Paul D. Cambe

See Military Service information below.

Paul David Cambe, affectionately known as ‘Pop-Pop”, 79, of Franklinville, North Carolina, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Sunday, December 28, 2025 at Forsyth Medical Center. He was a strong man and fought hard but lost the battle with sickness. He is now walking on streets of gold with Nana!

Paul was born on October 22, 1946 to Paul Edward and Letha Rae (Nelson) Cambe in Porter County, Indiana. He lived on a farm in Kniman, Indiana, where his family raised cows, pigs, chickens, and ducks.

Pop-Pop asked Jesus into his heart at a revival in 1956, when he was 9 years old. A couple of his favorite songs are “The Old Rugged Cross,” “How Great Thou Art," and "Just As I Am."

As a child, he was able to walk to Kniman Elementary School just a few blocks away. He graduated from Wheatfield High School.

Pop-Pop’s first job was as a dairy farmer. His dad farmed and his mom was a cook at St. Joe’s College in Rensselaer. She enjoyed crocheting, just like her great grand daughter, Abigail. On April 11, 1961, when Pop-Pop was 14 years old, his dad passed away at the age of 43 from a heart attack. His Dad knew he was dying and had asked him and his 2 brothers to go to the store just a few minutes away for a few things. When they came back, he had already passed away.

Paul’s mom met Maurice “Mo” Newsome and they got married in 1977 or 1978. Letha had polio when she was a child so she had a hard time walking. Hot weather helped her get around better, so she and Mo lived in Arizona until 1985, then moved to Indiana. Letha and Mo enjoyed traveling and fishing. “Mo” passed away in January of 1987 at the age of 56. Letha moved into a mobile home park in Demotte, Indiana. Then, she moved to a retirement village in Demotte after a while. Her next home was at a nursing home in Francesville, Indiana, and finally the Rensselaer Care Center in Rensselaer, Indiana. She had a stroke at the Care Center in 1997. Approximately one year after having the stroke, on September 5, 1998, Paul’s mom passed away at the Rensselaer Care Center at the age of 82.

Paul served in the US Army from 1966 to 1969 as a heavy machinery operator in the Vietnam War.

He met Bonnie at a filling station and they got married on February 26, 1971. Their first house was a rental owned by Bonnie’s parents in Lansing, Illinois. They moved into a trailer in Demotte, Indiana some time after and a house located at 819 W. Webster Street in Rensselaer, Indiana. While living there, Paul would work after work and on the weekends at building he and Bonnie’s house from the ground up. Their son, Steve, even “helped” by moving the tools around around the age of 2 or 3! The house was finished in 1974.

Bonnie’s siblings are Richard (Janice) Postma, Marlene (Melvin) Santefort, and Fred (Betty) Postma. Paul and Bonnie had 2 children, Steven David Cambe and Kristen Elizabeth (Timothy) Ward.

Paul worked at U.S. Steel in Gary, Indiana as a crane operator, Case in Rensselaer, Indiana as a mechanic, and worked as a carpenter on McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.

By 1998, he had logged one million miles driven accident-free and was named Indiana’s driver of the year. He retired as a truck driver in 2015. He couldn’t just sit around though. He was hired as a truck driver for a corn farmer.

He was preceded in death by siblings Philip (76) in 2016, Joyce (76) in 2018, James (68) in 2021, and John (78) in 2022.

Nana and Pop-Pop have 4 grandchildren..Abigail, Jackson, Joseph, and James. They have one grandchild who went to Heaven in February of 2016.

In September of 2021, Nana and Pop-Pop moved just up the driveway from family to get to know their grandkids a little bit better. They watched them, played with them, watched movies, sat on rocking chairs on their front porch, and watched the kids play on the oak tree in their front yard.

Nana got sick in January of 2023 and passed away on February 24, 2023, just two days shy of she and Pop-Pop’s 52nd wedding anniversary. The family was so happy that Nana and Pop-Pop had to decided to move closer to them!!

“Pop-Pop” liked to play checkers and nerts, going to the gas station after he picked up the kids from school to get them ice cream or slushies, reminisce, sit on the front porch, watch movies, fishing, tractors, fixing cars, going to Golden Corral, going down the driveway for dinner, and loved his family. Whenever they needed something, he would help as best as he could.

His nephew, Dan, preceded him in death by just a few days.

A Military Funeral Honors Service for Paul will be held on Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 10:00 A.M., at the Holland Cemetery in DeMotte, Indiana. Graveside committal services will be officiated by Pastor Caleb Hon.

Pop-Pop is loved and will be missed dearly.

A big thank you to Ridge Funeral Home for taking care of Paul and writing this obituary. Your care to this family has given us the ability to lay him to rest.