Remembering Paul

When Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell died in 1970, he left be hind an unexplained fortune of $2,000,000, including $800,000 in cash stashed away in shoeboxes in a Springfield hotel. To celebrate the second anniversary of Powell's demise, the Rev. Donald Wheat, pastor of the Third Unitarian Church of Chicago, held a memorial service last week. "If we hold services for Gandhi, Washington, Lincoln and other greats," explained the pastor, "then maybe people like Powell should be remembered by their constituents too."

Powell was given a service with all the trimmings. After reading the parable of the rich fool, Wheat followed up with a nursery rhyme, The Crooked Man. Wheat reviewed Powell's career: twice voted the state's outstanding legislator, named Man of the Year by veterans' groups. He recalled how Powell's secretary, affectionately known as "Little Bit," accompanied the old pol on his last trip and tried, unsuccessfully, to spirit away the shoeboxes before authorities discovered them. Wheat wound up with a favorite Powell quote:"There's only one thing worse than a defeated politician and that is a broke one"-- a condition Powell steadfastly avoided. The church collection was taken up in shoeboxes.

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