EVERETT – “Make sure there’s music.”
That was the request Everett civic and elected leader Paul Roberts made to family and friends as he was fighting cancer earlier this year when he was asked how he wanted to be remembered, according to friend of 30 years, Kati Nickerson.
Very special music will play to honor Roberts at an Everett gathering the public is invited to attend September 23, from 6:30 – 8 p.m. at the Everett Performing Arts Center, Nickerson says, for his venerable service and contributions to Everett.
Roberts served 16 years on the Everett City Council, worked 15 years as the City Planning Director, was an Everett School Board Director, President of the Association of Washington Cities, worked for the city of Marysville, served as Chief of staff for U.S. Representative, Norm Dicks, and worked for U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen during his career.
Combined with his professional career, Nickerson tells the EverettPost.com, Roberts was a tremendous supporter of local arts programs and was an accomplished musician. Nickerson grew to know Roberts while working with his widow Marianne at the Village Theater Kids Stage. She says, “Paul made a big difference in that program as well as other arts organizations throughout the area.”
Music was another calling card in Roberts’s life, rooted in Everett. David McGuire met Roberts more than 35 years ago when they shared a car ride to Chelan for a work conference. McGuire worked for the City of Lake Stevens at the time; Roberts worked for the City of Everett. McGuire tells the EverettPost.com, he was “the newbie” in town when a work assignment for both of them involved a conference in Chelan. McGuire says Roberts invited him, while barely knowing him–only connected by the similarity of their jobs–to ride together from Everett to Chelan.
Sitting in the passenger seat, McGuire says Roberts handed him a box of cassette tapes to play some tunes on the three-hour drive. McGuire remembers saying, “this looks like my music collection” as they were just getting to know each other. Three hours later, the pair discovered they were both guitarists and played with previous bands. By the time they arrived in Chelan, they were bonded over music as well as their musicianship playing guitar.
“He had a lot of skill. Great songwriter and vocalist,” McGuire says of his long-time friend and bandmate. They recorded songs at local studios that were turned into CDs. Even after McGuire moved to Colorado, they would arrange trips to see each other and keep playing music whether it was in Everett or McGuire’s home in the Rocky Mountains.
McGuire says he and Roberts were working on songs together up to five days before Roberts passed in June. McGuire and Roberts first band together was “Steel Wheels” because Roberts played the lap steel guitar. Over time, they added more musicians to the mix. McGuire believes the EPAC event is, “Good for everybody to be able to pay their respects to Paul.”
McGuire and fellow bandmates will perform some of Roberts’s music at the celebration of life the public is invited to attend, “Paul Roberts: A Life in Concert”, on September 23 at Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Avenue from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Family members and friends will speak, a slide show will be included and Roberts’s niece, a touring violinist, will also perform some of Roberts’s original music in tribute.
Everett Mayor, Cassie Franklin, said in the days after Roberts’s passing, “Beyond his accomplishments, Paul genuinely loved Everett. He was very much a Renaissance man, a musician, a supporter of the arts.”
Paul Roberts died on June 24, 2026, at the age of 73.