Remembering Paul

Remembering Paul

Paul Eckhoff, one of the founders of Best Friends; and architect of all the buildings at the sanctuary, died last week. This afternoon friends and family said good-bye at a beautifully moving memorial service on the grounds of Best Friends.

Can you sum up a life lived with a few speeches, some well chosen music, a funny story, a song? Of course not, life is much more than these brief memories. But when a life is over, all that's left to the living are the memories. We look at them, study them, roll them over and over to make sure we haven't missed anything on the underside. And like a cherished fetish-stone, carried secretly in a pocket, we bring out our memories at these times to share with others. These times and these memories are special.

Paul was an artist, an architect; he created buildings, livable art,  that will out-last us all. This is the irony of the artist. To follow your art is to live life knowing there will never be enough days, enough years, to finish even a few of the ideas given to you by the MUSE!  But to follow your art is also to know that the things you make will live on after you are gone!  "Life is short, art is long".

I will miss Paul; there's one fewer person around I can engage in conversation about Alberto Giacometti, IM Pei, or Modigliani. But no one at Best Friends will ever be without Paul's influence. Every door at the sanctuary swings the way it swings because Paul designed it that way. Every window was arranged to bring in light according to Paul's vision. Every parapet, every soffit, every wall, was measured, drawn and placed under Paul's precise direction. All the animals and all the people of Best Friends will enjoy, benefit from and live in Paul's legacy for a very long time to come!

Thank you Paul, and good-bye!

Amor y Paz

Cyrus