Paul R. De Lay

1919 - 2018

Paul R. De Lay
November 12, 1919 ~ March 15, 2018
Pebble Beach
Paul R. De Lay, a retired attorney and naval officer, died March 15, 2018, at home in Pebble Beach. His two careers spanned 70 years with 20 years as a navy line officer and judge advocate and the remainder as a lawyer in Monterey County. He served 15 years in the district attorney and county counsel offices and then entered private practice in Carme1 with David Laredo and Anne McGowan, specializing in public agency and education law. He represented Monterey County colleges and school districts, as well as other colleges and districts in the tri-county area. He reduced his law practice in 2010 but continued to maintain an office and partnership with David Laredo in Pacific Grove until his death.
Paul was born on November 12, 1919, in Beresford, South Dakota, the son of Jerome De Lay and Margaret Ruddy De Lay, a banker and teacher, respectively. With World War II impending, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy ten days after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in June 1941. After one year in enlisted service, he was commissioned as an officer and received extensive training at Harvard College as a communications officer. Two tours of duty in the amphibious forces in the southwest Pacific followed, beginning in the Solomon Islands and ending in the occupation of Japan in the fall of 1945. His assignments included adjunct duty with the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and the U.S. Army First Cavalry Division in New Guinea.
While attending Georgetown Law School after WWII, he was employed by the Library of Congress where he met Anna-Lou McDaniel, a library editor, of Alexandria, Virginia, his wife of 63 years. Anna-Lou preceded him in death on July 4, 2010. He was recalled for service in the Korean War and remained on active duty until 1965, when he retired as a commander, after serving in the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps in the Western Pacific, Illinois, and California. While on duty in the western Pacific, he served as a trial judge in the civil courts of the Mariana Islands and as counsel for military tribunals prosecuting violators of United States territorial water restrictions in the Mariana and Bonin Islands (Iwo Jima) east of Japan.
He was admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, State of California, and federal courts. During his last years of practice, he devoted most of his time to pro-bono service as legal counsel and advisor for charitable, non-profit, and educational organizations, including academic institutions establishing public schools in Central and South America and Tibet. He and Anna-Lou attended the Santa Fe and San Francisco Operas for years, as well as the San Francisco Symphony as season subscribers. He was a long-time member of the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club and enjoyed racing on Monterey Bay. He and his wife were charter members of the Spanish Bay Club and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. His local community service included 22 years on the Del Monte Forest Land Use Advisory Committee, serving as chairman for 18 years, and over 45 years as a pastoral and finance council member, at St. Angela Merici Catholic Church, Pacific Grove.
In December 2013, Paul was honored by Pope Francis with the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal, the highest papal award given laypersons for service to the Church. The honor was bestowed by The Most Reverend Richard J. Garcia, DD, Bishop of Monterey. In May, 2016, he was honored by the Supreme Court, State of California, for 50 years of service as an active member of the California State Bar.
Paul is survived by three sons, Paul, Jr., M.D. (Karen), of Alexandria, Virginia, Fred (Susan) of Carmel Valley, and William (Sandra) of Sacramento, California, and granddaughter, Casey Ann De Lay, of Fresno, California.
Paul was the youngest of six brothers who served in WWII, five of whom served overseas at the same time. He credited his mother, Margaret De Lay, as the family hero in WWII. She lived alone, volunteering for the Red Cross, anticipating, each day, news from her sons serving in the European and southwest Pacific theaters.
He was preceded in death by his brothers and their wives, namely, Harold and Mary Elizabeth of St. Paul, Minnesota, Bernard and Frances of Norfolk, Nebraska, John and Irene of Castle Rock, Colorado, Jay and Pauline of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Eugene and Josephine of Oakland, California.
The family of Paul De Lay would like to thank Father Seamus O'Brien, Father Jerry McCormack, Father Paul Murphy, and the Hospice of the Central Coast, especially Tammy, Anna, Matthew, and Margarita. Thank you also to Dr. Gary Grant, Candy Grant, and to Kevin Sezen.
A private Funeral Mass has taken place at St. Angela Merici Church, celebrated by Father Seamus O'Brien, preceded by burial at El Carmelo Cemetery, Pacific Grove. A Celebration of Life will be held on April 14th, between 1:00PM to 3:00PM at St Angela Merici Parish Hall, 362 Lighthouse Ave, Pacific Grove, CA 93950. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to St. Angela Merici Church, the SPCA for Monterey County, PO Box 3058, Monterey, CA, 93940 or your favorite charity. To sign Paul's guest book and leave messages for his family, please visit www.thepaulmortuary.com.


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