AUBURN — Paul Aseph Judkins Jr., 81, of Farmington, passed away on Saturday, May 12, at the Androscoggin Hospice House.

Paul was born Aug. 21, 1930, in Rumford, the son of Paul and Myrtle (Child) Judkins. He was a 1948 graduate of Dixfield High School and a 1952 graduate of the University of Maine at Orono.

In 1966, he completed the educational management development program at Harvard University. He returned to Harvard to complete the executive programs in Health Policy and Management in 1981.

Paul served his country in Korea from August 1952 through July 1954 and following his active duty, continued in the Army Reserves for 14 years, retiring as a captain.

Following his service in Korea, he began his business career with Forster Manufacturing Inc. in 1954. In 1958, his successful business career continued at Farmington State College (now the University of Maine at Farmington), where he served for 10 years as the Dean of Administration. In 1967, he accepted a position as Northeast Regional Representative for the Ford Foundation’s Leadership Development Program; a responsibility that he enjoyed until 1975, when he shifted his professional focus from education to healthcare.

Paul was the first and only director of Rural Health Associates, an organization that began as a mechanism for making access to health care a reality for all residents of a 1,900 square mile underserved and low income area of Maine.

The initiative served as the catalyst to grow the physician population from 13 to 35 in the 16 years of RHA’s existence. When the physician group practice disbanded in 1982, he started and managed Maine’s first HMO. The HMO was later sold to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, where he continued with the organization until he accepted a position as vice president and director for the Silver Spring Health Plan in Mechanicsburg, Pa. He remained there until his retirement and return to Farmington in 1989.

Paul loved his family, the outdoors, and life! He was active in his community and with state and national committees and organizations involving education and healthcare.

His career was spent in professional settings, but he truly enjoyed the satisfaction of physical labor. He was never afraid of hard work and he was always up for the challenge of getting a job done.

He could and would do anything around the house. He was a carpenter, mason, electrician, plumber, gardener, and just about anything else that needed to be done. Paul was always there for his family and friends, not only as a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, but as a role model and mentor to all.

He was an honest, dedicated and hardworking man who treated all he encountered with respect and dignity. He saw the good in everyone he met.

Paul is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Cynthia (Larsen) Judkins and their two children, daughter, Cheryl Pike and her husband, Marty and son, Peter Judkins and his wife, Lisa, all of Farmington; his grandchildren, Kristana (Pike) Lamoureux and her husband, Michael, of Gray, Joshua Pike and his wife, Sarah, of Newburyport, Mass., Tyler Judkins, and his fiance, Katie Cohen, of Portland and Heidi (Judkins) Lachapelle and her husband, Louis-Pierre, of Montreal; his great-grandchildren, Quinn Lamoureux and Benjamin and Samual Pike; his sister, Janice Lewis and her husband, Edmond, of Farmington; his brother, Merton Judkins and his wife, Carlene, of Nashville, Tenn.; and many nieces and nephews.

Paul and his family would like to thank Androscoggin Hospice House and the oncology department at Franklin Memorial Hospital for their exceptional care and caring throughout this trying time.

Tributes and condolences may be shared on his memorial wall at www.wilesrc.com.