Vielmetti, Paul G. (6/24/2002)

Paul Vielmetti died on June 24, 2002 in Maine. Rick Willets wrote to Paul’s friend Doug Halsted for the reflection below.

When I think of Paul, I remember Bob Dylan playing in a basement rat-hole dorm room in South Wigwam, Paul at his typewriter until all hours. He was a prodigious and prolific writer. An intense student of Joyce and Hemingway, Paul challenged all of us to look at life differently. To me, he represented liberal thinking in a whole new way. He embraced unconvention. Paul was generous and kind; what he gave to those of us who knew him was the the challenge to look at achievement differently. Always insightful, an impressive scholar in his own right, he always left those he touched looking at things a little differently.

He lived next to Giff in South Wigwam. He didn't move in Giff's circle, but he was Giff's friend. Giff liked him for his thinking, as we all did.

I lived with Paul one summer on Nantucket. He picked up his mail in the late morning and stopped at the Bosun’s Locker to read it. He often played Lay Lady Lay on the jukebox while he read his mail and more often than not led long stimulating conversations among those who gathered. Then he worked hard for the rest of the day, writing and producing beautiful photographs.

Born in Michigan, raised on the U.P., Paul brought strong midwestern values with him to Dartmouth. After graduation he donated his time to teaching English in West Paris, Maine, to students not as privileged as we. He embraced that and was pleased with his work. I knew him later too when he lived in Portland and always loved the way he stimulated those about him.

He loved Dartmouth. We will miss him. Classmates, give a rouse.