Paul Richard Makowski

Paul's Career

Paul use to joke that he had 3 jobs in his life and his Mom was responsible for getting all of them. Paul's first job was working on Merle's ranch with his cousin near Rand for a couple of summers when he was still in school. His pay was $2 a day and he worked 7 days a week except one Sunday when the crew rebelled and demanded a day off for fishing. He then went to work for Jack Diamond a builder at the Pinery in the early 70's for a short stint before he started working for Terracor in 1973. He was one of the pioneers of the Pinery when they were still installing signs and paving parts of the original Pinery Parkway. He was there when they installed the water pipes and supporting systems. The Pinery Water District broke away from Terracor and Paul followed. 

In his 47 years he saw the Pinery go from a fledgling development to what it is today. He was involved in all aspects of the water district and eventually became the superintendent of the water side and finished his career doing augmentation planning. Paul knew the system like the back of his hand.  

In the early days in the late 70's, he brought a small bit of fame to the district when a photographer from the Parker paper saw a man on a row boat in the middle of a small pond at the south entrance to the Pinery. He must have gotten a real hoot out of it to actually publish it in the paper. It was Paul rowing out to work on the fountain when he was caught on camera.  He climbed in many a trench to fix water breaks, laid in the snow in the middle of the night on his belly holding a propane torch down in the meter pit thawing out the meter so the homeowner could have water that night. He told a story about a driver hitting their brakes one time because they thought Paul might be laying there dead.  Paul reflected on a story once about being in a trench while fixing a  water break on a cold day and putting off so much steam from his head and body that the crew joked about him being a one man steam shovel. 

Paul was devoted to the success and well being of the district. He filled many hats and enjoyed them in his time working for the district. Paul retired in January of 2020.

Paul's Interest

Paul enjoyed working on and riding his minibike in his junior high school days. After seeing Easy Rider, Paul's dad took his minibike to work and fabricated it into a chopper minibike. At one point he and his friends turned it into a 3 wheel trike chopper. In high school Paul became interested in British sportscars, mainly Austin Healeys. He soon had 2 project cars and kept one throughout his life. If he saw one parked and the owner near, he would occasionally strike up a conversation and share his enthusiasm. 

When Paul was 12, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” came out. He conned his mom into taking him twice. He became an avid western movie fan from that point on. Paul enjoyed watching Star Trek over the years and liked spaceships. He had fun making potato guns and playing with them. His favorite channel was TMC the classic movie channel. In addition to his Austin Healey, he had owned a Mustang Fastback and later a Camaro. His daily beaters were his pickup trucks and Subaru.

Paul's biggest passion was music. He bought his first stereo from Radio Shack and soon became an avid audiophile. He bought a state of the art home stereo system with a Crown amp and Klipsh Corner Horn speakers. This would be a dream stereo for any music enthusiast but Paul wanted to take it to the next level. He settled on a sound system consisting of 3 Crown amps to power a pair of Klipsh MCM 1900 speakers. The Rainbow Music Hall in Denver used 5 pairs for their venue. Paul used one pair for his venue or music room as he called it.

His go to band in the early days was Pink Floyd but Paul always had an ear open to the Grateful Dead. It wasn't long before he started going to all the shows in town and soon developed a network of friends known as Deadheads. He began traveling with friends to see the band around the country and went to well over 100 shows. Paul was known to many as Spanky and was a welcome face at shows.

Marriage

Paul claimed the first time he saw Ryn was at the Boulder Theater while Shakedown Street was playing in 1991. He noticed Ryn wearing her silver shoes. He knew she was the one even though they didn't meet that night. A couple of weeks later they were at the Buffalo Rose seeing Shakedown Street. There she met Paul from Parker and Mike from Longmont. That is how she remembered him, Paul from Parker. It would be 2 years later before they would meet again.

They met again at a get together with about 40 friends or so at a party in the mountains designated as "Driving the Planet." Paul introduced himself again as Spanky. She was pretty sure it was Paul from Parker. When she asked if he was, he gave his belly laugh and said yes. He told her that Spanky was what everyone there called him. The next morning when Ryn came out of her tent, Paul was sitting in a lawn chair with a plate of food waiting for her. She knew then and there that she wanted to know him for life.  

Ryn recalls looking in her diary around then and finding an entry from 2 years ago. She had written about a friend calling her and telling her about a dream he had about her. He said he had dreamed she would meet a big man with long hair and beard sitting on a mountain. Paul later told Ryn about a story of when he was 6 years old. He said he saw a shooting star and “wished for you ... and you fell in Texas.”  He would say "I loved you before I knowd you.". These stories are a part of a mythology they shared with each other.

September 12, 1993 is the day they remember officially getting together and have since celebrated as their anniversary. April 1, 1994 was the day Ryn moved in with Paul. On January 9, 2001 they went to the court house and did a "common law marriage."  They were together 27 years.

In March of 1998, they bought a home together. It was a dome on the eastern edge of the Palmer Divide by Peyton. They had been looking at houses 6 months before and saw the dome but it was not for sale. 6 months later, Ryn had a dream about them buying the dome. When they went to look again, they found that it was for sale and the rest is history.  

Paul stood beside Ryn when she was battling cancer and she claims she is only alive today because of the love he gave her. Paul truly loved Ryn unconditionally throughout his life.

On the day Paul passed, she whispered and asked Paul to give her the privilege of being with him when he would pass. Close to midnight that night, the nurse came into the room to examine Paul. Ryn recalls that He's Gone, a Grateful Dead song had just started playing. The nurse told Ryn that he thought Paul might be about to take his last breath. He told Ryn to tell him it was alright and that she would be ok. Mimi their dog was on the bed with him when he took his last breath and the chorus of the song was playing, "nothing’s going to bring him back." The doctor came into the room and put his stethoscope on Paul's chest. He then looked up and said he's gone. Again, echoing the doctor, the song chorus came on, "He's gone, nothing’s going to bring him back." For Ryn it was a beautiful passing.

Paul’s favorite song was "It Must Have Been the Roses," by the Grateful Dead. Ryn honored Paul and played it while she said her goodbyes.  

Rest in peace Paul, “that path is for your steps alone,” you were loved by many.