Co-founder of Elgin restaurant dies at 77

Stella Paul, a co-founder of Paul's Family Restaurant at Lawrence Avenue and McLean Boulevard in Elgin, died on Thursday, Oct. 15.

For the past 15 years Paul, 77, had battled breast cancer and then Hodgkin lymphoma, though her official cause of death was pneumonia.

"That's why we're taking it so hard because (the doctors) had just told her that she was in remission," said daughter Elaine Paul, a current co-owner of Paul's with chef John Caribacas. "She never quit. She never talked about, 'What if I don't make it?'"

Stella Paul's life was a classic spin of the successful American immigrant story. Born in Kalivia, Greece, Stella nee Mavros immigrated to Harvard at 12 with her father. She married her husband, John Paul, in 1960 and the following year they started their first Elgin restaurant, the Douglas Coffee Shop.

In 1971, the two put all their efforts into opening Paul's Family Restaurant and it has been a success since.

Paul was celebrated for her baking, a skill she developed in the 1980s after a pie vendor challenged her to do better when she wasn't happy with their desserts.

"I wish we knew who that guy was so we could send him a thank-you note," Elaine Paul said. "We're known for our desserts and that's all something she started from scratch."

"The Pauls have contributed over 50 years to the community," said longtime Paul's waitress Betsy Couture of Elgin.

She added that Paul's makes Thanksgiving dinners available for families in need each year. "It's an institution in Elgin," Couture said.

Many of the staff at Paul's have remained loyal and a few have worked decades at the restaurant.

"I saw her like a mother," said Rosa Delgado of Elgin, a 30-year veteran of Paul's."We are always going to have her in our hearts."

Delgado immigrated from Mexico to Elgin at the age of 13, and she said Paul wanted to help a fellow immigrant by hiring her and pushing her to get good grades in school. In 2007, Delgado raised more than $2,000 in honor of Stella to do the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in Chicago.

Elaine Paul has also been receiving supportive messages from former Paul's workers who remember her mother as someone who valued hard work and as a person who took others under her wing.

"There's so many people that say that the things they've learned in their little small restaurant job, they've carried through their life," Elaine Paul said. "And that was because of her."

Stella Paul is survived by her husband, daughter, son-in-law Eric Wickmann and grandson JohnEric.

Funeral services are being handled by Laird Funeral Home, 310 S. State St., Elgin. Visitation is 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21. The funeral service is at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, 525 Church Road, in Elgin. The family has requested that any memorials to be given to the same church where they were founding members.