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A dear friend has passed on. Paul had written me recently that he was dying so it wasn't a shock. I just received this email from his daughter Jennifer.
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Paul Shippee
DOB November 15, 1937
Passed August 31, 2023
Open Air Cremation at the Pyre Sunday September 3, 2023
Arrive at 6:30 AM
Fire Lighting at 7 AM
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Paul Shippee moved to Crestone in 1999 and built his passive solar heated, rammed earth/straw bail home. He loved his community and over the years built many strong bonds of love and friendship. His passions were the Buddha Dharma, Non-Violent Communication (NVC), and Solar Energy. He loved the sun — both the physical sun and the sun of wisdom. He deeply cared for this world and always wanted to help make things better. He yearned for humanity to become enlightened, for us to learn how to live sustainably on the planet, and he was always seeking to connect with others on a deeper and more meaningful level. He was an engineer by training, but tirelessly sought to educate himself beyond the straight lines and neat calculations of the physical world.
He was an early student of Suzuki Roshi’s, and spent two years at Tassahara, before meeting Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He moved to Colorado in 1970 and helped establish Rocky Mountain Dharma Center (now Drala Mountain Center), was a founding faculty member during the first year of Naropa University, and had a solar energy business in Boulder called Colorado Sunworks.
Paul passed peacefully at Kongtrul Rinpoche’s and his daughter Jennifer’s and home in Crestone on Thursday evening after a brief illness this summer. It was a full blue moon and Buddha Amitabha Day in the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar. 🙏🏽
He greatly appreciated CEOLP and the Open Air Cremation and attended many of them in the past. He said everyone would be invited to his!
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I, DC, responded: My heartfelt condolences to you Jennifer. I'm a little teary-eyed now. Paul and I have kept up through the years quite a bit. I visited him when in Boulder then Crestone whenever I passed through. I was always impressed with where he put his energy, what he did, what he taught.
Farewell Paul. Gya te gya te...