William F. Monahan
May 23, 1926 - April 21, 2017
Pacific Grove
William Francis Monahan, a long time resident of the San Francisco South Bay, and most recently a 17-year resident of Pacific Grove passed on peacefully on Friday, April 21, 2017, surrounded by family and good friends after a brief illness. He was 90 years young.
William (Bill) was born May 23, 1926 to Charles and Gladys Monahan in San Francisco. At the age of five, he and his family moved to East Palo Alto where they found land to farm on and raise livestock that would sustain them during the Great Depression. The times were difficult but he never lost faith in his ability to overcome obstacles, an attribute that would see him through many challenging times in the years to come. Bill graduated from Sequoia High School in 1944. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1944 while still in high school and was accepted as a Cadet into the U.S. Army Air Corps Aviation Training program, fulfilling a wish to be a pilot in World War II. He was inducted at the Presidio of Monterey, not knowing at the time that he would later find his greatest happiness living his final years on the Monterey Peninsula.
After his service, he earned a Bachelors Degree in Accounting at San Jose State University under the GI Bill. While at SJS, he was on the Water Polo team earning an NCAA championship. He loved to swim and spent as much time in the water as he could. He had many part time and summer jobs to earn money to put himself through school including fighting fires with Cal Fire during summer vacation where he was based in King City, another early connection to Monterey County. William then went on to graduate level accounting studies at the University of California at Berkeley, but had to drop out midway through due to a serious car accident. After college, he began farming vegetables in Sunnyvale and Sunol and then shifted into accounting, working his way up to Treasurer/CFO positions in real estate development in the final years of his financial career. In his retirement, he started a second act as a golf marshall, first at Deep Cliff in Cupertino, then at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach and finally, his very favorite golf marshall position at Spanish Bay. He so enjoyed both interacting with the golfers and taking in the nature around him on the course.
He married his first wife, Kathleen A. Baird on November 8, 1953, and he and Kathleen settled down in San Jose, raising a family of three children.
On October 14, 1988, he married Patricia (Patti) Ann Dias who would also become his very best friend. Together they had many adventures, some near and some far away, and enjoyed a circle of friends who would be there for them throughout their 28 years of marriage.
William was a true renaissance man who was adept at so many things – anything he had interest in and took his mind to, he accomplished from building to growing to cooking – he could do it all. Among his favorite later year pastimes: gardening (especially growing tomatoes and dahlias), playing (and watching) golf and settling in to watch some extensive NFL and college football coverage each season.
Surviving Bill is his best friend and wife, Patti and his three children: Kristin (Ken) Dickens, Los Gatos, CA; Kelly Monahan, Irvine, CA; and Patrick Monahan, San Jose, CA. He also leaves behind six grandchildren: Aaron, Brittni, Kelsey, Meghan, Kaylie and Kadin, and three great grandsons: Owen, Dillon and Carson. His older and younger sisters, Betty and Dell, preceded him in death.
William will be interred at the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery in Seaside where a brief public interment service is planned for July. A private celebration of a life well-lived is also being planned.
When asked, Bill wished that memorials might be made in his name to the Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP) in Pacific Grove to help rescue cats such as his own two, Arthur and Hugo; or to the Food Bank for Monterey County. Bill felt strongly that no person or family should ever have to go hungry, especially in the midst of such abundance as we have here.
Please visit www.thepaulmortuary.com for condolences and guest book.

View the online memorial for William F. Monahan