It is with great sadness that I write to everyone in this blog about the passing of Paul Helms. Paul Helms was the character who built our trunks. Notoriously late, scattered, and disheveled a tall elder gaunt man with ZZ Top-like white hair complete with the long wispy beard; Paul would arrive in his carved wooden truck- the entire bed, front grille and part of the panels made of exotic woods with contrasting oiled insignias carved out. An object of beauty and deliberate precision, down to the Chevrolet name on the side, Paul’s two trucks were his pride and joy and he loved showing them off. When he demonstrated the finer details, caressing them as he told the stories of how he obtained each piece of carefully sought after wood, one couldn’t help but notice his large capable hands missing parts, and even entire digits. “Thats what happens when you work with wood” he would say with a cackle and a grin showing off the gaps not only of his hands but also of his mouth.
Aside from his truck, Paul made lots of other wooden objects; the wooden saddle racks that we use, bridle racks, the new boxes in front of each of our horse’s stalls, the customized Cedarhill bench across from the barn bathroom, and of course our trunks, both small and large. It was so convenient and taken for granted that all of incoming riders and families could just call up Paul, send him a deposit, give him their initials two, three and sometimes more than that times ( he had a filing system on a yellow pad of paper that left a bit to be desired) and then wait for it to be delivered. Sometimes at quiet times of the year he would start making some blank ones up and when one would order he could quickly customize it and send it out. Most of the time however, it took ages, to which our staff would have to explain to the new riders ” Good things take time, it will be worth it” because that was the truth. Similar to his truck, Paul put his heart into all the projects he did. The trunk when it did arrive, would be a thing of beauty, just like everything he did with wood. Paul will be missed.