Paul Tuhus (11/25/2024)

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Paul Kevin Tuhus, world traveler, gifted raconteur, collector of odd facts and obituaries of even odder individuals, sworn enemy of all vegetables, and fiercely loyal Dartmouth Alum, passed away peacefully in his apartment at Kendal at Hanover on November 25, 2024.

The only child of Mel and Mary Tuhus, Paul was born on June 17, 1947, in Madison, Wisconsin, where he grew up and attended local schools. His acceptance and matriculation into the Class of 1969 at Dartmouth began his lifelong devotion to the College and his class, which he served in numerous capacities, most recently as one of the leaders of the Class of 1969 Project to restore and enhance the Dartmouth Outing Club House. His collection of Dartmouth artifacts and memorabilia was unsurpassed.

After Dartmouth and a brief active-duty military service in the National Guard, Paul worked for several years for the FDIC as a bank examiner, traveling all over rural Wisconsin and making many friends. With this background and a good academic record, he was accepted at Harvard Business School in the class that also saw Mitt Romney, among others. Graduating from Harvard, he took a position in commercial banking with Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Among his corporate clients over those years were large ski resorts such as Vail. Paul loved to ski ( and loved apres-ski activities even more) and for years he helped organize annual ski trips for like-minded friends to such ski areas as Telluride and Purgatory.

All during this time Paul traveled all over the world, frequently with his good friend, John Knight. Their great adventures in wild and exotic places provided the grist for many of his interesting stories. Travel had been in his blood since his youth. Indeed, by the time of his death, he had visited over 100 countries and slept in all seven continents. So after 10 years with Wells Fargo (not uncoincidentally the exact time took for his retirement benefits to fully vest), and a brief experiment running his own printing business in downtown San Francisco, Paul decided to make travel his career. He took training courses for aspiring tour guides and started modestly with bus (or as he insisted "motor coach" tours of the national parks. He worked his way up in the business, and by the time he retired was leading high end trips all over the world, including to the North Pole, primarily for sponsors such as MIT, Harvard and Smithsonian. He loved adventure and trying new things (except vegetables), and his oft-repeated advice to anyone who hesitated to do or try something, or to indulge themselves was "think of all those people on the Titanic who passed up the dessert cart".

As he neared retirement, Paul wanted to be close to Dartmouth and made a cross country move from San Francisco to Norwich, Vermont, where he bought a house on the Thetford/Norwich town line which he promptly named "Thetnor". For obvious reasons the name never caught on, but many friends visited him there over the years. In 2020 he moved to Kendal at Hanover, continuing to be active in all things Dartmouth, including volunteering every week at the Information Booth on the Dartmouth Green.

Paul never married or had children. He is survived by his legion of friends, including classmates from both Dartmouth and Harvard, and a special collection of convivial associates who met at local watering holes every Tuesday and Thursday night to raise a glass and solve the world's problems. Paul called these his "choir practice" and "prayer meeting" groups. He is also survived by his beloved goddaughter, Thea Duncan Brooks, of Brooklyn, New York, who adored him and was the beneficiary of his generosity, kindness and wisdom.

At Paul's request there will be no funeral. Instead, he has provided for a party to be held for his friends, which will occur in the spring.

Published by Valley News on Dec. 4, 2024.