If you are a friend or neighbor of 85-year-old Paul Morphy, you're a fortunate person. For years, Morphy has fixed things for his neighbors, from appliances to storm windows. For his friends, including those in business, he has fixed everything from cabinets, chairs, and organizers to humidifiers and steam mops. And if you have a particular need for a tool or item, Morphy will build it. Sometimes he'll invent, design, and construct an item to perform a certain function.

If there is such a thing as "a man's man," then Morphy is "an engineer's engineer." After serving in the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army during World War II, with assignments in the Philippines and Japan, Morphy returned to the Midwest to complete his education. In a few years he earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kansas.

In 1955, Morphy moved into a Prairie Village house he designed and had built according to his specifications. He and his wife, Joanne, raised two daughters there. He has been a widower for almost 20 years, and he still lives in the house.

Morphy's career path led him to employment at the Marley Cooling Tower Co.; General Motors, where he designed tooling for F-84 aircraft parts; the Koch Cos. (later purchased by Hobart), where he designed refrigerators and remained for 24 years, becoming a senior project engineer; the Vendo Co., where he designed vending machines; Westinghouse, where he worked with jet engines; and the Daisy Co., where he designed an electric coffee pot. After retiring, he even worked part time for Labconco, designing chemical fume hoods.

Morphy has two design patents related to refrigerators and fume hoods and two invention patents related to window sashes and commercial refrigerator cabinets.

Paul Morphy is enamored of gadgets. He makes them, and if he sees one that intrigues him, he purchases it. He has installed electronic rain and temperature gauges in his home, and motion lights in his closet that go on when he sticks his hand inside. Next to his favorite chair in his favorite room, he switches on a camera monitor that allows him to see who has entered his driveway or whether the mail carrier has arrived.

Entertaining gadgets that Morphy has made include a wooden bank that falls apart when a coin is dropped in, a wooden box from which a spider crawls when it's opened, and wind spinners made of cedar.

His kitchen contains every imaginable electric tool, plus a ceiling mobile with an airplane on one end and a small world globe on the other. With the flick of a switch, the airplane's propeller turns and the airplane flies in a circle. In every room are Morphy's creations: napkin holders, video racks, tables, ladders, footstools, planters, book cases. Morphy proudly boasts, "I sold a ton of my ironing boards with their fold-up seats!"

Morphy has taken pastel painting lessons for five years. During that time he has built and designed art display racks, art equipment carrying cases, frames, box lights for tracing, and folding art tables ("three tons" of those tables, according to Morphy). Many of his attractive paintings are displayed on the walls of his home, illuminated by track lighting that he installed.

Morphy has taken piano lessons for two years, and his music teacher has received his tables, shelves, and numerous other items for her studio. Morphy was a volunteer for the Johnson County Library for 12 years and received the Library's Volunteer of the Year Award during his tenure, during which he made organizers, shelves, and label dispensers.

After a friend requested a nautical table for a room with a boating theme, Morphy built a table with four boat oars for legs. I'll leave it to the reader to imagine the items he has built for his five lucky grandchildren.

Morphy's workshop is in his basement, where craft makers would be awed by the array of specialized equipment. Cabinets hold hundreds of screws, bolts, nuts, and myriad other supplies, efficiently organized and labeled. He has attached a system of fans and flexible tubing to his saws and sanders; the tubes carry sawdust to a large six-foot bag. The shop is clean, and everything is in its place.

Morphy doesn't belong to any clubs or organizations because "I'm too independent for that," he said. But he does attend many functions put on by the county and various cities in Johnson County, such as festivals and group activities at community centers. He especially enjoys band concerts.
Morphy is thankful for his good health and keeps active physically and mentally. He's a happy man who enjoys giving to others.

"I just love what I'm doing," Morphy said. "I like to make things for people. I have a lot of fun."