Paul Leroy Pickering

  Paul Leroy Pickering, 59, of Yorba Linda, California died peacefully on August 29, 2016 after a long battle with metastatic melanoma. He was born in Sedalia, Missouri on May 31, 1957, the youngest child of Lloyd and Marian Pickering who have preceded him in death. His family moved to Calumet City, Illinois in 1958 and on to Placentia, California in 1966. He graduated from El Dorado High School in 1975 and Parade Magazine honored him as a “Parade All American” for his high school football career. During high school he had a lawn service with his brother Dave, and after high school Paul worked at Disneyland in the Carnation House. He received his AA from Diablo Valley College in 2007 and graduated from California State University Fullerton in 2013 with a BA in Business with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. He worked for Pacific Bell (which became AT&T) for 37 years and retired in 2013. He began working as an operator and then worked as a technician in San Luis Obispo County for 20 years. Later, for his work in sales he earned the President’s Club Award in 2000 and 2002. He became a service executive in San Jose and San Ramon and eventually transferred to Tustin, California in 2006 when he became a resident of Yorba Linda. Paul had a very strong work ethic where he took pride in solving the most difficult technical problems for his clients. He always wanted to do the right thing and give his best effort. Paul will most be remembered for his volunteer work in the communities in which he lived especially with the Telephone Pioneers in San Jose, where he was President for two years. He loved helping them during their Christmas in the Park event every December.   He loved to travel and made trips with Mom and Dad to Costa Rica, San Diego, Pismo Beach, Joshua Tree National Park and Otis, Oregon to visit his brother. His number one vacation destination would appear to be Hawaii. He traveled there four times over the past 20 years. He also loved to camp and hike and visited many national parks across the country. He loved to train dogs with Harvey Allen in Orange, California, first training his own Rottweiler, then helping Harvey whenever he could. His abilities were many, he sang in a chorus that performed at Walt Disney World with Eartha Kitt in December of 2005. He helped build many things, including stage sets for Artemis, A Theatre Company in San Luis Obispo, roofing his brother Dave’s house and rebuilding the patio at his Mom’s condo not once but twice. He learned to cut stained glass and made windows for his family as gifts. All of the abilities to perform these tasks were self-taught. Paul’s love and loyalty to family and friends was always foremost in his life. He was always first to offer a helping hand, he loved to take on projects small and large for anyone. As the youngest of six children, he was the jokester and loved to make people laugh. He loved everything Harry Potter. Survivors include his wife of 16 years, Liz, of Yorba Linda, his three sons, David (Lauren), Jacob (Jessie) and Daniel (Joelle) all of Atascadero; 4 grandchildren, Arun, Conor, Caleb, and Avery; his four sisters Janice Grankowski (Kenneth) of Norco, CA, Rebecca MacIntyre (James) of Flagstaff, AZ, Catherine Melton (Stephen) of Placentia, CA and Rachel Pacourek (Scott) of Bullhead City, AZ, and brother David Pickering (Debbie) of Otis, OR and many nieces and nephews.