HandyMan Paul

Paul first appeared at the lab, I think it was ’95 or so – we were still at the old building. He was helping with a project in the back – so for a while, Paul was just this guy in the back room –  
working part-time. Some days he was there, some days not. And then after a while, Paul was there all the time.

in the lab 2014

Even though Paul mostly hung out in the warehouse, he soon knew everyone at the lab, and everyone was buddies with Paul, and everyone was keen to the fact Paul was a fix-it guy. Soon we were all asking for personal favors – replacing a light bulb here, fixing an electrical short there. And very soon these favors went beyond the lab all the way to our homes!

       The first time Paul was at my house, my hot water tank had rusted through, and I asked Paul if he could hook up the new tank. When Paul arrived that afternoon, he and his dog, Buckwheat, got out of the pick-up truck. (I think Buckwheat was standing in the light Paul saw his last moments on earth, and that’s why Paul walked to the light instead of coming back to us.) Well, my daughter, Amanda, who was nine years old at the time, was home from school. I introduced her to Paul and Buckwheat, and then she and I went into the house leaving Paul and his trusty servant to hook up the hot water tank in the garage.

       As soon as we were in the house with the door closed, Amanda turned to me and exclaimed, “Those two look like movie stars!”

       Paul’s good looks were what everyone noticed first about him. But the second impression left all surface stuff far behind. Once you got to know Paul, all you saw was what was inside. He was always ready with a smile and had a genuine love for the people he knew. Paul was generous with all that he had – his expertise, his money, his time.

       Another notable day when Paul came to my house was in the summer of 2000. My dining room lamp which hangs from the ceiling decided on its own one night to just lower itself a few feet! I asked Paul if he could take a look at it and see if he could lift the lamp back up to where it was supposed to be. When he arrived that afternoon, I was still at work and Amanda let him in. Paul fixed the lamp and left. When I got home, Amanda told me Paul talked and talked the whole time he was there – mostly about me and how wonderful I was. But, Amanda added, Paul said that he was very worried about the mistake I was making in my choice for President in the upcoming election!

       Oh dear, the rabbit hole just opened. Politics! Paul loved talking politics and about being a libertarian and mostly he relished his tirades against Democrats. In the past few years this rabbit hole got deeper and darker as Paul devoured conspiracy theories, and his dislike spread to Republicans also. And dislike is a nice word for the way he really felt!

       When we were at the hospital and Paul was on life support, the nurse and Paul’s mom were asking Paul to wake up, he had visitors! Wake up and say hello! Mike and I leaned in and told him, “Paul, you have to wake up – Hillary was just sworn in as President!” His mom realized what we were doing and joined in, “Paul you need to tell Mike and Denise how much you hate the Bushes.” Statements like these any other time would have set Paul off on such a rant – but on that day, those words did not stir him, and that’s when we had to accept that Paul had gone off with Buckwheat somewhere.

       One time in the early 2000s, I told Paul that when it rains, water streamed down one of the walls in my sunroom. Could he possibly stop by and check my roof? Paul arrived that day with a bucket of tar. He climbed to the roof and poured the entire bucket on it. Then he came down from the roof, gave me a nod and said that would do it. A week or so later, I went to Paul and told him it rained the day before, and water streamed down the wall in my sunroom. “Dang!” Paul exclaimed, and he arrived at the house that afternoon with a bucket of tar, and he poured the entire bucket on the roof. He gave me a nod and said that would do it.

       I lost count of how many buckets of tar Paul put on the roof to plug up whatever was causing the leak. While each failure confounded him, each new bucket of tar he was sure was going to take care of the problem.

spice birthday caske

       Not everything Paul did worked. But because of the leak in my roof, I now have the image imprinted on my mind of Paul tipping the bucket and pouring everything he had out of it onto whatever needed its contents!

       That was Paul.
     In the early 2000s, there was a new employee at the lab working on the electron microscope. It took him no time at all to realize Paul was a fix-it man for all of us, one who made house calls. And one Friday afternoon I heard the new employee in the hall talking to Paul, “You will be at my house at 7:30 tomorrow morning and you will look at the crack in my driveway!” I thought to myself, “What a boor this new guy is!” And then like a mirror my comment reflected back on me – was this what Paul heard whenever any of us were talking to him/asking anything of him? Were we all boors taking advantage of Paul every time he turned around? Had we ever told him enough how grateful and thankful we were? Likely not.

      

Paul, and yeah, Mike

One day Paul told me about his favorite children’s book, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. Mike and his steam shovel did everything together. But over time, steam shovels became obsolete as bigger and better diggers came along and there was less and less work for Mike and his faithful companion. In the end, Mike and the steam shovel dug a basement for the new town hall and then the steam shovel remained in the basement working as a furnace for the new building. Paul got a tear in his eye as he told me the story. I couldn’t help but superimpose Mike’s steam shovel on Paul – both dwelt in the background – the steam shovel in the basement, Paul mostly in the warehouse – and yet both pumped life into their respective buildings.

       That was Paul. 

20200311 34 Handyman Paul