PAUL GENE RODEN

PAUL GENE RODEN, a long time resident of Paris and Fondly, TX died June 24, 2013 at the age of 75. He was a third generation Lamar county funeral director, working alongside his brother, Marcus Roden, as co-managers of Gene Roden's Sons, a company acquired by Gene Roden in 1952. In 1980, he left the firm to become president of Northeast United Life Insurance Company. In 2006, after serving 21 years in the funeral industry, Arvin Starrett purchased the company, renaming it Starrett Funeral Home. Roden graduated from the Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science in 1961. He was a member of the East Texas Funeral Directors Association, Texas Funeral Directors Association and the National Funeral Directors Association.