By Tony Shepley,

In the middle 1980’s, I’ll never forget having one of our salespeople mention being on a jobsite and watching a trim carpenter fashion a turned baluster out of square stock, using a work table, vise, and a drill. He had apparently turned the baluster with this home made hand lathe set up because he needed one extra baluster. The next morning, with a certain amount of skepticism, I went to the site to see for myself. When I introduced myself and asked about the baluster, the trim carpenter challenged me to pick out which one he had hand made and his work was such that I couldn’t. That was my introduction to Paul Demeo and the start of a decades long association. Paul was a Michelangelo of a wood worker, a master of bringing ideas to life in wood fiber. He would joke that we all spent 30 seconds sketching it and he spent 30 hours bringing it to life.

When a homeowner on Nantucket wanted an exact replica of the Graymore Inn portico applied to the front entry of his Nantucket manse, Paul was the one to engineer the effort and make a perfect copy. It was so good that the carpenters in the field were almost a bit intimidated and put in a call for help to mount the masterpiece on the house. Out to the job went Paul to make sure the mounting was as good as the portico itself and of course the result was magnificent.

Paul was a perfectionist, old school, and presented a  sometimes tough exterior, but on the inside was someone who would do anything for others. Paul ran our millwork shop for the better part of 20 years and there are still many touches throughout our facilities that daily remind us of him. He helped bring us from a small shop to becoming the largest millwork facility in the area. Much more important than quantity to Paul would have been the quality he helped instill in us. Paul was an important part of our company from 1988-2008. He was taken from us on August 1st, by cancer, and the world lost a very good man way too early. Our hearts go out to Paul’s wife Linda and their family. God surely must have a project in heaven that requires a master carpenter and there is no surprise in whom he chose for the job.

Paul Demeo

November 14, 1949-August 1, 2015