The Life and Times of Paul Skvaril April 14, 1932 to March 28, 2018

Paul owed his life to the death of his sister Janice who died at the age of four. His mother was grief stricken by Janice’s death and so took an awful chance to bear another child. Her birth channel was very narrow necessitating a Caesarean which was performed in the Yanktown, South Dakota Hospital. It was an extremely difficult procedure back in 1932. But, of course, Paul disappointed. He was not a girl, he was not Pauline, he was Paul. It is rather paradoxical that he had three children, all daughters, all accomplished women

Now, he was not without his attributes. He, an extremely intelligent individual, was an early member of Mensa, that elite group of intelligent people. Academics came rather easy to him. He was a graduate of Purdue University and then Carnegie Mellon. He was a hard working man at one time in his life – founding a chemical plant in Richmond, California and then was an executive for one of the first cosmetic pyramid schemes. He was rather inventive, working with a toy manufacturing company creating an assembly line of sorts.

But his real love was the trumpet. At the ripe old age of fifteen he was playing in dance bands touring South Dakota – so he made money at an early age and also began to drink at that early age. He put the trumpet aside in his hard working days but picked it up again and played often with a jazz band and College of Marin bands. He laid the trumpet aside again, permanently, when he felt his playing was deteriorating due to his age. He was really not the same after that.

It does seem, therefore, fitting that his music should be honored. Gifts may be made in his name to Tea and Trumpets at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, 500 – 833 Seymour Street, Vancouver BC V6B 0G4. It is an amazing program, one of the VSO most favorite and one that Paul would be most proud.

A number of people, not knowing of his death wrote me to inquire, telling things that were unknown. One man said: He was a man of deep knowledge on a range of subjects. He’ll be missed.”

The picture attached is of him, taken by Alexis McBride