The year was 1973 in Iowa when Paul doodled a couple of satire
articles about the Arabian Horse industry and then dropped them in a desk
drawer and forgot about them. A couple of years later he stumbled across them
again and thought about submitting them to one of the Arabian Magazines for
publishing. He decided against it because none were satire magazines and
the Arabian people he thought were not into humor being poked at them or their
horses.
In a house cleaning mode he discarded them and went about his business. Latter that day an Arabian horse owner acquaintance of his spotted them in the wastepaper basket and talked him into at least giving it a try. She told him, Paul all you have to lose is the price of postage.
So in 1975 he sent them to the editor of the Arabian Horse World Magazine Lucille Shuler, Lucille recognized the opportunity she had and decided to take the risk. Lucille told Paul, you know I need some cheering up and our readers will just have to get cheered up with me, whether they like it or not. Paul's articles where so well received that he eventually produced one every month for this magazine.
I had the pleasure of becoming very good friends with Paul and his wife Sue through the years. Paul moved to Texas in 1980 and there he met Sue, who was very good photographer.
I remember in the early 1980's I was attending the U.S. National Championship Arabian Horse show in Albuquerque New Mexico and as I was exiting the main arena one afternoon Paul and Sue were briskly entering. I could tell they where excited about something and my first words to them were "What have you guys been doing"?
Sue burst out, we wanted you to be the first to know Paul and I are engaged to be married.
We kept in close contact for the next few years and one time Paul and Sue were staying with me in Seattle Washington when the current breed controversy was making the rounds.
The thing I have never forgot about Paul as we were discussing what ever the topic was, is he had not formed an opinion yet, but he kept saying, convince me, convince me your point of few is what I should believe. He was always looking for more data.
Surprisingly Paul's articles titled "ONE MANS OPINION"
did not come easy for him. He really struggled and put a lot of effort into each
one. He was so witty and talented as a writer and artist that he had several
versions of each article. Sue had this creative, artistic talent and
would come up with some great ideas for Paul's articles.
As with a lot of things in life we take for granite our time together was limited. On one of my trips to Texas I visited Paul and Sue, I video taped an interview and we laughed about all of the good times we had experienced. Sadly that would be the last time I would see them together, I am still not sure what happened but I received word Paul had moved back to Iowa and shortly thereafter passed away. Still to this day I miss those two, what talent, energy, and zest for life. It is a shame great talent sometimes appears for only a fleeting moment in our lives.
We must all learn to recognize, appreciate and savor the moments we share with people who are making a difference. As a tribute to Paul and Sue Woodridge's work I have included a couple of the satire articles published in a book they wrote and published through the Arabian Horse World Magazine in 1983. We need more humor and levity in our lives today, and Paul and Sue certainly left their legacy for all of us to continue to enjoy.
Ferman Ansel
One of eight.
