Even in retirement, service-oriented Little continues to give back

WINGATE — It’s difficult to know what to call Paul Little ’68 when you meet him. Colonel? Doctor? Mister Little?

The humble Little is fine with “Paul.” His accomplishments compel you to treat him with deference, but his unassuming nature disarms you pretty quickly. He’s quick with a smile, and even quicker to lend a hand.

Now retired and back working the family farm in Anson County, Little has lived a full life that has taken him around the world. As a colonel and medical doctor in the U.S. Army, he served on the staff of the Army surgeon general at the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C., and was the first medical editor at the United States Department of Defense Media Center.

The operable word in the preceding sentence is “served.” For Little, serving is second nature, whether serving his country, his alma mater, his church or his community.

Little has even arranged to serve Wingate University in perpetuity. In his will, he has designated most of his estate to go to the University after his death. The Little family’s 1,200-plus-acre tree farm, called Magnolia Farms, will eventually help fund a new science center and endow scholarships to make Wingate more affordable.

“This will pass on your family’s history and heritage with the University to the next generation,” Ted Johnson, the University’s senior director of gift planning, recently told Little.

When Little decides to serve, he goes all-in. Once, a number of years ago, his church, First Baptist of Wadesboro, was in need of a new piano, and Little decided to help them out. Instead of simply writing a check, he flew to New York to talk to the people at Steinway & Co., who soon after came down to Wadesboro to install the Little-purchased instrument.

Little has donated many works of art to the University – some created by his mother, Edna, a fine-arts professor at Wingate in the ’60s and ’70s; others from the personal collection he and his mother accumulated in their extensive travels. His collection called “The Little Collection” is currently on exhibit at the Hinson Art Museum. He has also volunteered as a trustee for the past four years. This year, Little is transitioning to “lifetime trustee” status.

His devotion and work ethic stem at least partially from his teen years, when Little, an only child, had to step in to keep the family farm running after his father died. The farm was a big operation at the time, with a large chicken house, a cotton gin, and cows. Little attended Wingate Junior College in part because it kept him close to home.

“He could go home every day and work the farm,” says his good friend Tommy Allen ’69.

Wingate provided Little with a welcoming place in which to ease into adult independence. The chemistry major got plenty of personal attention, helping prepare him for the much larger classes he would be a part of at his next stop, N.C. State University. “It was a great transition from a high-school environment to a college campus,” he says. “At Wingate, teachers knew your first name. You were not a number.”

Little fell in love with the College and was an engaged student. He was active in the International Relations Club and the Debate Team, and he served on the editorial staff of Meanderings, a student-produced magazine. All three activities served him well as he rose up the ranks in the Army, using his diplomacy, critical-thinking and editing skills along the way.

But as much as Little loved his time at Wingate, Edna would not countenance her precocious son’s stopping his education at the associate-degree level. He went on to keep earning degrees, first a bachelor’s at N.C. State, then a physician assistant degree at the Medical University of South Carolina, and finally his M.D. at East Carolina University.

“I know his mother would have encouraged that,” Allen says. “She would have almost demanded that he go on further.”

Little eventually landed at the Pentagon. Living in Washington, for years Little would fly out every Friday and spend the weekend in Anson County with his aging mother, returning on Sunday evening.

Little was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, when he heard the hijacked plane slam into the building. His administrative assistant was killed. He spent the next 48 hours treating survivors.

It was just another example of Little’s service-oriented life. He and Allen worked together on the Anson County Rescue Squad for years. Later, Little volunteered with the Anson County Historical Society, the North Carolina Forestry Association, the Anson County Voluntary Agricultural District, and the First Baptist Church of Wadesboro, where he also sang in the choir. Little has been the recipient of the Heritage Award from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina for his many years of service to his church congregation in Wadesboro. He also assisted in organizing and building the Gulledge Volunteer Fire Department in Wadesboro.

Little established the Edna Pearle Little Memorial Scholarship in memory of his mother, and he received Wingate University’s Alumni Service Award in 2016.

“Paul has always worked in public service to a degree,” Allen says.

That service continues at Wingate, now and for years into the future.

“What he’s doing will keep the Little family connected to Wingate University forever,” Johnson says.