RUMFORD – Albert “Red” Paul was always there for the funeral of a fellow veteran.

On Saturday, many, many veterans from the local, state and perhaps national level are expected to pay their respects to the man who always put veterans first.

Paul, 89, a four-year veteran of World War II, died Sunday at Rumford Hospital.

“He was highly respected,” said Bob Dube, a friend for more than 20 years and commander of the Robert Shand Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Rumford. “He never missed the funeral of a veteran and he worked diligently for all veterans.”

The local post, besides contacting VFWs from around the state and country to tell them of Paul’s death, is providing the reception following the noon Mass on Saturday at St. Athanasius and St. John Church.

“He was quiet but a jokester,” his daughter, Patricia Paul, said Tuesday night. “He had a dry sense of humor.”

He was also a huge sports fan, from being part of the Class of 1937 at Stephens High School that beat South Portland for the Class A state championship, to skiing five days a week once he retired from Oxford Paper Co. in 1982.

He continued to do downhill skiing until he was 82, his daughter said.

Paul always had a smile on his face and he loved golf and all sports, she said.

“He could have three games on TV at once,” she said.

She was also very proud to stand next to her father when she, a nurse, Rumford Veterans Clinic nurse Loretta Bard, and about 100 World War II and Korean War veterans traveled to Washington, D.C., for the dedication of the World War II monument in 2004.

“It was an honor,” she said.

Paul and Bard helped organize that trip.

“It was Red who convinced me to get a group to go,” said Bard. “He came in with a photo (of the monument) and I was just taken by it.”

Paul also taught Bard about being active.

“When I first came to the clinic, he was an avid skier and that encouraged me,” she said.

Paul’s neighbor in Rumford Corner, John Kezal, had known Paul for more than 40 years.

“Over the years, we both have been involved with the Maine Veterans Home in Paris. We’ve been traveling together (on veterans business) for years. He organized attendance for veterans at an Army-Navy game about 10 years ago,” said Kezal, of Paul’s many activities on behalf of veterans.

Paul also started the Veterans Memorial Mass on the Sunday before Veterans Day, and coordinated the Rumford/Mexico Veterans Day parade for more than 50 years. The last few years, Veterans Day services have been held at Mountain Valley High School at the request of Paul.

Tom Buotte of Dixfield is a Korean War veteran. He knew Paul for nearly 30 years.

“We used to ski together at Sunday River. He was a nice guy,” he said.

Paul was also named Citizen of the Year in Rumford for 2005-2006 for his many community service activities.

He is one of four or five local veterans who have died the past few weeks, Dube said.

“He took veterans very dear to his heart,” he said.

Even in death, Paul remembers veterans. In lieu of flowers, those who wish may make donations to the Western Maine Veterans Advisory Committee, or to his church, St. Athanasius and St. John.