Paul G. Wishard

Paul Wishard was born and raised in a large Scotch-Irish family in Denver, Colorado. He moved with his family in the 1950s to northern California and fell in love with Evelyn Naranjo when she came from Denver to visit Paul's sister Helen. Shortly after marrying, he went off to the Korean war, and upon his return, Paul and Evelyn started their family in the San Francisco area with the birth of their daughter Laura, followed by Linda, Rebecca, and Michael. During this time, Paul started working as a floor coverer, owning his own small shop. Dianna and Patricia were added to the family upon their return to Denver in 1961, and Paul continued work as a union carpet layer and then as a representative for the Carpet, Linoleum and Tile Layers Local 419. He later worked with the Colorado Building Trades Council and then was appointed by Mayor Wellington Webb as his administration's Labor Representative. Paul was also politically active with the Democratic party, working with his wife, Evelyn, to protest American military policies in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and to promote labor reform, civil rights, and the peace movement. They worked together in several political campaigns, most notably with Congresswoman Pat Schroeder. Paul's political work and labor and peace advocacy continued all his life, well into retirement. Paul was a veteran of many wars, some literal (Korea), others political—battles against injustice toward workers, the poor, the dispossessed and disfranchised—and still others against the psychological burdens we each inherit individually and the physical realities of our temporal lives. He knew joy and sorrow, success and failure, faith and doubt, and strength and weakness. He lost a final battle to Alzheimers on Saturday, June 7, 2008. Later in his life, Paul was led to the Catholic faith as so beautifully lived and expressed by his wife, Evelyn, and found a home in the church community of St. Dominics parish. This faith sustained him after Evelyn's death in 1998 and carried him into his eternal rest. We will remember our father and grandfather for his unwavering commitment to family, workers, justice, and peace. Paul was preceded in death by his wife Evelyn and his brother John and is survived by his daughter Laura Naranjo and her partner, Angel Garza; Linda Naranjo-Huebl and her husband, Scott Huebl; Rebecca Cooper and husband Robert; Michael Wishard; Dianna Nelson and husband Paul; and Patricia Wishard. He is also survived by his grandchildren—Nate, Jessica and Audrey Maydan, Micaela Haluko, Maura Huebl, Kia Red Earth, Evelyn Miller, Aaron and Austyn Wishard, Sheena and Kyle Whitt, P.D. Nelson, Schuyler Ankele, and Bryce Cook—and his siblings Bill Wishard, Betty Hattam, Al Wishard, Helen Howell, Jean Walbridge and Sharon Kornblau. Paul died peacefully at Collier's Hospice surrounded by the prayer and song of his children and grandchildren. We rejoice in his reunion with our mother and grandmother, Evelyn, as they rest in the arms of God.