By FRED MCCARTHY

Mayor of Langley

This past week the City of Langley lost a passionate advocate for community development, the arts community lost one of its foremost cheerleaders and one of its most generous benefactors, and his lovely wife lost her life companion.

Many of us feel like we lost a mentor and friend with the passing of Paul Schell.

His enthusiasm for life on Whidbey Island and in Langley was contagious. His ability to appreciate the big picture, but also to see the smallest detail was why he was such a successful attorney, developer, and mayor of the City of Seattle.

He usually started his conversations with me like this: “Don’t you just love Langley? Look at this beautiful Island where we live. Isn’t being the mayor just the best job ever? I loved being the mayor of Seattle. By the way, you are doing a great job!”

He and Pam have set a very high bar for us for community development and passionate support of the arts. Life is such a precious gift. We have so many opportunities each day to make a difference in the lives of others. Paul made a difference in his public service, in his personal life, in his professional life, and in his generous giving of time, talent, and treasure to so many of us.

May we return the gift in our own lives by creating a high quality vision for our city, by generously giving of our time and resources, and by serving others every day.

Respectfully,

Fred