Marie Bernadette Moneymaker

Marie Bernadette (Clerou) Moneymaker, 84, was called home to Heaven on October 28, 2022. She passed peacefully in her sleep at her home in Dana Point, California.

Marie was born July 20, 1938 in Bakersfield, California to Ann and Vincent Clerou. She was the second of three daughters and fondly recalled trips down The Old Road to visit family members in Los Angeles and being a camp counselor at Bass Lake.

A graduate of The University of California at Berkeley, Class of 1960, Marie loved her time at Cal, her sorority sisters and college summers lifeguarding at Lake Tahoe. With a lifelong heart for children, she became an elementary school teacher before being introduced by a friend to Richard Moneymaker in the summer of 1962. Their first date was to the bullfights in Tijuana and they married the following summer. Thus began a lifetime of adventure together traveling, scuba diving and skeet shooting.

Marie and Richard moved to the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles where she raised four children, drove around in a 1971 Toyota Landcruiser replete with red Jerry Cans and a winch, attended Our Mother of Good Council Church and spent the next 50 years throwing pool parties, hosting abalone dinners, and making houseguests of countless friends, family, teenagers and acquaintances.

Marie was above all else kind and friendly. She would invite anyone who happened to the front door of their hillside home to come see the incredible view of Los Angeles from the huge picture window in the dining room, usually remarking "On a clear day you can see Catalina." If you stayed more than 5 minutes she would offer you a drink and try to make you a sandwich. A regular at all the local Los Feliz restaurants, she called every host, server and busser by name.

Marie loved musicals, classic movies, and Johnny Mathis Christmas songs. She made the best guacamole you've ever had and a legendary carrot cake. (Turns out the secret was to put a bit of pineapple juice in the with cream cheese frosting)

Marie wanted nothing more than for people to be happy and have fun. Don't shed a tear but raise a glass to a life well-lived. She put her faith in Jesus Christ and she is home in Heaven.

She is survived by her husband Richard Moneymaker, her four children Vincent, Matthew, Ann Marie and Dorothy, her six grandchildren Leo, Anna, Cameron, Julio, Aleksander and Mia, and her sisters Lynne Wiswall and Romaine Clerou.