept. 24, 1929, in Fort Worth, the youngest of four children. After graduating from Paschal High School there, he was bound for Rice to run track. However, he was convinced to go to ACC.
Joining him at ACC was Paschal classmate Gladys Shoemaker, and they married July 12, 1952.
Faulkner earned a master's degree from ACC in 1961, then his doctoral degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth in 1968.
He was a licensed marriage and family counselor. The ACU institute was one of two in Texas to offer an accredited marriage and family therapy program.
A 1979 seminar at the Abilene Civic Center drew 1,600 people. It was videotaped to be shown worldwide. The duo did seminars in 33 states and seven countries over 32 years. Dr. Paul Faulkner was an Abilene Christian graduate who returned to teach for 35 years at his alma mater.
Faulkner preached in Kansas, North Carolina and Texas before joining the ACC faculty. He was dean of men for seven years there.
He retired at ACU in 1992 but founded Resources of Living, a counseling and consulting service, while an adjunct professor in retirement.
The Faulkners would move to Dripping Springs and he retired again in 2008, selling his business.
His wife preceded him in death ...
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