Paul Allen Ostrof

Paul was born on October 28, 1946. The first child of Rose (Babe) and Dan Ostrof. He was born on his mother's birthday! A gift to her, and a gift to the world.

He grew up in Rogers Park, in Chicago, Illinois, in a friendly neighborhood surrounded by family and friends. He was a happy, curious kid. He attended Rogers Elementary School and Mather High School.

As he entered his teen years, he became enamored with the guitar. At 14 years old he and a friend got on the train from Chicago to New York City. They stayed in the YMCA and made their way to the Newport Folk Festival, where he sat next to Pete Seeger. He was smitten with music. Paul practiced guitar day and night.

He became a major figure in the Chicago Blues guitar scene in the '60s. He was the lead guitarist for "The Little Boy Blues" band. They had several records and appeared a few times on Dick Clark's TV show, "Where the Action Is". They opened for many well known acts, including the likes of The Rolling Stones and Simon and Garfunkel.

He was a sought after teacher at the reputable Old Town School of Music in Chicago. He was accepted and studied at the school run by Andre Segovia, in Alicante, Spain where he excelled, mastering flamenco and classical guitar.

He was fluent in Spanish and spent months living in the Canary Islands and traveled throughout Europe savoring his freedom. He "went wild with freedom", as he often said of this time in his life.

He was the preferred guitarist for the Joffrey Ballet and various famous musicians requested him to accompany them when they visited Chicago. By that time, he was considered a legend in Chicago for his guitar work. He spent many years playing guitar and "all" fretted instruments for musical theater in Chicago. He became quick friends with the other musicians and actors. People were drawn to him. He had a way of being that was so authentic that people wanted his company. And he liked people. All kinds.

He had a lively sense of humor. This trait never left him.

Paul loved bicycles and bike riding. He liked the quiet and the freedom he found there.

He became a bike racer in his 30s. He did well and enjoyed that challenge. One day he got in a bike accident on his way home from a ride in his neighborhood. This accident was so damaging to his wrist that he could no longer play guitar professionally.

He needed to reinvent his life for the first of many times. He moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and opened a bicycle shop where he sold bikes and repaired them. He also took people on rides in the "campo". It flourished it flourished for a couple of years. Then he met Sibyl and moved to Colorado to be with her. In Fort Collins he started a new business as the sole operator of a mobile bike repair shop which he called "Bike City". His new business was featured in the local newspaper with a glowing article. He had reinvented himself again and then discovered the brain tumor which changed his life.

When he was 43, he was at the height of his health and enjoying a new love with Sibyl, who would become as he liked to say, repeatedly, "my first wife & and my last wife". He underwent surgery for his tumor in Chicago. This was a dangerous surgery in his brain stem to remove a Cavernous Hemangioma, which he was born with, but was never aware of, until then.

This surgery may have saved his life but left him with considerable neurological damage. He still was bright and clear mentally, but he had to put away his guitar. He had to let go of his love of bicycles and his joy in bike racing. It was a major, earth-shattering change. Somehow, he picked himself up and moved back to Colorado, lived with Sibyl and had a rich life anyway. He rode a stationary bike at a health club - for years. He became fluent on the computer. He started a business refurbishing old photographs, making wrinkled memories bright and shiny new. Kind of a metaphor for how he lived his life.

He had a way of making people feel comfortable around him. He somehow made people forget "his problems" and just see him as another person. An interesting, and funny person, too. Still, he was able to take raft trips, trips to Mexico and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He loved being in nature.

In the later years he thought it would be fun to dye his hair purple, and then pink. He had beautiful white hair but wanted the quirky joy of adding the color.

He continued spreading joy - with his unending smile - wherever he went. He had a lot of love for his family and friends and his wife. People from all over the world are feeling sad at his parting but, oh, so glad to have known this man with such high spirits and a wonderful sense of play. A gift to so many that will not end.

Survived by Sibyl Stork, wife, Fort Collins Co, Adrian Kaplan (Ronald), sister, Dearfield, IL, Marc Ostrof (Jacki Gladstone) brother, Chicago, Il, Alissa (Kaplan) Schacter (Lyle), niece, Highland Park, IL, Claudette (Stork) Reid (Rick Kraas), sister-in-law, Pentwater MI, Bruce Stork (Sally), brother-in-law, Warren MI, Andrea Stork (David Ostrem), sister-in-law, Portage MI

Some things that brought Paul great joy:

"Nature Boy" by Nat "King" Cole.

Anything by Sylvio Rodriguez

The color "pink"

Motorcycle adventures on country roads with Frank and others.

Gabrielle, Garcia Marquez – everything…

Taking photos…

"Authenticity"

The kindness of Kara

Lifelong friends, and new ones, too.

Mexico, and its people.

The smell of guayabas.

The laughter of his CNA's.

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