Paul Moser

1924 - 2025

Paul Moser passed away peacefully on August 23, 2025. He was 101 years old. His keen wit and clever repartee stayed with him to the end.

Paul was born in Montana and moved to Pittsburg, California in 1932. He graduated from Pittsburg High and lettered in 4 sports. He often joked that he was a star athlete only because the student body was so small.

After graduation in 1942 Paul signed with the Navy in the V-12 program for officer training. After training he ended up on a LST as an Ensign Executive Officer for the duration of the war in the South Pacific. He honed his poker and bridge skills during those years, emptying many a sea man's pockets of their wages. On the GI bill he attended UC Berkeley from 1946-1950. He remained a loyal and devoted Cal Bears fan. It was at a fraternity exchange that he met his future wife, Barbara Body. They were married in 1950 and had three children: Eric, Ann and Susan.

In 1950, they moved to Watsonville, CA and Paul taught math at Watsonville High School for 16 years. He started the Watsonville High School United National Competition Team and was an early organizer of the first Little League and Pony League baseball teams in Watsonville. Paul and Barbara were avid bridge players and were both grand masters. He started the duplicate bridge club in Watsonville and Santa Cruz in 1952 and they ran duplicate bridge games 3 times a week. Paul was a co-founder along with Ethel Young of the Santa Cruz County Credit Union which is now Bay Federal Credit Union.

In 1966, Paul was appointed Vice Principal of San Lorenzo Valley High School and they moved to Rio Del Mar. He was a SLV administrator for 16 years. He loved teaching high school students, attending all the sports events and was invited to and attended all the High School Reunions as a beloved teacher.

When Seascape was first being developed in Aptos in the 1970s and the Seascape security officers were running the local kids off the beach, declaring it a private Seascape beach, Paul took himself down to the beach and planted himself on the sand. He was arrested, forcing the subsequent ruling in favor of public beach access.

After Paul retired, he was appointed Commissioner of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and ran all of the sports for the county leagues. He was particularly proud of the fact that he negotiated for the girl's sports to be televised on the local KSCO tv station along with the boys. In retirement, Paul joined the Seascape Tennis Club, making many new lifelong friends and competing well into his 90s. He enjoyed a wonderful life with his wife, raising 3 children, skiing, traveling, attending Cal Bear football games and throwing marvelous parties in their backyard. He lost his beloved wife Barbara to cancer in 2002.

He was fortunate to meet Jeanne Hilson a few years later and they enjoyed twenty plus years of companionship and travel. They were both residents of Carleton Senior Living in Martinez where he moved to be closer to his daughter, Ann.

Paul was an incredibly generous man whose credo was, "The quality of a man's life while on earth is to be measured by what he does and how he raises his family with his wife and not by the quality of his portfolio." With that as his criteria he always felt himself to be a millionaire. His favorite saying he passed on to his children, "You can have anything, not everything."

Paul had a good, long life. He will be remembered and missed.

Paul was also predeceased by his son, Eric Moser (Janice) in 2017. He is survived by his daughters, Ann Moser (William) and Susan Moser (Tom); and his grandchildren: Jack, Kate, Laura, Isabel and Nicole.