Paul Sterbin Check
May 24, 1934 — September 17, 2025
On September 17, the Commemoration of the Impression of the Stigmata on the Body of St. Francis, Paul Sterbin Check peacefully went to his eternal reward in his study in his Arlington, Texas home. He was surrounded by his family praying the Rosary as his wife, Dianne, held his hand. Before losing consciousness during the previous week, Paul received the Sacraments of Confession, Extreme Unction, Holy Communion and the Apostolic Pardon.
Paul was born on May 24, 1934, the Feast of Mary Help of Christians, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the same date on which, 63 years later, his eldest son, Paul Nicholas, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport. He graduated from Fairfield College Preparatory School in Connecticut in 1952, from which he received a classical Catholic formation in the best tradition of the Society of Jesus and a lifelong love of learning. After an apprenticeship to a tool and die maker, Paul attended and graduated (1957) from Fairfield University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, a field he called, “the philosopher’s science.”
Paul’s marriage to his lifelong love and bride of 68 years, Dianne Lucille Creaturo, was witnessed by Fr. Leo Pollard, S.J. on September 7, 1957, at St. Teresa in Trumbull, Connecticut. The two met in the café of a local bowling alley at a CYO social, at which meeting Paul explained to Dianne his career ambition to be a big-game hunter.
Instead, the newlyweds moved to Cincinnati where, in 1960, he received his Master of Science degree from the University of Cincinnati in Nuclear Engineering.
Following a period of employment at Pratt and Whitney in East Hartford, Connecticut, as an engineer with the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program, he accepted, in 1966, a position with the Atomic Energy Commission (later the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) headquartered in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. Here Paul and Dianne reared their three sons and here he served his country in nuclear reactor regulation for four decades, retiring from the NRC in the Senior Executive Service as Deputy Regional Administrator of the field office in Arlington, Texas, to which city the Checks relocated in the summer of 1983.
Following his retirement from government service, he held two positions consulting for the nuclear industry, including at the Savannah River Plant in Savannah, Georgia during which time he and Dianne lived in Aiken and Columbia, South Carolina.
After returning to their home in Lone Star State, Paul taught Euclid at the College of St. Thomas More in Fort Worth (later Fisher-More College) on whose board of governors he also served.
Paul is preceded in death by his father, Paul Albert Check, his mother Gizela “Grace” Sterbinsky Check Thorson, Diane Check Kingman, beloved sister and her husband George Kingman.
Paul is survived by his beloved wife of 68 years, Dianne Lucille Creaturo Check; his brother, Richard Anthony Check and his wife, Joy McIntosh; his three sons, the Reverend Paul Nicholas, Edward Leo and his wife, Lauri Ann Mahaffey, Christopher Jon and his wife, Jacqueline Claire Kenihan; and their four sons, Nicholas James, Alexander Thomas and his wife Leti Mariani, John Paul Michael, and Nathanael Stephen.
By profession a man of science, Paul was better read in literature, poetry, history, philosophy, politics, and theology than the majority of PhDs. He collected over the decades a magnificent library that filled every room of the home he and Dianne shared since moving to Texas in 1983. Among Paul’s other loves were his garden, tennis, and small-boat sailing in his Norwegian Nutshell Kombi Jolle gaff-rigged sailing dingy affectionally named “Puff” after his favorite folk-revival song. A self-taught chef, he excelled in the culinary arts. He said cooking at its highest expression was like a poem or even a prayer.
Paul loved to entertain. He valued hospitality because it led to conviviality, which led to conversation and friendship, which, properly fostered, led to the truth—something he insisted existed and was knowable. This principle informed every family dinner in the Check home, which were lively forums for the discussion of ideas, not for their own sake but in the service of the good, the true, and the beautiful all finding their most perfect expression in the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Faith.
Above all, Paul understood his role as a surrogate of God. His call was to form men like himself: wholly integrated men. He fulfilled this vocation by word and deed. He lived a life of service to his family, to his neighborhood, to his parish, to his country. He lived every day the central truth of a life of self-giving: The greatest example a father can provide his sons is his love of his wife.
Solemn High Requiem Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite will be offered at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Fort Worth, Texas on Saturday 20 September at 9:00 AM. Burial at Oakwood Cemetery, Fort Worth, Texas. Barbecue reception to follow at St Mary the Virgin Catholic Church, Arlington, Texas.
The Check family thanks all the good souls who have kept Paul close in prayer especially the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, the Alhambra Carmelites, the Sisters of Life, the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, Fr. Christopher Stainbrook and the parishioners of the Catholic Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, the members of the Courage and EnCourage apostolate, the clergy and staff of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, Wisconsin, the staff and students of the Chesterton Schools Network, the staff and students of St. Martin’s Academy, the staff and seminarians of the Pontifical College Josephinum, and the staff of Catholic Answers.
The family extends special gratitude to the selfless team of caregivers who gave joyful and generous assistance to Paul during his two-year contest with cancer: Paul and Carol Denning, Annie Irlbeck, Christy Rubalcaba, Sam Stauffer, Luciane Urban, Kim Evans, Shannon Griffin, Minnie Aceves, Matthew Artiles, Steve Pavela, Robert Florance, and Jeanne Hosinski.
The Check family asks that in lieu of flowers, generous gifts be made in Paul’s memory to two institutions very dear to him: The Abbey of the Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles in Gower, Missouri and Saint Martin’s Academy in Fort Scott, Kansas.
Paul Sterbin Check, Requiescat in Pace.