Paul Storey passed away on Friday December 1st after a battle with complications from Parkinson’s. He was born and raised in Seattle, the second child of Cecelia “Sudie” and Myron “Mike” Storey. Sue, Kitt, Russell, and Casey were his beloved siblings. For the last 45 years he’s lived in a house on President Point Road in Kingston that he basically rebuilt from the ground up.
Paul was a man in constant motion, with a penchant for entrepreneurship. He served in the Air Force in the US and Philippines from 1971-1974, achieving the rank of Captain. After his Air Force service, he started two of Bainbridge Island’s most enduring businesses; Eagle Harbor Book Co. with his first wife Julie, and The Streamliner Diner with Julie and partners Marc and Leanne Richards. After selling the businesses he started Paul Storey Construction and helped design and build numerous homes on and around Bainbridge for 30 years.
An avid runner he worked out daily, competed in the Hawaii marathon, biked the west coast, climbed Mt. Adams with his son Michael and took an annual trip to run in the Bloomsday 12k race in Spokane with his son, friends and family members. It was a much-anticipated trip each year. He continued to take walks, work on projects, and well into his Parkinson’s diagnosis, attempt to cut back blackberry bushes or clear paths much to his wife’s chagrin.
Paul had the ability to both build beautiful houses and bake delicious pies all with a quick hand. He is remembered fondly for his pie crust, lemon meringue pie and cheesecake. An early adopter of video cameras and technology, he wrote and filmed numerous TV commercials for breakfast cereals convinced that his skills and his daughter’s acting could bag them a commercial contract. He was the family videographer and made sure to document the scenery everywhere he traveled. We will continue to search his papers for his great American sci-fi novel about cryogenic freezing and update publishers should we find it. Paul was a history buff and an excellent armchair Jeopardy contestant. He memorized many poems and quotes, always ready to recall them when appropriate. His favorite poem was “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
He was a loyal and honest man. Many of his closest friends are those he made in grammar school. He will be greatly missed. He was preceded in death by his parents Cecelia and Myron Storey, and his sister Sue Harader. He is survived by his second wife Robin Storey, daughter Meghan Ritchie (Paul Jones) grandsons Owen and Asher Jones, son Michael Storey (Yelena Guberman) his siblings and close extended family. A remembrance of Paul will be held on his beloved beach in Kingston, WA in the summer for friends and family. If you wish to send a remembrance for his family, please do so at www.tuellmckee.com
As his favorite poem goes, Paul has surely ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ and no doubt ‘touched the face of God’
