Yesterday: Paul Bernhardt

Published 12:00 am Monday, April 9, 2012

Betty Dan Spencer shared this photograph of Paul Leake Bernhardt in his band uniform at Boyden High School in Salisbury. Bernhardt, owner of Bernhardt Hardware Co. and mayor of Salisbury from 1967-71, died Thursday night at the age of 87. A visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. today at Summersett Funeral Home. His funeral is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday at St. John’s Lutheran Church, and he will be buried at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the family plot at Chestnut Hill Cemetery. Bernhardt later served in the European Theatre as part of the Army Air Force during World War II. Spencer recalled that Bernhardt, who didn’t smoke, would sell his cigarette allotment to other soldiers and pocket the cash. When he returned from the war, Bernhardt had saved enough cigarette money to buy a 1946 Ford convertible, Spencer said.