Behe Genealogy

Paul attended Cathedral School, and attended St. Francis College for a time. The college is in Loretto, and was supposedly built on land once owned by Anthony Behe, son of Emanuel.

Paul worked for the USO prior to WWII. In 1942 he enlisted in the Army, and completed Officer Candidate School. He served in the European Theatre with the 555th Army Engineers. More on the unit can be found at www.555thheavypontonbattalion.com During the war the unit passed within miles of Ingwiller, Alsace where Emanuel had been born born two centuries before. Following the war he rejoined the USO, where he met and married Mary Katherine Burns of Detroit.

Paul and Kay worked with the USO in Seattle for a brief time before settling in Detroit. There Paul worked at Ford Motor for 20 years before retiring in 1973. He passed away in 1979. After rearing seven children, Kay became a teacher with the Detroit schools. She passed away in December of 2010.

In 2008 while on a vacation out east, my family spent a few days visiting our Behe roots. We trooped around cemeteries, visited churches and historical societies, and walked through towns in Cambria and Blair County.

As our sons found graves with the Behe name, or visited churches where scores of Behes were baptized, married, or eulogized, we wondered what our ancestors lives must have been like. Unfortunately, we know few answers, but would guess that their struggles and aspirations were not unlike ours. The story of an American family, whose journey began when a man stepped on to a ship two hundred years ago.

Emanuel >> Mathias >> John >> James >> Paul >> James >> Paul and Jim