Paul Alexander Gatling, born August 22, 1934, in Edenborn, Pennsylvania, to Alda (Haltiwanger) Gatling and Lawrence Gatling, passed away on May 21, 2021, at 86, around noon in his home in Hampton, Virginia, surrounded by family.

His grandparents, Lillie (Boulware) Young and Jacob Young, raised Paul on Ivy Avenue in Newport News, Virginia, around close family and friends with his surviving brother, Jacob, and older siblings he now joins in Heaven, Lawrence, Eva, Ike, and Katie.

Community members remember Paul or 'Virginia Slim' horseback riding and attending the Gospel Spreading Church (GSC) on Jefferson Avenue in his youth.

Paul enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and served as a Ranger in a reconnaissance unit. The pride of his service to our country still resonates and inspires younger generations in the family.

In 1957, he married Mary Porter, who passed on in 2017, and had two children, Sheree Alexandria and Darryl Anthony. Paul later remarried Florine Shepperdson, gaining a son, previously departed Jerome Shepperdson.

In 1963, Paul Gatling became unjustly entangled in a criminal case in which several of his civil rights were violated by the NYPD and the city and state of New York. This led to a wrongful conviction of guilt and a sentence of 30 years to life in prison. However, he resolved to bend the arc of history toward justice by appealing the ruling, pursuing higher education, cultivating an organization called The South Forty Program, and appealing the conviction.

His sentence was commuted in 1974, and he was exonerated, regaining the right to vote on May 2, 2016, in no small part due to the effort of his original appellate Legal Aid Society attorney, Malvina Nathanson, and colleagues. In the years following his wrongful incarceration, Paul and his wife, Florine, became fierce advocates and mentors for individuals struggling with a criminal record and drug addiction stigma. He also worked for The Legal Aid Society, the Inmate Grievance Committee for the Department of Corrections for the city of New York, the Vera Institute of Justice, The Fortune Society, and several medical facilities as a member of the Hospital Emergency Response Team and security. Paul also served as a motivational speaker.

In 1999, after returning back home to live in Newport News, Paul gave his heart to Jesus Christ at the church he was reared in, the Newport News Gospel Spreading Church of God, of which his grandparents were founding members. He was never the same! He was so faithful in Sunday School, Bible Study, and Church Services that he was appointed a Deacon of the church. Paul was responsible for the beginning of the monthly church services, held by Gospel Spreading Church, where he lived at Seaton Manor Senior Home in Hampton.

In his later years, Paul Gatling resettled in Hampton, Virginia, where he watched his family grow in number as he was the loving and proud grandfather and great-grandfather of over a dozen. Family and friends remember Paul as a dapper gentleman with a magnanimous personality. Yet, as a follower of Christ, he did well to recognize his humanity, never donning a façade of infallibility.

As Paul's health declined, he remained a kind spirit and seemingly never embittered by what an inequitable society took from him, and even replaced the ugliness with love and light from his very soul. To have briefly made his acquaintance, one could be sure that Paul Gatling remained the epitome of perseverance and dignity.

Mr. Gatling's public viewing will be from 3:00-6:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 3, 2021 at the funeral home.  A funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 4, 2021 at the Hampton Church of the Nazarene, 32 Tidemill Lane, Hampton, VA  23666. The funeral service will be Live Streamed and can be watched by clicking on the link below.      O. H. Smith & Son Funeral Home is Honored to serve the Gatling family. https://fb.me/e/2zQBWRC69