Pike's Peak Paget

While attending the School of Design at North Carolina State University in the mid‑1960s, I had the pleasure of taking a speech class taught by Dr. Edwin Paget, an English and speech professor with a personality unlike anyone I had ever met.

Dr. Paget was born in Kansas City around 1902—though he never revealed his exact age. As a child, his parents took him on vacations to Colorado, and as a teenager, he climbed Pikes Peak for the first time. Beginning around 1950, he returned to Colorado every summer to climb the mountain again and again. Because he feared flying, he traveled by train, rented an apartment at the old Navajo Motel between Colorado Springs and Manitou, and always stopped by the newsroom of The Gazette to announce that he was back in town. Every other morning, he hiked to the 14,110‑foot summit at least once.

Paget didn’t take the usual Barr Trail route. Instead, he followed the tracks of the Cog Railway and hitched rides back down. His record was four ascents in 19 hours, and he climbed the mountain three times in a single day while in his seventies.

His philosophy of life was simple: a man should strive for health, wealth, and a beautiful wife. For health, he believed everyone should run at least ten miles a day to reach what he called “full manhood” by the age of eighty‑five. Near NC State was a city park known as the Rose Garden, where Paget ran up and down a hill every day, circling a particular tree so often that he eventually wore a groove into the hillside. He ran to the market for groceries and back again. He played “speed golf,” where the goal was to finish with both the lowest score and the fastest time, sprinting between shots. He even promoted “speed basketball,” a continuous game in which all free throws were taken at the end.

For wealth, Paget had a variety of schemes. One student in our class pursued one of them—quitting school to form a partnership with other students, buying a powerful computer (a rarity in the 1960s), and selling time on it to businesses. I never learned whether the venture succeeded.

As for the beautiful wife, Paget claimed the method was simple: ask every beautiful woman you meet to marry you. Most would say no, some might slap you, but eventually, one would say yes.

His classes were as unconventional as he was. If you arrived late, you had to bring donuts for everyone at the next session. When you delivered a speech, Paget would stand on a desk at the back of the room, waving his arms and making faces to distract you. The best speech earned the “Paget Peace Prize,” which allowed you to choose a candy bar from a coffee can and eat it during class. He was melodramatic, fond of grand titles, and proudly used one bestowed on him by a Research Triangle organization: “History’s Most Significant Man.” He also referred to himself as a “Modern Michelangelo.”

By the end of 1983, Paget had reached the summit of Pikes Peak 985 times. His goal was to reach 1,000 ascents during the summer of 1984, but after surgery and declining health, he never returned. He died in July 1989.

From Dr. Paget, I learned that it is not only acceptable to be different—it can be a strength. As long as you are productive, don’t believe the world owes you anything, obey the law, and avoid harming others, you are free to be exactly who you choose to be.