He took the name Paul in 1961 because Peter, Noel and Mary just didn't have the ring to it. But Noel Stookey had no idea that accepting that middle name would make him one of folk music's most enduring figures — or that 65 years later, people would still be calling him Paul.
Now, at 88 years old and just two years shy of his 90th birthday, Stookey is the last surviving member of Peter, Paul and Mary after Peter Yarrow's death last year. His memory is sharp.
The folk legend had a front-row seat to some of the most significant moments in modern American history. He stood right behind Martin Luther King Jr. during the "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington, where the trio performed in front of 250,000 people. He sang "Blowin' in the Wind" alongside Bob Dylan at Newport Folk Festival that same year, one arm around Joan Baez and the other around bandmate Mary Travers.
Long before Dylan became a household name, Stookey gave the completely unknown singer a shot at the Gaslight, night after night, effectively launching one of rock's greatest careers. All of this happened over 60 years ago, yet Stookey recalls names, places, and events in vivid, unfaltering detail.
The hits kept coming: "Puff the Magic Dragon," "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" — the soundtrack to an entire generation's awakening. The trio remained iconic until Mary Travers passed away in 2009.
With Yarrow's death from cancer in 2025, the weight of keeping that legacy alive has fallen entirely on Stookey's shoulders. He's working on a memoir and continuing solo work to preserve the story of a band that helped define the sixties.
