Paul John Reinsch passed away in his Pacific Palisades home on July 14 at the age of 90. He had resided here with his wife Nancy since 1948, where they raised 14 devoted and grateful children. He was active with a sharp, dry wit to the very end. Born September 21, 1916 in Peking, China, son to Paul Samuel Reinsch (who was serving there as the U.S. Ambassador) and Alma Marie Moser, Reinsch attended schools in Washington, D.C., Lausanne, Switzerland, Icking (near Munich), Germany and, primarily, Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating from high school, he first spent a year circling the world on $300 before entering the University of Wisconsin. He surfed in Hawaii, was detained in China for months due to the Japanese invasion, bicycled over the Alps from Genoa to Brussels, then focused for seven years on medical studies. Paul first moved to Los Angeles in 1941 for his internships. After losing his savings gambling in Las Vegas, he proceeded to California Hospital in L.A. to sell his blood. The technician tapping from his arm, Nancy Jean Thorne McClish (born in San Francisco in 1918), became his wife for nearly 63 years. Their marriage was the first service to be held at the new parish of St. Mathew’s in Pacific Palisades. Upon completion of his internships, Paul joined the army. He served as battalion surgeon for the 415th Regiment of the104th (Timberwolf) Division. Captain Reinsch helped liberate’or more specifically, saved allied lives’in Belgium and the Netherlands before crossing the German Ruhr Valley in the spring of 1945 to meet up with Russian troops. He was on the front line a good half year and was awarded the bronze star. His war experiences being a central chapter in his life, he entertained family and friends, and recorded anecdotes, up until the week of his death. After the war, Dr. Reinsch and Nancy moved to the Palisades and he established a medical practice in Santa Monica. Specializing in internal medicine, he had the capacity to work very long hours, use any spare moment to catch catnaps, and add a dose of lightness and hope to the care of terminal patients. He continued his practice, including house calls, until the age of 75. His qualities and interests were endless. He built much of the furniture in the Reinsch home, as well as the playground equipment, assembled and repaired any electrical appliance short of computers, invented embedded car radio antennas, implemented his wife’s garden designs, followed the L.A. Dodgers, and read profusely. Clearly his greatest passion was fishing. Throughout his professional career he reserved a half-day every week to fish in Santa Monica Bay, and with retirement he more than doubled his time. For the final third of his life, his catch provided the daily staple to the family diet. He was a patron of the Betty-O out of Marina del Rey. On board, ‘Doc’ was not only a respected sportsman, he also wielded a mean poker hand. He reeled in several ‘keepers’ the day before he died. Paul’s beloved wife and companion Nancy died March 17, 2004. They are survived by 12 of their 14 children, 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Their sons are Stuart (who lives in Berkeley), John (Fresno), James (deceased 1979), Fred (deceased 1996), Peter (Amsterdam) and Michael (Pacific Palisades). Their daughters are Mary Sackett (Encino), Erica Dedon (Dublin), Anne (Oakland), Sigrid (Santa Clara), Jennifer Chaffiotte (Madison, Connecticut), Molly Maguire (Bellingham, Washington), Maureen Montgomery (Lake Tahoe) and Lindsay Albert (Malibu). Paul is also survived by one of his two older sisters, Pauline Thomas of Buffalo, New York. His other sister, Claire Cadura, died in 1989. Public memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 29, at St. Matthew’s Church on Bienveneda Avenue. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to one of Paul’s favorite charities, Running Strong for American Indian Youth (www.indianyouth.org) or Westside Food Bank (www.westsidefoodbankca.org).
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