Paul Philip Singleton

Paul Philip Singleton was born at home in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore on December 16, 1943. He was one of 7 children, the 6th to be born. He was the middle child of his mother’s second round of children. His sister Jane 3 years older and his brother George 3 years younger. His older siblings played many roles in his life.

His eldest sister Rosemary played nurse and mommy’s helper. She helped her mother deliver Paul at home. Rosemary would forever consider Paul her baby and recognized his face even after Alzheimer had gotten the best of her memories.

Paul’s eldest brother Jack was the first to leave home for the Navy. When Paul was just 7 years old, Jackie married sweet Jean. Paul remembered how special he felt to be part of Jackie and Jean’s wedding, he was thrilled to recently see a photo of himself and little brother George as the ring bearer.

His brother Bob was a clothing salesmen at one time and made sure Paul was dressed in the finest suits. Such nice suits that the priests at Calvert Hall high school thought he had surely stolen them. Paul said he felt like one of those Italian gangsters walking around Hampden in his fancy suits.

His brother Frank showed him the ropes down on the water. He loved being the skipper on Frank’s Last Hurrah boat and he never minded washing the decks. He was forever grateful to live in Frank’s cabin on Ferry Point for several years and look out at the Magothy River every day.

His younger brother George, the family painter, helped paint Paul and Kay’s house on Beaumont Ave. Paul always remembered his father taking him and George fishing. He admired George and all of his brothers for their military service and fighting for our country.

His sister Jane is heartbroken to lose her last sibling. She and Paul were very close. She fondly remembers playing marbles together when they were young and how Paul always won. She will never forget when their mother had to find a new home for their dog “Woof Woof”, Paul and Jane sat on the front steps of their row home and held each other and cried. They were always there for each other, they talked on the phone almost everyday in recent years and often watched the Ravens games together via phone.

Paul’s father was a hard working family man who managed to put all of his children through 12 years of Catholic school. And as for his mother, her children were everything. She made sure they had nutritious food to eat and always baked special cakes to celebrate their birthdays. Paul’s favorite was orange cake and she never failed to deliver.

With so many brothers and sisters, of course came many nieces and nephews, 23 total! He also had the honor to become a great, great, great uncle a few years ago. The dynamic between many of his nieces and nephews was much more like cousins, and to some he was also a babysitter, to others a party buddy, the goofball uncle, or all of the above. He was the young cool uncle with hip clothes, a cool car, stylist hair cuts, and ever changing facial hair.

When it was time for Paul to leave Hampden, he set sail to New York to learn the art of hair. He learned novel techniques at the new Vidal Sassoon school that would revolutionize how hair was done. After beauty school he got his feet and his hands wet at Canned Ego inside of Hochschild Kohn on Howard Street in downtown Baltimore. He loved working on the young models that would come in and he quickly became a very popular hair stylist. He was leading the way for change from the 1960’s beehives to blow outs and modern cuts. He ventured into owning his own business as a young man in his 20’s. First, he started a salon downtown on Saratoga street, then his mainstay shop, The Hair Loft on Frederick Road in Catonsville.

Hair Loft was in the heart of Catonsville, and it’s where Paul’s big heart shined. When he opened the shop he started to notice that there were residents from Spring Grove who would walk around town, he would bring them into his shop and clean them up at no charge. Paul always thought part of his job was to make people laugh and to cheer them up if they were having a bad day. His shop is where new clients turned into life long friends. Paul met his best friend Jimmy Lupinek there. They became running buddies and logged hundreds of miles over the years.
Paul bought a big house on Beaumont for his expanding family. On his time off work he was always painting the house, trimming hedges, stripping old paint, and working on other projects to restore the 1902 house to its original beauty. His home became the site of many parties and an easy place for friends and family to stop by for a quick hello. He loved being able to live, work, and raise his children in Catonsville’s wonderful village.

When the time came to close the doors at Hair Loft, Paul tried his hand at selling cars. With the gift of gab he sold many cars over the years and then transitioned to other positions at the Annapolis Subaru dealership. He loved working there with his family and many friends and living in Annapolis. He loved going to work even when he had become ill and he was exhausted. He was motivated to get out of bed to see his buddies.

Paul continued to cut hair for some of his long time clients every third Sunday at Gabriele’s. His daughters took turns as shampoo girls over the years. Finally when Paul hit 50 years of cutting hair, he decided to put his scissors down.

In 2022 Paul retired from Annapolis Cars and moved to Mt Airy, Md with his daughter Laurel. He loved spending everyday with his baby grandchildren, seeing their first steps, hearing first words, and even first jokes. They loved seeing Papu everyday and helped take care of him.

Paul passed away on April 24th 2023 at the age of 79. He battled myelodysplastic syndrome for the last 8 years of his life. He was everyone’s favorite patient at Saint Agnes. He loved all of his nurses and they loved him, always giving him hugs and laughing at his jokes.

Paul is survived by his beloved daughters Ashley (Joseph) Cuddy, Alexandra (Steve) Cratin, Laurel (James) Musser. His sister Jane Gutridge, sister-in-law Nell Singleton, former wife Kay Malamphy, and 6 grandchildren.

He was predeceased by parents John and Mary Singleton, brothers John (Regina), Robert, Francis, George and sister Rosemary (William) Sapp, brother-in-law Richard Gutridge, nephew Vincent Gutridge, and niece Cindy Singleton.

Paul will always be loved and will be missed by many. His youngest granddaughter Madilyn, just 2 years old, reminds us that “Papu is not sick anymore, he’s happy happy happy. He likes heaven.”

Friends may call at Candle Light Funeral Home 1835 Frederick Road Catonsville, MD 21228 on Friday May 5th from 2-4 and 6-8. A service will held at Candle Light on May 6th at 11:30 AM. Reception to follow.

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