Glenwood Springs Philanthropist Paul Bushong Dies at 97

Glenwood Springs —The wind howls across the sharp, sandy turns of Grand Mesa, a landscape that has claimed many riders over the decades. For Paul Dugan Bushong, it was the final, brutal chapter of a life defined by speed and stubbornness. He rode his touring motorcycle into a ravine there, falling 60 feet after an accident that ended his riding career.

Paul Dugan Bushong, Jr., died peacefully on July 22, 2026. He was four months shy of his 98th birthday.

The Post Independent reported on the passing of a man who built his identity on two things: an unyielding work ethic and convictions that made him impossible to argue with, yet impossible not to admire. Bushong didn’t just live in the Roaring Fork Valley; he funded its infrastructure and its future.

His career began in Houston, Texas, where he founded the Special Outreach Fund at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church. But it was his decades in Colorado that left a deeper mark on local institutions. Bushong created the Fast Forward Scholarship Fund at Colorado Mountain College (CMC). That fund helped hundreds of high school students pursue technical or vocational certifications. He was a major supporter of the Bushong Student Center, which houses the campus dining hall and a high-fidelity nursing simulation lab. That lab uses computerized mannequins to train students in hospital-mimicking environments.

In 2017, he partnered with the Aspen Community Foundation to establish the Normandy & World War II Education Fund. The goal was simple: promote youth understanding of the Battle of Normandy and the liberation of Western Europe. His generosity has awarded scholarships to over 100 local students who attended the Normandy Academy, an 11-day educational tour.

Before he was a philanthropist in the valley, Bushong was a lieutenant in the Korean War. He earned a degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Oklahoma and built a successful career as an oil and gas executive specializing in exploration and production. He grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky, where he was a precocious trombonist in his high school marching band starting in 6th grade. He married Shirley Patton in 1955. They raised two sons across various U.S. cities.

Bushong was preceded in death by his younger son, Paul (d. 1998), and his wife, Shirley (d. 2013). He is survived by his older son, Craig; three grandchildren: Patton, Mackie, and Wick; and a 1-year-old great-granddaughter, Bebe, in New Ulm, Texas.

He remained a voracious reader and an effortless skier until the end. He shot his age in golf until he was 95. The obituary notes that age never slowed him down. He bought a touring motorcycle for his 75th birthday and rode it for several years.

The Grand Mesa is a beautiful place in summer. The light hits the pines, and the air is thin and sharp. It’s a place where people come to escape the noise of the valley floor. For Bushong, it was a place that finally stopped him.

He left behind a legacy of concrete and scholarships in Glenwood Springs. The dining hall where students eat their lunches bears his name. The nursing lab where students practice on plastic bodies bears his name. The scholarships that send local kids to Normandy bear his name.

He was a man of faith and unwavering kindness. He lived entirely on his own terms.

The community lost a pillar. The valley will feel the absence of his stubbornness, his generosity, and his refusal to let age dictate his pace.

He is gone. The work remains.