Paul Hemenway

Paul was born at the Lying In Hospital in Chicago.  At the age of 4, he travelled with his parents to post-war Europe where they worked with the Marshall Plan in the late 1940’s.  In Norway, Paul experienced a love of the night sky that stayed with him his entire life. He had a long career in astronomy. He graduated from Case in 1967 with a BS in Astronomy.  Paul married Mary Kay Meacham, also an astronomer, in 1968. They had two daughters, Anne and Sara. Paul and Mary Kay were married until 1993.  Paul received his PhD in Astronomy from the University of Virginia in 1974.   His area of expertise was in astrometry which involves the measurement of positions and motions of stars and other celestial bodies.     Paul served on the Astrometry Science Team of the Hubble Space Telescope from 1978 until 1996. He worked on a  Hipparcos project from 1989 until 1996. Hipparcos was the first space experiment devoted to precise astrometry. In 1996, Paul and Susan Chancey were married. They lived in Rhode Island for 10 years. During part of that time, Paul worked as a data programmer at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography. In 2003, Paul returned to astronomy and worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on astrometry aspects of the Gravity Probe B satellite which was involved in testing several predictions of the general relativity theory. In 2006, Paul and Susan moved to Colorado to be closer to family. Paul became involved with the University of Denver Enrichment Program, teaching 15 courses since 2010.      Paul’s interests outside of astronomy included playing the accordion, Scottish Country Dancing, and photography. Paul, at a young age, learned how to take and develop photos with his father. From 2013 until 2021, Paul wrote, photographed, and self-published a book, Ribbons of Highways - Colorado (His COVID project). Paul, Susan, his brother-in-law Tim, and dog, Jeni, travelled to all of the counties in Colorado to photograph this beautiful state for his book.

    Another interest of Paul’s was his love of puns. Every person who knew him was, at one time or another, entertained (?) by a pun from Paul. Paul once placed in the O’Henry Pun-Off.

    Paul passed away in 2025 with his wife, Susan, by his side after a long and brave fight against bladder cancer.  He is survived by his loving wife, Susan, his beloved and loving daughters, Anne and Sara, his beautiful granddaughter, Ruth, his son-in-law and friend, Larry, his brother and friend, Carl, and his brother-in-law-law and friend, Tim. Paul will be greatly missed by his family and his many friends. He was deeply loved.