“Paula’s House”
Words and music by Leslie Speirs
with Mrs. Schnabel’s 5th Grade Class
©2023 Leslie Speirs
Miss Paula Culver was born in Dakota, (the North one!)
Her parents were patient and kind to their children, and had fun.
Her brothers and Paula learned to laugh at themselves,
Like when accidentally she fell down some stairs!
And when given ice for a burned hand to treat it,
Brother Ron was confused and just said “Do I eat it??!”
Lessons of love from her childhood made Paula the lady she is today.
Chorus:
Paula’s house is kind and caring.
Paula’sheart is warm and sharing.
She’s been mom to so many as well as her own,
In a fun-loving, joyful, safe place to call home.
She’s brave, smart, and wonderful, an angel, it’s true,
Heaven must smile on this lady………as we do.
Her favorite job was in student affairs at her high school.
She met her husband – they married and started a family.
And soon it began, this foster care vision,
Serving others with love was their prayerful decision.
Three “Fosters” they’d cared for gained family admission,
And they took the bunch with them on a Chilean orphanage mission!
Lessons of caring from her life of service make Paula a lady we love.
Chorus
Chorus
Heaven must smile on this lady……..cause’ we sure do!
Paula Culver was born in 1961 in Dickinson, North Dakota to Jim and Arlene. She has three brothers, Ron, Gord, and Mitch – and sadly, no sisters. Paula loved school and was involved in many different activities. She was part of Student Council, the Social Committee, FHA, debate, and was the host for the pep rallies at her school! She also tried track, basketball, and tennis, but she realized she wasn’t great at them, so she became the manager instead! She LOVES to sing and one of her favorite memories from elementary school was singing on the trash shoots. When asked to describe her favorite teacher, she mentioned two. Mrs. Shelver, her second and third grade teacher was beautiful, and kind and Paula always looked up to her. The second was Mr. Salstrum, who challenged her and taught her to learn as much as you possibly can every chance you get.
Paula was voted “most successful” her senior year of high school. Before she graduated in 1979, she already had an apartment in Arizona where she planned to go to college. Those plans changed when she met a man named David at church. They ended up going ice skating together and she instantly knew she was going to marry him. She decided to stay in Dickinson for college, instead of going to Arizona, and they started dating that summer after graduation. He proposed to her on August 16th, and they were married by December – they have now been married for 44 years – when you know, you know. After getting married, Paula got a job as the student affairs secretary at the high school that she graduated from. This was her all-time favorite job she has had!
Paula and David have 9 children, but if you ask them, they have had many more than that over the years. They have had the honor of fostering over 180 children – and have adopted three of them. Paula has done amazing things in the foster care system, the most important being that she had a bill passed for shaken baby syndrome in one of her foster care babies names. She also gets to speak in front of many important people about foster care and works extremely hard to fight for what is right. She wants to show everyone, no matter who you are, that you were made for a purpose.
Paula’s positive influence has impacted many people in our community and continues on through her children and grandchildren. The most important piece of advice that Paula gave us was that no matter the situation, you can always choose to do the right thing and make a difference.