Paul Zumwalt would hardly seem the type of man one would expect to receive the Highpointers' Club's first "Highpointer Cum Laude" award for a lifetime of meritorious service.
? Paul never traveled further than 30 miles
from his home in Emden in the flatlands of Illinois until he was 26 (and
still lives that close to his birthplace).
? He's not a 48 or 50 completer (he lacks
Alaska, Washington, Montana and Wyoming -- although he adds "I made it
to timberline on all of them").
? His didn't publish his famous book "Fifty
State Summits - Guide With Maps to State Highpoints" until he was age 76
in 1988.
Yet, Paul's kindly presence has graced almost every highpointers convention and been the inspiration for countless highpointers. At 76 he climbed Mount Hood ("my publisher wrote a book about Hood and he said I was the third oldest to do that"). At 89, he climbed Backbone Mountain during the Maryland Convention ("it's getting to be harder now"). For years he's been winning the award for the oldest at the convention and the one with the most family members (8 which is a "small" Zumwalt contingent attended Maryland).
Paul's biography reads like a page out of "The Greatest Generation -- Highpointers Edition" He was born in a small town near Peoria, taught in a one-room school, married his childhood sweetheart, surveyed for the USGS, joined the Navy during World War II, became a military governor for two counties in Korea following the war, turned down an offer to be head surveyor for all of Korea just before the Korean War, returned to Peoria where he worked 26-years as an engineer at Caterpillar until he retired, and then started his highpoint author career. He attended every convention except the very first informal gathering in Michigan and one in Nevada (which coincided with his son's marriage -- "I tried to get him to change it…"). He has also served on the Club's Board of Directors since its inception. He was awarded the Club's first Vin Hoeman Award in 1989.
Paul's wife, Lila, is an inspiring presence. This was the first convention she was unable to attend with Paul after being bed ridden since suffering a stroke.
Q. How's Lila doing?
A. She's doing o.k. She is bed ridden
and we have to have somebody. I am helping her with her physical
therapy.
Q. How did you meet?
When I taught country school I was only
19 years old. I went around to the families and tell them what books they
were going to have. She came to the door and I said, "oh, you're
going to be one of my students." And she told me that she was a senior
in high school. I thought she was a grade school. I already
got off to a bad start.
Q. What got you interested in highpointing?
A. The discovery of the highpoint in Louisiana
was what got me interested. I thought it was pretty neat. We
were mapping for army maneuvers in Louisiana. There was a platoon
of soldiers that was lost in the area for a week in the area where I was
survey. While I was surveying in the swamps, there was a senior surveyor
who was training other surveyors and he had the high ground and he found
the state highpoint and I thought that was neat. When you're in the
swamps you sure find highpoints interesting. The area I survey on
the Texas-Louisiana border is now all under water and you can't see if
I was right in my work.
Q. What was the first highpoint you visited?
A. South Dakota. It was early
in my surveying days so I think it was in 1941.
Q. Where did you grow up?
A. I grew up in Illinois and I didn't even
get out of the state until I was 26 when I went to the University of Illinois
and graduated in Civil Engineering.
Q. What inspired you to write your guidebook?
A. I knew about Frank Ashley's book.
I used that. It sold for a dollar and he didn't have very much detail
in there. And it got outdated. I wrote him to see if there was going
to be any additions. I got in touch with his publisher and they said
not, I thought I would write a book about highpoints East of the Mississippi.
But my publisher who lives in Washington [state] thought I should write
a book about all the highpoints.
Q. Did you start highpointing in earnest
when you retired and starting writing the book?
A. During the time I worked with Caterpillar
we went on vacations was when I did some highpoints. Sometimes there
were some discussions about whether we should do it. I just thought
they were neat places to go on your vacation. It was my intention
in the book was to write a book about places to go on your vacation.
Q. How did you find the highpoints?
A. There was Frank Ashley's book.
But my surveying knowledge also helped. He spent a week looking for
highpoint of Michigan but I was able to find it. I surveyed several
highpoints.
Q. What about Missouri?
A. Missouri was the first highpoint that
I found was in the wrong place. I saw that they were sending people
to the wrong place. It was about 400 feet away. Frances Carter was
the first woman to do all 50, and when she got my book, she went back and
did Missouri again
Q. What about Rhode Island?
A. I surveyed the land with Henry Richardson
and found that the USGS markers were two feet lower than they had been
announced. I think that's what started getting him mad. He
thought the highpoint was on his property.
Q What about Delaware?
A. I found out about Delaware in a letter
from the Delaware Geological Society. It's about 100 yards west of
the marker.
Q. What about Illinois?
It's in the right place. Some people
think it's where the house is. That's where the monument used to
be. But they put the monument there because it was at the end of
the ridge and had a better view. You could see three states from
there. I have a picture of the monument in my book.
Q. Do you have any regrets about highpointing?
A. I wish I had done the harder peaks early
on. When I went out to visit my son who had a job in mine in Wyoming.
I couldn't keep up with him. So that's why I took up running.
I took up running so I could climb mountains. I ran 10 marathons
in my 60s with an average time of 4 hours.
Q. Why didn't you climb the peaks then?
A. I hadn't written the book yet.
Q. How has the Club changed?
One difference is the amount of children
involved. There were a lot of children at the Maryland convention.
I got my picture taken with the youngest one who was 11 weeks old.
Once I think there was one who made 10 highpoints by 10 months old
by being carried up.
Q. Is there anything you dislike about the
Club?
A. I don't think there is. They may
be going a little overboard on these trophies. I just didn't expect
getting a trophy like. I'm pleased to get it. I don't feel
like I deserve it.
Here's what some other Board of Directors have to say about Paul:
Dave Covill
Paul Z was not the first person to write
a guidebook (Frank Ashley beet him to the punch by a decade, and Don Homes'
book came out at about the same point in time), nor the 1st to do the 50
highpoints (in fact, he didn't make it up a couple of them), nor did he
organize the Highpointers Club (we are indebted to Jakk for that) but the
man has done as much for highpointing as anyone really. His book
is very useful, with topos scanned in that enhance the experience for users
without access to maps. He has gone to many places to meticulously
survey the highpoints, in order to ensure that the exact point can be visited.
He has been instrumental in raising funds to make improvements to the highpoints,
not an easy task given the lack of 501-C-3 status to date. He has
met private landowners and helped to assimilate them into the Club.
He has, as much as anything else, provided an inspiration to hundreds of
members, who say to themselves, "Paul is still doing it, so I can too",
or "Paul made it up here at the age of xx, so I can too". I
met him in New Mexico in '94, and like Jakk, he took time to speak to me,
a complete stranger and relatively new member, much as Jakk and Don always
do. Like a good CEO of a corporation, they are leaders, but they
take time to be accessible to the masses. Like a good CEO, they remember
your name, which never ceases to amaze many folks. I caught him at a lull
in the confusion at the highpoint on Backbone Mountain. during the Club
hike, and he and I got caught up to date. He was able to maintain
a positive attitude on the situation he and Lila face, and that gave me
strength to deal with things of lesser magnitude in my life.
I treasure moments like that, and realize those moments are few and fleeting
with my Highpointer friends. Suffice to say, the Club would not be
what it is today if it had not been for the efforts of Paul Zumwalt and
a few other good folks like him.
Barbara Gurtler
I voted for Paul because I have known him
for many years and he has devoted untold amounts of energy and time to
making highpointing attainable to all. After he wrote his book FIFTY STATE
SUMMITS, he drove thousands of miles rechecking the highpoints for any
changes, and calling nearby campgrounds for price updates. He diligently
tried to keep his subsequent printings up to date and accurate. He
has also been a very good ambassador for us with high point owners.
Don Holmes
I first met Paul at the 1990 Highpointers
Convention in El Paso, Texas. Both of our books had just been published,
Paul's about three months before mine. Although we are competing authors,
we have become good friends. One thing that we have both had a good time
with is that Paul always seemed to have his books priced about $1.00 lower
than mine no matter what price I had chosen. I told Paul that if I gave
my books away, he would probably pay the people $1.00 to take his. Over
the years our friendship has grown stronger and it is always a real pleasure
to see him at the Conventions.
Jakk Longacre
Bottom line? I love Paul! That's
the thing about highpointers. Once you've roped together, you have
a bond for life. Paul has been a real supporter of the Club. I mean
from Day One. Paul has been a real supporter of the Club. He as been a
hell of an asset to the Club. .I wish I had his book when I did my highpoints.
I did some highpoints with him. In South Dakota there was a question
of whether the spire straight west of the castle was higher. He said
he would survey it if I would help carry up the equipment. I did
that and we settled the argument. He and Lila have always had such
a great sense of humor. In Maryland, I told him about my plans to
have my ashes carried to the 50 highpoints. He volunteered to take
them to Charles Mound.
John Mitchler
Paul Zumwalt, a very active and enthusiastic
highpointer, has provided the hobby with many hours of his time, and we
are all very much the better off for it. Paul created a fascinating guidebook
with a uniquely personal flavor in the text and an easy-to-use large-size
format. Paul has also used his excellent surveying experience to measure
certain confusing crests, such as RI, MO, and DE. Paul, and his wonderful
wife Lila, are among the friendliest highpointers in the Club. Their support
for the Club and its goals is extraordinary. Many thanks for their involvement!
I salute you! - John Mitchler
Jean Trousdale
I knew Paul Zumwalt was The Grand Old Man
of the Highpointers about as soon as I knew there was The Highpointers!
I read his book soon afterwards, and in addition to its being useful on
clibs, I was touched by its charm as he wove stories about his Travels
With Lila among the highpoint facts. Then last year when I was talking
with Allan Griggs about having the convention at the Black Mesa in 2002,
Allan picked up the telephone to share the news with Paul. On the
spot Paul offered to make the bid for OK-2002 at the Hawaii Convention!
I was pleased and excited--and those of you who were at the Hawaii convention
know that we won with no competition! Many thanks, Paul Zumwalt.
I look forward to our sharing OK-2002 with you.
George Vandersluis
Paul Zumwalt published the second book providing
the routes and descriptions of the highest point in each of the 50 states.
Although Paul's was the second book, it was published fore than 15 years
after the first by Frank Ashley, and was the first to contain up-to-date
detailed descriptions and maps. Although I had been to all but 4 of the
50 state highpoints when Paul published his book, it has been a source
of information and interesting to read. Paul has been active in maintaining
current information on Highpoints and has returned to many states with
survey instruments to determine the exact highest point in questionable
areas. My thanks to Paul for the contributions he has made to Highpointing
and the Highpointer's Club.