His relationship with Arline, was, originally, an on again off again experience. Arline kept trying to decide if this guy was really serious. He was a delightful and amusing date, she said, but she wasn’t sure about him, since she had been told by friends “he jokes all the time.” She had arrived in Long Beach with her parents from New York and had taken a job with a casket manufacturing company. Paul was already separated from the armed forces and in 1947 was working as head of all the youth groups in the Jewish community: the BBGs, AZAs, BBYOs and others. When she first met him at her parents’ house, though “he was five years older than me,” Arline noted, “he looked like he was 15 years old!” Many, many months later he asked her to marry him, and the wedding took place at the Lakewood Country Club, which, at that time was surrounded by bean fields. He later was accepted to dental school in San Francisco and the young couple moved there where they resided for his four years of training. During these four years they became the parents of two children, Randi and Steven. The next three were born on their return to Long Beach, where Paul set up practice, first in an office on Norwalk Boulevard then at Bellflower and Stearns.
One day, as Arline was leaving their apartment, a neighbor stopped her and asked if Paul was a comedian. She said, no, that he was a dentist. The neighbor, incredulous, remarked that Paul had left him in stitches whenever he saw him. Such was the impression Paul left on everyone who knew him.
Dr. Hillinger leaves behind his wife of 65 years, Arline, five children – Randi, Steve, Laurie and the twins Mark and David, and eight grandchildren. Even during his last day, when he was surrounded by his cherished family, he was still able to crack a joke or two, show a warm smile while he downed five cups of ice cream, and quietly closed his eyes.
–Harriette R. Ellis
[ LONG BEACH JEWISH LIFE | In Memoriam ]
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