Rooted in History · Part Three
From the team behind the Morrison Country Store . . .
Rolf Paul. Mayor and Artist.
Nearly three decades as mayor and trustee. A national reputation in foil embossing and graphic design. The logo for the Town of Morrison, still in use today.
Chapter Three
Rolf Paul · Mayor and Artist
Rolf Paul was born in 1937 in Germany, survived the war, came to America, and fell in love with a tiny house overlooking Red Rocks. He moved to Morrison in 1969, joined the Town Board in 1974, and served as trustee and mayor for nearly 30 years — attending more than 650 board meetings. He paid Morrison's utility bills out of his own pocket when the power company threatened to cut service. He personally roused downtown residents during the 1983 flood. He negotiated C-470 away from the town center. He helped bring the Morrison Theatre Company to life. He embossed Dinosaur Ridge Field Guides at no charge. He did all of it quietly.
"Bigger isn't always better."— Rolf Paul
Morrison, 4th of July
Mayor Rolf Paul in the 4th of July parade — arms wide open, his daughter Krista beside him. A hand-lettered “MAYOR” sign was taped to the side of the car (just out of frame here). Small-town governance, no frills. The Morrison storefronts lined with people. This is who he was in the town.
Down Bear Creek Avenue
The parade car rolling down Morrison’s main street. The girl in the blue dress on the right is Erika — Rolf and Ginny’s younger daughter, Krista’s sister. The two sisters each rode half the parade: Krista in the first stretch, Erika in the second. Same seat, same car, same small-town tradition. “Little Bits of Yesterday and Today Antiques” visible in the background — the town’s antique heritage in one frame.
Rocky Mountain News, July 23, 1983
The front page. “Area hit by heavy rainfall.” The caption at the bottom names Rolf Paul crossing a wire bridge above raging Bear Creek to protect the town’s water supply. His daughter Krista kept the clipping in her Garfield scrapbook.
Krista’s Scrapbook
The wire bridge photo as Krista preserved it in her childhood scrapbook — her handwriting beneath: “Dad going over wire bridge at Bear Creek during time when it could flood.” She saved everything.
Governor Roy Romer, June 1983
Rolf Paul receiving the Colorado Community Improvement Program Award from Governor Roy Romer, presented by the Economic Developers Council of Colorado — to the Town of Morrison. His handwritten note on the back of the photo identifies the occasion.
Of course it was a dinosaur footprint.
On April 18, 2000, the Town of Morrison gave Rolf Paul this — a cast of a dinosaur footprint, set in stone, with a brass plaque thanking him for “27 years as Trustee and Mayor.” It is the most Morrison gift conceivable.
The town sits atop the Morrison Formation, the geological layer named for it; Stegosaurus was first discovered just up the hill from his house. They could have given him a certificate. They gave him a piece of the bedrock.
Twenty-seven years as of that date. He would serve nearly two more before his death in January 2002.
Election Night at the Morrison Inn
Two photographs from the same night at the iconic Morrison Inn — still in business today on Bear Creek Avenue, across from the historic Town Hall where the results were posted. Top: before the results. Bottom: after he found out he won. Ginny is standing behind him. Also pictured is Buck Anderson, longtime Morrison contributor and Rolf’s partner on the Board for many years, who passed away in 2025.
High Timber Times — “Lives are at stake.” A full feature on Rolf and the challenges facing Morrison. “This town is the best-kept secret, even to this day. That’s why real estate is never on the market.” — Rolf Paul, 1996.
October 1991
Rolf Paul, October 1991. He was 54. He would serve another nine years on the Board, close his business in 2000, and begin converting his shop into an art studio. He died January 4, 2002, at 64, at his home overlooking Morrison, overlooking the town he loved.
“This town convinced me.”
Rolf’s journal, February 5, 1996. He had decided not to run for another term on the Town Board. Then, in careful calligraphic hand, he reversed himself: “This town convinced me... let’s just call it a way to repay the town.” He ran again. He served until the year he closed his graphic arts business and began converting his shop into an art studio — then he passed two years later.
Denver Post obituary, January 2002. The family did not alert the press to Rolf’s passing — they were honoring his preference not to make a fuss. Pierre Dogan, his French neighbor, did not abide by that. He called the Denver Post himself. The obituary exists because Pierre insisted it should. Asked for comment, he was quoted: “I am frankly saddened by the good luck he had to live here in this country.” In French — Pierre’s first language — “I am saddened by his good luck” is a tender construction, the kind of thing one says when grief and gratitude arrive at the same moment. It carries no irony. What Pierre meant was simpler, and warmer: he was moved by how fortunate Rolf had been to make his life in this country he loved. This was the language of a friend who would not let his friend go quietly into the record.
Denver Post obituary, January 2002. The family did not alert the press to Rolf’s passing — they were honoring his preference not to make a fuss. Pierre Dogan, his French neighbor, did not abide by that. He called the Denver Post himself. The obituary exists because Pierre insisted it should. Asked for comment, he was quoted: “I am frankly saddened by the good luck he had to live here in this country.” In French — Pierre’s first language — “I am saddened by his good luck” is a tender construction, the kind of thing one says when grief and gratitude arrive at the same moment. It carries no irony. What Pierre meant was simpler, and warmer: he was moved by how fortunate Rolf had been to make his life in this country he loved. This was the language of a friend who would not let his friend go quietly into the record.
The Garfield Scrapbook
Krista’s childhood Garfield scrapbook — where every newspaper clipping, election result, and photograph of her parents and their town was carefully preserved. “KRISTA” written on the label. The scrapbook that made this page possible.
Chapter Four
An Artist, in Service to His Community
Rolf Paul was a fine artist — watercolorist, printmaker, foil embosser, and graphic designer of national reputation. His company, Rolf Paul Graphics, was the preeminent foil-embossing and die-cutting shop in Colorado. He designed the Town of Morrison logo, the Morrison Natural History Museum logo, and the Morrison Heritage Museum logo — all still in use. He embossed thousands of covers for Dinosaur Ridge, the Jefferson Symphony, and the Morrison Theatre at no charge. He drew birds constantly, from memory, on whatever was nearby.
It is also worth noting: when Krista chose a small family-owned vendor to produce The Little Wren Shop’s bags, tags, and stickers using foil and die-cut — that was not a coincidence. It was a tribute.
“Atmosphere is Everything.”
The article as it hangs, framed, in the family’s home — a trade-press recognition Rolf quietly received and then, just as quietly, hung on a wall. InsideFinishing magazine (now Products Finishing, an internationally circulated trade journal), August/September 1988 — a full feature profile of Rolf and Rolf Paul Graphics, written by Carolyn Becker. The “Finisher’s Feature” recognized his work as foil embosser and die-cutter at a national level. Morrison knew him as their quiet mayor. The industry knew him as one of the very best in the country at what he did. Both were true.
The Article, Readably
The full article, scanned from the original pages. Carolyn Becker’s profile describes Rolf’s workshop in the Colorado foothills, his arrival from Germany at twenty, his leap from letterpress to offset to foil-embossing, and the kind of integrated design-and-production studio most agencies couldn’t match.
The piece — in its small way — is the trade-press equivalent of the six-page Morrison Messenger memorial that would come fourteen years later. Both describe, in their own language, a man who took his work seriously, quietly, and very well.