Paula Maria Gleason

Sept 5, 1932 - June 12, 2019

Paula was born in 1932 at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco where, years before, her mother had trained as a nurse and her father had completed his residency. She lived in San Mateo for much of her life, graduating from Notre Dame High School in Belmont and University of California, Berkeley.

After a stint working in the Psychological Para-Military Unconventional Warfare Group of the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington D.C., Paula returned to California, and settled in Los Angeles where she earned a teaching credential at UCLA. After teaching for two years, she returned to UCLA and got her master’s degree in education, and met her husband, Bob who was in the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. After some years in Los Angeles and the birth of two children, John and Alice, Paula and her family returned to San Mateo and settled in a home two blocks from where she had lived as a child.

Paula was active in community organizations, and she and Bob traveled extensively prior to his death in 2006. Her love of travel, new experiences and continued quest for knowledge were always evident in her life.

She is survived by son John Gleason of Seattle WA, daughter Alice Ricketts of Cleveland TN (spouse Michael) four grandchildren: Katherine “Kate” Gleason, Tony and Cailean Ricketts, and Stephanie Miller, and six great grandchildren: Marcello Molinari, Jada Jackson, Miracle Miller, Amya Miller, Lakelen Ricketts, and Emryn Ricketts.

We will love you and cherish you in our memories forever.

Memorial Service will be held June 28, 2019 at 11:00AM at St. Bartholomew’s Church, 600 Columbia Drive, San Mateo. Reception to follow at 202 Harvard Road, San Mateo.

In lieu of flowers, please send any donations to Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County, 50 North B Street, San Mateo, CA 94401 or St. Francis Center, 151 Buckingham Ave, Redwood City, CA 94063