Paul S. Laubacher

Paul S. Laubacher

Sacramento, CA

Paul S. Laubacher passed away from natural causes on June 15, 2016. He was 91 years old. For the past twenty-one months he was cared for by family in Sacramento.
Paul was born in Oxnard, California on September 13, 1924 to Ann (McGrath) Laubacher and Edward G. Laubacher. He was the fifth of six children. He was the last living grandchild of Dominick and Bridget McGrath, one of the original pioneering families of Ventura County. His uncle, Father John S. Laubacher, initiated the construction of Santa Clara Church, Santa Clara Cemetery, and Saint John's Hospital in Oxnard.
Since a good part of his youth was spent growing up during the Depression, Paul would say, ""I was born with short arms and deep pockets.""
He attended Santa Clara Grammar School and graduated from Santa Clara High. As a youth he delivered meat for Martin & Bright Butchers.
Exiting a movie theater on the evening of December 7, 1941, he and his brother Harold saw paper boys standing in the street and saying something about a Pearl Harbor. This struck him as an odd occurrence on a Sunday evening in the quiet town of Oxnard. On the way home from the theater they purchased a newspaper to examine the location and circumstances surrounding Pearl Harbor. Not long after this, he was drafted into the Army Air Corps of the Eighth Air Force, serving as a radio operator on a B-17 for the 390th Bombardment Group. He reached the rank of Sergeant and was awarded the Distinguished Unit Badge and the Air Metal. Paul flew on twenty-four missions over Germany. He and his B-17 crew participated in Operation Chowhound, where humanitarian food drops were carried out to relieve a famine in German-occupied Holland. He always attributed his and two of his brother's successful return from the war to his mother's daily recitation of the rosary.
After his return from the war, he attended and graduated from St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA. While away at college he met his future wife, Adria M. Harris, settled in San Francisco, and was employed by Eloesser Heynemann. It wasn't long before the young family made its way back to the Oxnard plain, subsequently raising seven children.
He was employed in the retail men's clothing business as a salesman and sales manager. Initially, he began sales at Brigham's in Ventura, then Diener's Men's Wear in Oxnard and finally Ronald Bank Man's Store in Ventura. He knew many people and was a friend to everyone in town because of the many individuals he met in sales and his large extended family.
He was the oldest Past Grand Knight of Council 750 of the Knights of Columbus in Oxnard and a member of the Men of Promise at Santa Clara parish. He contributed many hours to fundraising events for Mother's for Life.
Visits with his children, grandchildren, and great granddaughter, attending their sporting events and musical performances, hosting and celebrating more than fifty family Easter barbecues, visiting National Parks, the family's cabin near Lake Tahoe, and attending Air Force reunions were his great joys in retirement.
He was preceded in death by his second son, Peter John Laubacher. Surviving family members include his beloved wife of 65 years, Adria, sons Paul (Barbara), Harold (Andrea), Joel (Aggie), Tim (Lisa), William (Diana), and one daughter, Mary Alyce (John) Gisla, fifteen grandchildren, and one great granddaughter.
A rosary will be held for Paul at Santa Clara Church, 323 South E Street, Oxnard, CA 93030, on Thursday, June 23, 2016 at 6:30 PM. The funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, June 24, 2016 at 10:00 AM at Santa Clara Church in Oxnard. Donations in his honor may be made to the Santa Clara Church Building Fund and mailed to the church or to St. John's Healthcare Foundation, 1600 N. Rose Avenue, Oxnard, CA 93030.