Extract from the 1920 Census:
Name: Paul W Pettis
Age: 1 6/12
Estimated birth year: 1919
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Race: white
Sex: male
Relationship to head of house: son
Home in 1920: Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Address: farm
Marital status: single
Father's birthplace: Wisconsin
Mother's birthplace: Wisconsin
Occupation: none
Siblings living at home: none
Census place: Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Roll: T625_1984; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 136; Image: 456
Date: 21 Jan 1920

Extract from the 1930 Census:
Name: Paul Pettis
Age: 11
Estimated birth year: 1919
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Race: white
Sex: male
Relation to head-of-house: son
Home in 1930: Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Marital status: single
Education: able to speak English
Education: able to read and write
Father's birthplace: Wisconsin
Mother's birthplace: Wisconsin
Occupation: attending school
Siblings living at home: Lorraine (age 9), Dorothy (7), Russell (3 9/12), and Phyllis (9/12)
Census place: Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Roll: 2572; Page: ; Enumeration District: 20; Image: 135.0
Date: 8 Apr 1930

Extract from the 1940 Census:
Name: Paul Pettis
Age: 21
Estimated birth year: 1919
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Race: white
Sex: male
Relation to head-of-house: son
Home in 1940: Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Marital status: single
Highest grade of school completed: college 2 years
Living on farm: yes
City of residence in 1935: Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Resident on farm in 1935: yes
Occupation: attending school - teachers college
Siblings living at home: Lorraine (age 18), Dorothy (17), Russell (13), Phyllis (10), and Sylvia (2)
Census place: Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Roll: T627_4478; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 18-21
Date: 20 Apr 1940

Extract from U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947:
Name: Paul Woodrow Pettis
Age: 22
Birth date: 24 Jun 1918
Birth place: Fairchild, Wisconsin
Race: white
Address: rural route 1, Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Telephone: none
Name of person who will always know your address: Floyd Chester Pettis, rural route 1, Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Employer: Eau Claire Teachers College student
Place of employment: Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Height: 6 feet 0 inches
Weight: 160
Eyes: blue
Hair: red
Complexion: light
Other characteristics: not listed
Registration date: 16 Oct 1940

Extract from the 1950 Census:
Name: Paul W Pettis
Age: 31
Estimated birth year: 1919
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Race: white
Sex: male
Relation to head-of-house: head
Home in 1950: Washington, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Address: Brian Street
Marital status: married
Living on farm: no
Occupation: millwright
Industry: paper mill
At work during last week: yes
Number of hours worked: 45
Census place: Washington, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Date: 11 Apr 1950

Extract from U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946:
Name: Paul W Pettis
Birth year: 1918
Race: white, citizen
Nativity state or country: Wisconsin
State: Wisconsin
County or city: Waukesha
Enlistment date: 17 Oct 1942
Enlistment state: Wisconsin
Enlistment city: Milwaukee
Branch: branch immaterial - warrant officers, USA
Branch code: branch immaterial - warrant officers, USA
Grade: private
Grade code: private
Term of enlistment: enlistment for the duration of the war or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: selectees (enlisted men)
Source: civil life
Education: 4 years of college
Civil occupation: student codes 0x, 2x, 4x and 6x as pertain to students will be converted, for machine records purposes, to the code number 992
Marital status: married
Height: 72
Weight: 148

Extract from U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947:
Name: Paul Woodrow Pettis
Age: 22
Birth date: 24 Jun 1918
Birth place: Fairchild, Wisconsin
Race: white
Address: rural route 1, Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Telephone: none
Name of person who will always know your address: Floyd Chester Pettis, rural route 1, Fairchild, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Employer: Eau Claire Teachers College student
Place of employment: Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Height: 6 feet 0 inches
Weight: 160
Eyes: blue
Hair: red
Complexion: light
Other characteristics: not listed
Registration date: 16 Oct 1940

Obituary from the "Tribune-Record-Gleaner" of Clark County, Wisconsin, dated 25 Jul 2001:
Paul W. Pettis (1918-2001)
Paul W. Pettis, 83, Neillsville, Clark County, died on Friday, July 20, 2001, at the Edgewater Haven Nursing Home, Port Edwards. Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m., on Tuesday, July 24, at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Neillsville. The Rev. Woodrow Pace officiated. Interment was in the Columbia Cemetery. Pallbearers were his grandsons, Scott Dickson, Matt Strangfeld, David Strangfeld, Tim Strangfeld, Arnold Peter Strangfeld, and Adam Pettis.
Paul Woodrow Pettis was born on June 24, 1918, in Fairchild, to Floyd C. and Margaret J. (nee Whitcomb) Pettis. He attended Pettisville Grade School, located between Fairchild and Augusta, and later graduated from Fairchild High School, at the age of 16, as the valedictorian. After graduation, he attended two years of farming short course in Madison. Then as a way for him to pay for his future college courses, he worked as a milk tester in Rusk and Vernon counties. He attended teachers college in Eau Claire and then went on to teach school. He married Ella Rimling on May 6, 1942, at the Fairview Church, Fairchild. Shortly thereafter, he entered the Army, was injured in training, and transferred over to the Army Air Corps, where he taught navigation during World War II. Upon returning from the service, he worked as a millwright in the paper mill in Eau Claire. Eventually, he returned to teaching and one of the schools he taught at was the Riverside School, located five miles south of Neillsville. In 1954, he and his family moved to Neillsville and in 1955, he became a social worker and worked for Clark, Wood, and Outagamie counties. He retired in 1982 and then he and his wife did volunteer driving for the Clark County Social Services Department. They drove all over the state and often would make several trips to Marshfield in one day. He was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and had taught catechism. He was also a member of the Nation Rifle Association and was an avid hunter and gunsmith.
Survivors include his wife, Ella Pettis, Neillsville; one son, Paul M. (Beverly) Pettis, Cadott; two daughters, Patricia (Arnold) Strangfeld, Nekoosa, and Mary (Daniel) Dick, Neillsville; 17 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren; one brother, Russell (Alice) Pettis, New Brighton, Minn.; four sisters, Lorraine Hardesty, Augusta, Dorothy (Bill) Heinenmann, California, Phyllis Pettis, Augusta, and Sylvia Bertrang, Eau Claire and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother-in-law, Loyal Hardesty.
Gesche Funeral Home, Neillsville, assisted the family with arrangements.