Paul Bokros was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1928. World War II and the Nazi invasion of the Balkan Peninsula forced young Paul, his sisters Mira and Nelly, and his parents, Philip and Alice, from Belgrade in the early 1940s. Paul and his family then sought refuge throughout Europe, including in modern day Croatia and Italy. In the summer of 1944, Paul and his family were five of the only 982 mostly Jewish Holocaust survivors selected to board the U.S.S. Gibbons and seek refuge in the United States. This group of refugees was the only such group taken in by the United States during all of World War II.

The voyage from Italy to Oswego, New York, where Paul and his family would be considered “guests” of the United States until the war ended, was full of danger. The risk of German submarine attack was ever-present, and German aircraft sometimes flew overhead. Upon arrival in New York City, Paul and the 981 other refugees boarded trains headed for Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York. While initially brought to the United States as only “guests” in late 1945, with the war over, President Harry S. Truman ordered Fort Ontario’s “guests,” including Paul and his family, be allowed to stay. So, in early 1946, the Oswego refugees, including Paul, climbed onto buses, drove to Niagara Falls and crossed the Canadian border. They reentered the same day able to legally live in the United States. He then applied for American citizenship and finally was awarded it. His citizenship was a privilege that he would never take for granted.

After graduating from Oswego High School, Paul and his family moved to Philadelphia in 1946. Not long after moving there, Paul met Greta Bensenes. They met when she was 17 and he 18. Five years later Paul married Greta. They would be married for over 70 years. In 1950, Paul enlisted in the United States Air Force. Following his service and honorable discharge as a Sergeant, Paul took advantage of the G.I. Bill, graduating from La Salle University in Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Physics. Not long thereafter, he and Greta welcomed two children into their lives, Deborah in 1956 and Allan in 1960.

It was during those early years with a young and growing family that Paul discovered so many of his life’s passions. Paul was an avid photographer, a woodworker, an instrument rated airplane pilot, and spent countless days on the water captaining one of his sailboats or his kayak. A typical Saturday for Paul and his family in the late 1960s may have included an early morning flight from their home outside Bedford, Massachusetts to New Hampshire for breakfast with his co-pilot, Debbie, and Greta in back seat amusing young Allan. Paul, no doubt, loved the freedom and spontaneity that flying allowed him and his family. He knew how fortunate he was to live in a country with such freedom.

In all, Paul spent over 40 years working in the United States’ defense industry. He worked on various classified “black” projects, which were top-secret military or defense projects that were not publicly acknowledged by the government at the time. Some of those projects included design of digital communications for military aircraft, the Minutemen Missile Launch Control Center program and various NASA space programs. In the late 1970s, he joined General Dynamics in the Electronics Division in San Diego. He rose to be the Director of the F-16 Aircraft AIS Engineering program and Division Vice President of Operation. Known for his exacting approach a perfectionist’s attention to detail and an unflinching commitment to the highest of standards, Paul was respected and admired throughout the industry.

Eventually retiring from General Dynamics in 1993, Paul’s next phase in life was one where he and Greta traveled the world together. They and their friends took the time to bask in their golden years and do things that young Paul would never have imagined, like trips to Australia, China and going back home to Belgrade. Paul never stopped learning, and his quest for knowledge was one of his most endearing qualities. Truth be told, though, there was nothing Paul enjoyed more than being “Grandpa” to Henry, Charlie, and Alex. Paul and Greta enjoyed the company of their three grandchildren, who would spend at least a month every summer with them at their beloved home on Barters Island near Boothbay Harbor, Maine. After all his years and life’s experiences, there was no place in the world that he would rather be than with Greta and the rest of his family at their Barters Island home overlooking the frigid Sheepscot River.

After a life lived fully and richly, Paul passed away in his sleep on April 21, 2021.

He is survived by his loving wife of over 70 years, Greta, his younger sister Mira, his son, Allan, his devoted daughter, Deborah, her husband, Patrick, and his three grandsons and wives/fiancées, Henry and Katelynn, Charlie and Bo, and Alex and Maria.