10/02/2025
Obituary ~ Paul N. Laufman
Paul Norman Laufman died on 29 September 2025, at 86 years of age, after receiving hospice care for leukemia at Frontier Extended Care. Born on 25 November 1938 in Mitchell, SD, to George and Marie (Freese) Laufman, he moved with his parents and brother John in 1947 to Longview, WA where he was raised. He enjoyed participating in sports at Longview’s R.A. Long High School and Lower Columbia College, where he courted a beautiful cheerleader, Marlene Worley of Kelso, WA marrying in 1959. They retired to Grass Valley, CA in 2004 and in 2016 Paul moved back to Washington following Marlene’s April 2015 passing.
Mr. Laufman graduated from Washington State University as a Mechanical Engineer. His lifelong career field was in Rocket Propulsion, being employed by Hercules Inc. In Salt Lake City, UT and Cumberland, MD; Lockheed Propulsion Co., Redlands, CA; Rohr Industries, Riverside, CA; GenCorp Aerojet Corp Sacramento, CA and Yellow Creek, MS; and Jacobs Services Co. at Vandenberg AFB, CA. As an engineer, Mr. Laufman designed and managed the development of many components used in our nation’s strategic and tactical rocket systems, including subsystems of the Minuteman, Poseidon, and MX/Peacekeeper ICBMs, and in space exploration systems, including Apollo and Space Shuttle. He authored numerous patent disclosures on various defense and space related projects.
In 1995, Mr. Laufman co-founded United Paradyne Corporation (UPC) of Santa Maria, CA, and served as its Chairman/CEO, directing its growth from a fledgling small business to its status as the contractor responsible for fueling all Spacelift missions containing government assets (including the Space Shuttle), at Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center in FL, at Vandenberg AFB, CA, Kodiak Island, AK, Wallops Island, VA and at various other remote sites, including two locations in Russia. UPC also conducted flightline fueling and supply missions at various military bases worldwide. An enjoyable consequence of his career was much business travel, domestically and internationally. But his most memorable trip was in 2009 with his grandson, Jordan, spending two weeks in Antarctica, while twice daily, via Zodiac SeaCraft, setting foot on the continent among many thousand penguins. During one such excursion, on an ice sheet at the Antarctic Circle, using a golf club having a telescoping shaft that he brought along, Paul hit an ice ball into the Weddell Sea – his guide claimed that was the southern-most golf shot ever witnessed, a photo of which was published in a golf magazine.
Mr. Laufman enjoyed many honors, including those from his Longview, WA roots; Lifetime Achievement Award from the All-Century Sports Council of Southwest Washington State, induction into the R.A. Long High School Hall of Fame, Lower Columbia College’s first Alumnus of the Year and graduation Keynote Speaker, Distinguished Alumnus Lecturer to WSU Department of Mechanical Engineering and Keynote Speaker at their graduation celebration. In their desire ‘pay it forward’ Paul and Marlene endowed a number of scholarships at their high school and college alma maters – and Paul continued that payback as an invited space-related speaker at dozens of school assemblies and service organization functions. In a highlight of national recognition, Paul and Marlene were invited to the 2003 dedication of the Smithsonian’s new Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA, finding Paul’s name inscribed on its Wall of Honor and his bio entered into its archives.
Mr. Laufman was devoted to his Savior Jesus Christ, his family and his friends. He was predeceased by his parents, his wife of 55 years, Marlene, and his brother John. He is survived by two daughters, Lori Kasler (Jeff) of Grants Pass, OR and Lisa Petersen of Greenwood, CA; a son, George (Christy) of Kirkland, WA: six grandchildren, Jackie Gillick, Katie Cooper, Jordan and Connor Kasler, Oliver Laufman and Kasey Petersen; three great-granddaughters, Petra, Josephine, Sophia and five great-grandsons, Vincent, Julian, Eugene and Maurice Gillick all of Kent, England, and Coen and Reid Kasler of Grants Pass, OR; numerous nieces and nephews and the treasured companion of his final years, Donna Pierce of Longview. Interment will take place at Bunker Hill Cemetery, Longview, WA.
