Paul Obis Interactive Memorial Website
Welcome note by Peter Bohan
Welcome to the web site devoted to the memory of Paul Obis Jr (Aug. 13, 1951-June 25, 2018), founding editor and publisher of Vegetarian Times magazine and a long-time voice of progressive thinking, living and ideals.
This site is the supported by Paul’s loving widow, Janeen Swing Obis, and we invite you to send notes, essays, photos, videos and any other mementos of your relationship with Paul over the years to her so we can fill in the corners of his life you shared. There is also a guest book page here you can use to write messages or regards.
If you care to share any letters or communications you received from Paul, Janeen would be grateful to have them. Their five years together at the end of Paul’s life were a treasure for them both. They leave her with a great interest in knowing more about the years before.
As any stranger can tell from reading the various obituaries that appeared about Paul (e.g. in the Wall Street Journal or Chicago Tribune (include links), he was an energetic, curious and ambitious youth with an open mind, a big heart, and the courage of his convictions. These traits carried him to professional success and earned him the admiration (bemused, at times, as with Mike Royko) of Vegetarian Times readers and the growing counter-culture community that VT helped create.
For those who did know Paul personally, one quality stood out: he was a “provider.” He was much happier giving than receiving. That is reflected in the title and theme of this web site.
For his first wife and VT partner Clare Barrett, Paul provided a lively home full of love and colorful visitors as well as a fulfilling career as Clare developed her voice as “Ms. Natural,” the magazine’s trusty mix of sound advice and good recipes.
For his six sons, Paul provide the security and bounty of a big Oak Park house, wooded lot, good schools, paternal care and counsel.
For his ailing father, mother and grandmother, Paul nursed them to the end as he did so many strangers in his professional nursing career as an RN.
For his work colleagues, as a publisher and editor he provided not just jobs but a mission, guidance and inspiration.
For his friends, he provided empathy, sympathy, patience and advice that was not just helpful and fun but could sometimes be life-changing.
No one knew that better than me.
I met Pablo in 1975 at a party thrown by a college friend who had been doing some freelance photography for VT, which Paul had started publishing a year earlier. We hit it off immediately. It was a time – well described by Theodore Roszak in “The Making of a Counter Culture” (1969) – when the turmoil of the 1960’s cultural revolution was settling into the mainstream of American culture.
As Paul wrote in his Sept. 1992 issue, looking back: “Imagine a time when fax machines and VCRs didn’t exist, Nixon was President, and dropping out was in.”
Anti-war. Anti-racism. Anti-sexism. Anti-establishment. Everything from politics to diet seemed ripe for change. So we saw ourselves as kindred spirits. I did some articles for VT on solar energy, agribusiness, wheelchair racing. I stayed on the sidelines of his VT world. But we talked a lot, socialized as our families started, and I saw Paul grow along with VT. We stayed close for a decade before work and geography intervened (i.e. I moved to Hong Kong).
Paul cared about his friends, thought about them, empathized and provided. One day in 1978 he called me to say Cesar Chavez was doing a UFW fund raiser that night at a union hall on Ashland Avenue. We went – and during the reception an old friend, Jeni, walked in with as pal. She’d moved to Portland three years earlier and I’d lost track.
We got married four years later. Paul was our Best Man. He was later godfather to our daughter Julia.
Right place, right time. Another one: in 1982, Paul called me to point out a newspaper ad about Reuters looking for a reporter. I applied, got the job – and have been with them since.
Paul cared about his friends. Julia still has the toy unicorn he gave her one day. He always wanted to stay engaged – as a publisher, an editor, a reporter, a father, a husband, a friend. He worked hard at it, like everything he did. It was a quality that drew others to him. Sincerity. Genuine interest. Caring.
If you knew Paul, you know all this. We’d appreciate hearing your stories and filling in the blanks of his long life before, during and after VT.
If you miss him, one stroll I’d recommend is through the back issues of VT stored on the web to hear Pablo in his own words, in his prime, building his community.
Thanks to his son Nick, who provided this link.
Vegetarian Times at Google Books
https://books.google.com/books/serial/ISSN:01648497?rview=1
Some excerpts from Paul’s From the Editor column in his last year at the helm.
“VT is a special interest magazine in the very best sense. It is a printed representation of a community – a meeting place of ideas where both newcomers and veterans are welcome.” (We have Endured, Aug 1992 issue. Paul cites the jump in circulation from 180,000 to 300,000 in the two years since he sold it to Cowles Media – and to the 30 copies he sold in his first year, 1974)
Paul reacts to Great Chicago Flood (a water main break) that hit the Loop. “Mostly, life is lived without a lot of fanfare. One of the secrets of happiness, I think, is to see the extraordinary in the ordinary: to enjoy a simple meal; to appreciate a sunrise; even to marvel that the light goes on when you flip the switch … The value of things going right is never appreciated so much as when they go wrong.” (When Things Go Wrong, July 1992)
“From my perspective, vegetarianism is the wave into a better future…No matter if your motivation springs from compassion of animals, a desire to benefit the Earth by choosing less resource-wasteful food or the need to lower your cholesterol level, your decision to follow a vegetarian diet can help determine the direction of global change. Getting to our new beginning won’t be easy. Expect to see more turbulence, upheaval and turmoil. Still, the future is within reach…of your knife and fork.” (Making a Difference, One forkful at a time” June 1992)
After testifying to Congress, they drew Paul’s ire for narrowing their vision on health standards. “At a time when health care costs are spiralling and American health is worsening, Congress ought to be supporting research into alternatives for the kinds of foods and natural products we use to stay healthy, not restricting information.” (Consumer Protection or Freedom from Choice? May 1992)
Paul dives deep into l’condition humaine, quoting Mark Twain, Adam Smith, Aristotle, Descartes before arriving at his own take on “the human difference.” “Humans are the only animal that places value on food other that for survival, a trait that is uniquely and marvelously human” and that leaves him “inspired by our potential for love and compassion” in a world “of despair, tyranny and human cruelty.” (Food for Thought, Feb 1992)
Alas, Paul says, that our New Year’s resolutions inevitably come to naught due to ‘a small, frustrating piece of human nature.” So he has VT put together an issue with a common them: “Make moderate changes in small, familiar steps and go forward. Set goals that fit who you are and what your life is really like, instead of expecting dramatic change.” (Taking Small Steps, Jan 1992)
“If PETA is going to set itself out as a leader, it had better stop exploiting and humiliating people.” (In Poor Taste, Nov 1991, when Paul felt compelled to critique a PETA ad in Des Moines register he thought crossed the line as an echo of Jeffrey Dahmer murder-cannibalism)
In Honoring Isaac (Oct 1991) Paul writes an appreciative obit of Noble laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer, who’d told VT for a Nov 1983 profile: “It doesn’t matter to me what nature or God thinks about it, vegetarianism is my religion.” Singer later wrote a memorable Thanksgiving article for VT in Nov, 1988.
So we invite you to stroll through the back links and remember Paul Obis, a young man with a passion who cared deeply for others and made his mark on the world. Thank you for your life and work with Paul, and please drop us a line.
Or, as Paul once said, in introducing a string of sagacious quotes from past centuries on the ancient virtues of vegetarianism: “I love quotes! A few well-chosen words can sum up a point of view perfectly, and with more grace and feeling than a pile of Ph.D. dissertations.”