Cathy Linda Paul passed away peacefully, with her husband John by her side, on her 77th birthday, on Monday, May 12, 2025, in Eureka. She was born in Merced on May 12, 1948. She was a guiding light in our lives, a caring and fun-loving wife as well as her husband’s best friend, a devoted mother and grandmother, and a woman who touched everyone who knew her.

Cathy was the only child of George and Katherine Bremer, and they moved often while George was in the Air Force, including stays in Ogden, Utah, and Riverside, California. After George’s retirement, they stayed in Riverside before moving to San Diego and then Hemet, California. Cathy graduated from Norte Vista High School in Riverside and then took classes at San Diego State for several years until she “got fed up with the old-fashioned attitudes of the Home Economics Department.” It was at this time, while Cathy was working at a fabric store in Pacific Beach, sewing her clothes and advising homeowners from La Jolla about fabric for draperies and curtains, that she went with a guitar player when he played at the San Diego Navy Training Center Enlisted Men’s Club, and she danced with a sailor from Kansas. Cathy started going back to the EM Club without the guitar player, and either the sailor swept her off her feet, or she swept him off his. Cathy and John were married on September 14, 1968, and they kept “sweeping” each other for the next 57 years.

Cathy and John moved around the country for the Navy, to Vallejo, California, Idaho Falls, Idaho, Charleston, South Carolina, and back to Idaho Falls, Idaho. In Vallejo and Idaho Falls, Cathy worked for Sears, measuring and selling draperies and window coverings. During the second half of the Navy period, they were blessed with a beautiful baby girl and boy.

After they got out of the Navy, the family moved to Eureka when John went to work for PG&E. Cathy, while taking care of the family, went back to work managing the Discount Fabrics store, and then went to Daly’s Department store, measuring and selling window coverings, as well as supervising the sewing workroom. Cathy always had an entrepreneurial mindset and decided to start her own business. (Not an easy task with two small kids and a husband working shift work at PG&E.) She was determined, so she quit her job and started her own company, The Drapery, specializing in window coverings and interior design work. She also started a drapery sewing workroom in the family’s converted garage, sourced all the industrial sewing machines, employed several seamstresses, and oversaw the production of custom-made drapes that she designed and sold to clients. After several years, Cathy sold the business and equipment to Baker & Stanton and then worked for them selling furniture. Following that, Cathy worked for White House Furniture.

When Cabbage Patch dolls were introduced, Cathy began collecting them and creating clothes for them. She discovered a demand for her doll clothes at local craft bazaars and created nearly a hundred different designs, including those of firemen, nurses, surfers, ballerinas, teddy bears, rabbits, Cub Scouts, Brownie Scouts, and beachwear outfits. She once received a cease-and-desist letter from the Boy Scouts of America because the Cub Scouts’ uniform was too similar. Once Cathy got started in the craft bazaar circuit, she switched to hand-made stuffed rabbits, in dresses with petticoats, bloomers, ribbon, lace, and jewelry. She enlisted her family to stuff hundreds of rabbit bodies.

Constantly reinventing herself and jumping onto the next trend, Cathy decided to attend Frederick & Charles beauty school to obtain her manicurist degree and license. She embarked on a new career, but she found that she preferred to get her own nails done instead of doing other people’s nails, and so she retired.

Cathy is survived by her husband John Paul, daughter Cori Reed (David), son Chris Paul (Amy Leah), grandsons Colin and Cameron Paul, the mother of her grandsons, Darlee Overzet (Eric), and granddaughters Dani and Katie Reed. Cathy was preceded in death by her father, George, and mother, Katherine.

A family graveside service will be held on July 12 at Oceanside Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, charitable donations can be made to the charity of your choice. Cathy’s favorite charities were Food For People and the local pet shelters and humane societies.

###