Paul’s life is honored with a hand-carved headstone in Springbrook, Wisconsin, at his late partner Connie Edgerton’s family home. The text of the epitaph is written in Mayan hieroglyphs to honor Paul’s lifelong passion for Mayan culture and the time he spent studying the written language.
The text of the headstone was transcribed by Professor Mark Van Stone, PhD of Southwestern College and inscribed by Nick Benson of the John Stevens Shop in Newport, Rhode Island.
Below is the English translation of the Mayan glyphs:
Many thanks to the following scholars for their time and expertise. Without them, we would not have been able to realize this memorial to honor our late father.
Dr. Van Stone: In the 1980s he began to focus on the most complex, beautiful, and little understood script, Maya hieroglyphs, and entered the University of Texas graduate school under the renowned Linda Schele in 1994. He earned his MA in 1996 and his Ph.D. in 2005. During this time, he co-authored Reading the Maya Glyphs with Michael Coe, now the standard introduction to the topic. He appeared on-camera as the "writing hand" of Gaspar Chi, Bishop Landa and various Maya scribes in Breaking the Maya Code, the stunning documentary film that took top honors at TAC Festival 2009. He is presently Professor of Art History at Southwestern College and in 2010 published a new book, 2012: Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya. His dual background in science and art is essential to his unique understanding of Maya calligraphy and of the development of all writing systems. His insight into Maya literature gives him a rare ability to interpret the Maya calendar in an authoritative and trustworthy manner and his presentation style is truly engaging.(Source: www.archeologychannel.org)
Nicholas Waite Benson began working at the John Stevens Shop at fifteen under his father, John Everett Benson. By the age of eighteen he was carving commissioned work from his father’s designs. He attended the State University of New York at Purchase in 1986 to study Drawing and Design. In 1987 he began an intensive year of study in Basel Switzerland at the Kunstgeweberschule, Schule fur Gestaltung under the tutelage of Andre Gurtler, Christian Mengelt and Armin Hofmann. He returned to the U.S. in 1988 and continued to work under John Benson. On John’s retirement in 1993 Nicholas took over as owner and creative director of the John Stevens Shop where he continues to work to the high standards set by his predecessors. (Source: www.johnstevensshop.com)