For anyone who knew Paul Maxwell, he would eat anything, and did. A man of superlatives, you’d know where to get “the best chicken fried steak west of the Mississippi” or “the most well-cooked crawfish in all New Orleans.” He was a well-known regular at many restaurants – from Teton Thai in Jackson, WY to Antoine’s in New Orleans – always regaling the waitstaff with stories of travel or educating them with his latest factoid. He was known affectionately by many as “Maxwell” and everyone who knew him has a fond image of him sitting at a table or sidled up to a bar somewhere in the world.
Equal to his penchant for dining was his love of travel and of books. He journeyed the world with his carry-on weighed down with several books and stacks of the New York Times. If he could help it, he wouldn’t leave a country or city without visiting a bookstore at which point he would add a couple more books to his luggage. Many a trip was further marked by the great meals he ate and he was always the gracious host for his myriad travel companions. The mountains, too, were a profound calling for him and he walked many a mile in the Himalaya, in Patagonia, and in the Alps. This love, despite bringing him to all corners of the globe, was embodied by the life he spent in the Tetons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
For all the many places he traveled to, Maxwell’s voracious appetite to know the world was expressed most intimately through his love of books. His library was vast as was his mind’s ability to retain so much of what he read. His interest in both mountaineering feats and history was robust and hardly a week went by without him recounting an obscure fact about the timeline of World War II or the Vietnam War. Never one to focus narrowly on one subject, he also possessed a great love of literature and poetry. Many a poem would he recite to you by memory in the middle of dinner or over the phone. He shared and imparted his passions to his seven kids, whom he loved very much.
Maxwell moved eleven times before the age of thirteen, his father being a salesman for the Coca Cola Company. Along the way, he skipped two grades and started college when he was sixteen only to join the Navy a year later. He flew on active duty for five years and in the reserve for seven. Flying for the Navy was a great joy and privilege for him, not in the name of patriotism or in support of war but for the “kick in the pants” that was flying fighter jets. He eventually returned to school and graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature.
He worked most of his life at Delta Petroleum based in New Orleans, starting out in the warehouse and eventually becoming owner and CEO. It was at Delta where he developed many of his life’s most meaningful relationships. He is predeceased by his sister Anne Dellinger and survived by his brother Jon Maxwell, sister Jennifer Maxwell, his seven children, Cristen, Jon, Will, Laramie, India, Keats, and Marrakech, and his four grandchildren, Jake, Phoenix, Royal, and Jude.
Laissez les bon temps rouler, Maxwell!
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com
