Paige Wilson Dearden
Paige Dearden was born in Porterville, CA on May 17th, 1964 and passed away in Napa with her husband and children beside her after a twoand-a-half-year battle with breast cancer on December 3rd, 2020.
Paige was the youngest child of Harold and Diane Wilson in Porterville and the sister of her brother Devin. She was bright, athletic and beautiful and had a knack for making people feel good and for teaching, even at a young age, as an instructor to her Mom’s baton twirling classes. She was a born leader, becoming Student Body President at her high school and then graduating and going to college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. At Cal Poly, she studied Liberal Arts and knew she wanted to become a teacher. She made lifelong friends in the Sigma Kappa Sorority and embraced all that college had to offer. Upon graduation, she knew she wanted to teach near the beach and applied and was hired in the San Juan Capistrano School District at Marion Bergeson Elementary in Laguna Niguel. There again, she made more lifelong friends, as parents and students alike were captivated by her devotion to and unique way of connecting individually with the students. She loved Laguna Niguel and the beach community.
Her first roommate and her fiancé were UC Davis grads and mentioned they knew someone from Porterville: Chris Dearden.
Chris was Paige’s Junior High School boyfriend, and a prom date for him in high school. In 1989, Chris, who was living in Napa, invited her to a barbecue in the Los Angeles area and so it began. A two-year, longdistance romance turned into a marriage proposal and Paige moved north to Napa Valley, and made Chris’ dream come true.
She immediately obtained a job at Vichy Elementary in Napa and remained there for the rest of her teaching career. To say she loved her job, the kids and the school would be an understatement. As I have been reminded, she taught 3rd and 4th grade over her 29 years there, in addition to directing traffic and running Student Council and organizing the students, family’s and staff for fundraising for Queen of the Valley-community Outreach. She organized the talent show, Holiday show, gold panning trip, Safari West trips, began the Arts Attack program for each grade level, used baseball cards and score sheets to teach percentages and averages, and taught self-discipline and respect with compassion. She taught and influenced thousands of children over her career and many still call her the best teacher they ever had. She was Teacher of the Year in Napa County and nominated several more times.
As a friend, you could not find anyone better, quicker to lend a hand, provide a meal or comfort in a time of need. She always was the first to respond when someone was ill, needed cheering up or had a family emergency.
However, her family was what she excelled in even more. She was the best mother, bar none, wife, daughter and sister ever. Her children, Samuel (Sam) and Adelyn (Addie) were her pride and joy and she taught them to be respected and show respect, to excel in the classroom and in their many activities and to show compassion and caring for friends. She was the room Mom for their schools, the photographer for their soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis and Lacrosse games from rec soccer and t-ball all the way through Division 1 Lacrosse at UC Davis. She was the first to volunteer to help in any way and every parent soon knew they could count on her to get the job done right and on time.
To say that a light has gone out in Napa as a result of her passing would be an understatement. The loss felt by her family has been devastating. The support shown by her friends and the community has been sincerely appreciated. The family would like to thank Dr. Amy Jo Chien and the staff at UCSF, Dr. Daniel Mirda and staff for their local care as well as the Infusion nurses at Queen of the Valley Hospital. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to: QVMC Community Outreach In Honor of Paige Dearden 3448 Villa Lane Suite 102 Napa, CA 94558 or: https://www.gofundme. com/manage/paigedearden-memorial-forcommunity-outreach
Private interment services planned, and a celebration of life will be held when the pandemic is over.