Paul Edward Hastings

Paul Edward Hastings died peacefully on June 23, 2025, with family and close friends at his side. Paul was born on Halloween, October 31, 1945, the son of Marre Sherry Hastings and Harry Lee Hastings, Sr., popularly known as “Papa.”

He is survived by his daughters Paula Hastings (John Gilchrist), Teresa Hauser (Leo), and Leesa Watkins (John), and their mother, Dolly Kyle; his son Paul Hastings, Jr., and his mother Barbara Lyle; grandsons Collier, Slater, and Walker Watkins; and a large extended family.

A life-long Catholic, Paul was a graduate of Catholic High School for Boys, and a communicant of Holy Souls Church.

His business interests over many decades included Moon and Central Distributors (wholesale liquor), Interstate Distributors and Hill Country Wholesale (guns and ammunition), and Hastings Development Company (commercial warehouses).

Like Mark Twain, Paul was fascinated with rivers, and he absorbed everything he could learn about the Arkansas. When the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System began construction in 1963, Paul was watching intently. Later, he talked the engineers into letting him ride with them in a pickup truck back and forth under the Murray Lock and Dam as it was being constructed from 1964 to 1969.

Seeing the incredible business potential on the Arkansas River, Paul formed Dry Dock in 1973 to enable large boats to be pulled from the river and serviced locally. The next such facility was in Greenville, Mississippi, over 150 miles away.

The same year, he incorporated Little Rock Harbor Service, which is still supporting the transportation of crops and goods on the Arkansas River. Paul’s oldest daughter, Paula, waded into his footsteps, earning a captain’s license, and Paul, Jr. has been involved in daily operations since 2011. Paula assumed the executive role when Paul retired in 2013, after 40 years at the helm.

In 2009, Governor Mike Beebe appointed Paul to the Marine Sanitation Advisory Committee, where he served for a dozen years.

Paul Hastings lived his entire life in Little Rock, with frequent stays at the family’s lake house in Hot Springs, where he developed his life-long love of water sports. At the age of four, he was turned loose on Lake Hamilton with a tiny Bowman fishing boat powered by a 3.5 hp Evinrude. He learned to water ski at a young age, and taught Paul, Jr. to ski when the youngster was two years old.

Paul enjoyed the ski jump on Lake Hamilton until it was removed for obvious reasons, and he mastered the slalom as well as barefoot skiing. What he always wanted was … a boat … to go … faster.

He later built fiberglass boats and started restoring antique boats, collecting a small fleet of wooden beauties. Every year, he proudly displayed several of his prize boats at Keels & Wheels (Lakewood / Houston), where he was an affiliate of the Southwest Chapter of the ACBS (Antique and Classic Boat Society).

Paul loved traveling to Lake Tahoe to participate in the Lake Tahoe Concourse d’Elegance.

Hastings served on the board of the Heartland Classics Chapter of the ACBS, which inaugurated the annual show at Garvan Woodland Gardens on Lake Hamilton in 2002. He also enjoyed taking boats to Grand Lake in Oklahoma and Table Rock Lake in Missouri.

The young Paul loved trains, and he built an elaborate railroad system in the attic of the garage when he was a teenager. He was fascinated with airplanes, too, and had quite a few models “flying” above the railroad in the garage years before he ever took control of an actual cockpit. He loved horses and tried his hand at rodeo in high school.

He was an excellent marksman who enjoyed duck hunting with Papa and Harry, Jr. For practice, they would toss Vienna Sausage cans into the air and see who could keep pieces up the longest by firing at them with a shotgun.

Paul enjoyed classical music and played the piano by ear. One of his most memorable evenings was taking the baton to direct the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra playing “The Drinking Song” from the operetta “The Student Prince.” Barbara adds: “And he did a darn good job!” Spoiler: he bought the directing opportunity at a charity auction.

He supported various charities over the years, often by providing a (not Gilligan’s Island-type) three-hour tour on the Arkansas River aboard his Chris Craft Roamer, “Chief.” Paul participated in numerous flotillas up and down the river over the years to help promote business and recreation.

Hastings served on the board of the Little Rock Montessori School in its formative years, as it moved from downtown Little Rock to its current Pleasant Valley location. Paul was a hands-on board member who drove the dump truck to deliver all the sand he donated for the school yard.

At Little Rock University (now UALR), Paul was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He frequently hosted his Pike brothers at the family’s lake house in Hot Springs, until one of them accidentally burned it to the ground. His fraternity brothers and their girlfriends enjoyed the annual hayride that Paul hosted, driving his beloved old Diamond T tractor trailer truck.

Paul Hastings was a mechanical and engineering genius who invented several useful items. Unfortunately, he did not patent the air foil which he designed for the top of the company trucks hauling liquor from Kentucky to Arkansas every week. He was interested in conserving fuel, but he wasn’t interested in developing his invention into a business. Someone else took advantage of that opportunity.

Paul served on the Finance Committee of the Holy Souls Parish Council and was a long-time member of SMEA (Sales and Marketing Executives Association). He attended annual meetings of the Seagram Family Association and the WSWA (Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America), traveling to various cities around the country and maintaining a strong network in the industry.

He was an enthusiastic member of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, Little Rock chapter.

Ultimately, Paul’s legacy will be carried forward by his children.

Paula: “I have a lot of normal, everyday, father-daughter memories with my dad, and a lot of things most people don’t get to experience. So many of those memories formed on the Arkansas River.

“Together, Dad and I raised sunken barges and towboats; we raised the Salty Parrot Restaurant when it sank near the NLR bank of the Arkansas River. We moved the USS Razorback (submarine) into its place in NLR.

“With one of our cranes, we picked up a Russian MIG that crashed near the Little Rock airport. We carried and set the bronze Firefighters Memorial statue behind the state capitol.

“My dad taught me so much about problem-solving and how to arrive at an appropriate solution. It was all work, and it was often hard, but we had fun doing it together.”

Teresa: “Like my siblings, I have fond memories of our dad at the lake house, teaching us to water ski and safely handle boats. He loved pulling the three of us (sisters) at the same time behind the custom ski boat he built. I especially enjoyed the father-daughter trips to Lake Tahoe that Dad and I took. Dad and I also shared a love for Greek life. I was so honored to have him pin me as a Pike little sister.”

Leo Hauser: “When meeting Paul, it was clear he had a lust for life with a Hemingway embrace and a mischievous glint born of innate curiosity. He was always looking for something to invent or improve. These characteristics created a unique soul and spirit, which I was blessed to experience.”

Leesa: “Dad would pull us on skis for hours on Lake Hamilton, and he never tired of it. My most fun memory was racing him down the black diamond Centennial run at Breckenridge, Colorado. It was the first time I ever beat him at anything, and we had a great day!

“When our mom would take us to the lake house before Dad got off work for the weekend, he would fly over the boat docks to let us know he was on his way. We would all pile in the car to pick him up at the airport in Hot Springs.

“Dad loved running heavy equipment, and anything he exposed to our boys, they can operate. He taught Collier to run a forklift when he was three years old, and Slater has a forklift operator’s license.

“My dad enjoyed speed, and Slater seems to have inherited that gene. From snow skiing in Gstaad, Switzerland to barefoot skiing on Lake Hamilton, Dad always wanted to go fast.”

John Watkins: “Paul and I spent a lot of time together over the past 29 years. He was an incredible engineer – a perennial student determined to understand how everything worked.

“I learned so much from him about antique wooden boats, cranes, tugboats, warehousing, his youngest daughter, classical music, liquor and gun wholesaling, how not to follow OSHA safety standards but just get **** done, and life in general.”

Paul, Jr: “My fondest memories of Dad (and Mom) are of the years we spent time together on the ‘Chief’ and the ‘Brown ‘n’ Surf’ (Charlie Meyer’s boat) on the Arkansas River and in Fort Lauderdale.

“We all worked hard most of the time, but we took fun trips to Nassau, Exuma, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“I felt lucky to have a dad who knew so much about so many different things – boats, planes, anything mechanical, engineering, construction, you name it.

“Someone once said that if you have a job you love, you will never work a day in your life. That was Dad.”

There will be a visitation at Smith Funeral Home on Main Street in North Little Rock on Monday, June 30, starting at 5:00 p.m., followed by a Rosary at 6:30. Paul’s funeral will be Tuesday, July 1, at 11:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church in Little Rock, followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Catholic High School, Our Lady of the Holy Souls, Catholic Church or a rural animal shelter of your choice.

Smith North Little Rock Funeral Home, 1921 Main St., North Little Rock, AR 72114. 501-758-1170.