Paul was born in the old adobe home of his Grandfather Washburn Chipman on a beautiful Christmas morning in 1908 at 8:00 a.m. He spent his early life and part of his teen years in this home. Paul was the son of Walter Franklin Chipman, a native of American Fork, and of pioneer stock of 1847. His Mother was Rosetta Paulson of Pleasant Grove, Utah. Her parentage coming from Denmark. Paul had an older sister of sixteen months, named Loraine, who was his only sibling. He was very close to his sister.

After a bout with red measles, Paul learned to roller skate on the long kitchen floor in his home. They also had a large, fenced yard to keep him from the busy street. Many farm wagons and horses, as well as the Denver & Rio Grande railway passed by, making an unsafe venture if he were to go outside the fence. On occasion a team of run-away horses would pass by.

Paul attended the Harrington and Forbes elementary schools. He especially liked making kites. Paul played basketball and baseball for American Fork High School. Most of all, he liked mechanics. He was a good student and his teachers always spoke well of him. He also excelled as a skater. Because he lived so close to Utah Lake, he took advantage of the fine skating rink it provided. He could do fancier skating backwards than most people can do going forward.

Upon his graduation from High School, Paul went out to the beautiful Book Cliff mountains for two years, helping his father herd sheep, The Book Cliffs are located south of Vernal and east of Price, in a wilderness area of Utah. He was an expert horseman, riding many hours in the mountains, valleys and meadows. During this time, with the care of the sheep being his responsibility, gave Paul the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon, as well as the Doctrine and Covenants. He received a strong witness to the authenticity of Scriptures, which transformed his life. (Editors Note: Not long ago, in 1993, Marvin Miller, Paul’s nephew, told his cousin (and our cousin) Matt, that on a trip to the Book Cliffs, he come across a rock that had ‘Paul Chipman’ engraved on it). On one occasion, his sister Loraine came to visit. Paul’s father had returned to home for a couple of weeks for much needed supplies and asked his two family members to tend the sheep in his absence. They rode their horses out from the line camp to the sheep and rolled out their sleeping bags. In the middle of the night, a tremendous lightening and rain storm blew in, drenching them. They waited out the storm under a large pine tree, then started walking back to the main camp at 4:00 in the morning. With the downpour of the night before and crossing flood swollen rivers, Paul was completely chilled upon their return.

In 1927 Paul took business classes at Brigham Young University. Then in 1929 he returned to help his father with the sheep business. During this time, due to the economic crash, Paul’s father lost almost all of his sheep and his new home. Paul returned to BYU in 1933, however he moved with his parents to Salt Lake where he had a job working for Crawford and Day Furniture store. At this time, Paul began working more diligently with genealogy.

In the early summer of 1940, Paul began to call on VaLois South. She was the choir director for his new ward, in which Paul sang base. He was working for Consolidated Wagon and Machine. At this time, Paul was also serving his fifth stake mission, which called for proselyting three nights a week, and that, with his temple veil work, took most of the week nights. He was an out-of-doors man, so many of his dates included trips into the canyons around Salt Lake, where he would toboggan, ski and skate. He married VaLois on March 21, 1941. They bought his parents home at 550 Elm Ave. In Salt Lake to begin married life.

Two months before Washburn was born (Feb. 12, 1942), the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and all men in their 30’s were subject to the army draft, unless they were employed in a military-related job. Paul began work as a mechanic on Pratt Whitney airplane engines at Hill Air Force Base by Ogden, Utah. A few months before the new baby (Taylor, Nov. 16, 1943) was to be born, Paul was transferred to Fairfield Air Base in California. He was concerned to be so far away from his family and requested that he be transferred back to Salt Lake. He was granted the transfer to Fort Douglas and arrived home the day after Taylor was born. Soon after his arrival, Paul was appointed Stake Mission President of Wells Stake. The size of his family now took the threat of army service off of Paul. He started to look for a farm, which he found in West Jordan for the sum of $6,500. The Chipman family, of four and a half people, moved to the farm in June of 1945. It was not very long before the rich quality of Paul’s voice had resulted in his being invited to sing in a male quartet, which was very much in demand all over the south half of Salt Lake valley. On April 12th of 1945, Matthew South Chipman arrived at the farm. Paul’s work at Fort Douglas terminated with the close of the war, and he found employment as a mechanic at Riverton Motor.

Paul purchased some chickens, that became a source of extra money for the family. When Karen arrived on September 9th of 1948, the egg production was in full output. The chickens made two to three cases of eggs a week (each case holding 30 dozen (360)) to turn in to the eggman. The Chipman livestock consisted of 200 chickens, 14 cows, a mule and a horse.

>Paul opened a Sinclair gas station and garage in West Jordan before he went to work for Kennecott Copper in 1958. He got the Kennecott job because a friend of the family, Marvin Jensen, who was serving as the county commissioner at the time, pulled in some favors. Paul was older than the employment age limit at the time, (he was near 50). Paul was employed at the crusher plant in Magna, where he worked until his death. In 1966 the Chipmans sold their farm in West Jordan and moved to Salt Lake County. The family farm property became the site of the existing Mountain View Golf Course. In February of 1977, Paul and VaLois moved into the home of Richard S. Fox (VaLois’ nephew) at 1357 Thornton Avenue in Salt Lake City.

On the night of June 12, 1967, Paul was on his way to work, when an automobile ran a stop sign, striking Paul’s car and taking his life in the collision. Paul’s sister Loraine, stated that Paul said many times, "What a wonderful woman VaLois is. She can do anything and everything. I am surely fortunate to have her for my wife and the mother of my children. He loved her very much, and also all of his children".