Paul James Labenz

Dr. Paul James LaBenz, long time resident of the Tallahassee area, died peacefully on January 13, 2018. He was 96. He was living in Bozeman, MT where he had moved to be with his daughter & son-in-law.



Paul James Frederick LaBenz was born in Honolulu, HI. He spent his childhood on Oahu, coming to the Mainland at 18. He attended Northwestern University, Pasadena Playhouse &, in 1942, married high school sweetheart Mavis Martin before joining the Coast Guard & serving as a 1st Lt. aboard the destroyer escort USCGC Roger B.Taney during WWII, undergoing the most intense U-Boat attack & repeated Kamikaze attacks. After the war, the family moved to Baltimore where Paul earned his doctorate in physiology from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. LaBenz worked with Dr. William Hardy at Hopkins before continuing a long, distinguished career in the field of hearing & speech pathology. Paul worked for Maico Electronics & The Public Health Service before retiring from NIH. He is the author/editor of Early Correlates of Speech, Language & Hearing. Paul & Mavis had two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1974. He married Elaine Sardeson in 1976. Paul met Sue Reed soon after both were widowed. Their friendship developed into an abiding love. Sue predeceased him in 2005.



Paul was a 32° Mason, a Shriner & member of Marzuk Shrine, OddFellows & Econ Club. A fine musician in his own right, he was playing trumpet professionally at age 13, had his own “big band”, & played with Rudy Vallée in the 11th District Coast Guard Band in the 40’s, Paul was involved with the FSU Music Associates. He participated in Village Theater productions when he lived in Tampa & was a frequent patron of the symphony & Little Theatre productions in Tallahassee.



He is predeceased by his parents, Alfred & Isabel LaBenz, a brother, Walter, Mavis LaBenz Shultz, Elaine Sardeson LaBenz, & his beloved companion Sue Reed. He leaves behind his loving daughter, Corliss Elise (LaBenz) Smith, son-in-law, Larry Lynn Smith, a son, Martin Paul LaBenz, grandsons Kevin Michael Smith (Miriana) & Matthew Howard Smith (Alison), granddaughter Audrey Lark LaBenz & great grandchildren Sofia Kalina Smith & Alexander Konstantin Smith. He will be missed.