Priscilla Marie Hein

Priscilla Marie Merritt was born in Los Angeles on November 30, 1942 to Ruth and Louis Merritt and was the oldest of 8 children. She attended St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic School and went on to Temple City High School. After high school she attended two years of college while also working. She joined a young adult group at St. Luke's where she enjoyed social events and made many lifelong friends. While working for McKesson Chemical in her early twenties she caught the eye of a young man who was working in the warehouse there named Gary Hein. He was promoted to an office position soon after. One night after driving her home from a work social event, he told her he was going to marry her one day. Once his embarrassment wore off he asked her out again and they were engaged less than a year later. Gary and Priscilla were married November 12, 1966 at St. Luke's and started their life together. They were blessed with four children over twelve years; Christopher, Daniel, Paul and Joy. Over the years Priscilla stayed home to raise the children while Gary continued his job at McKesson which took them to various cities and states where many long time friends were made and lives were touched by her generous and spiritual nature. In 1981 they moved to Costa Mesa where they would spend much of their life together and become very involved at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. In 1991 she began working at Paulist Press Book Center where she worked for 12 years and touched many lives while serving the Catholic Community. Both Gary and Priscilla retired in 2003 and sold their long time home to move to Paradise, California where they would become involved at St. Thomas More Catholic Church. In just a short time they made quite an impact on the small community and had gained many wonderful new friends. After the unfortunate loss of Gary in October 2005 she spent five years remaining in Paradise among friends before deciding to move back down to Orange County to be close to her children. She lived in Westminster for a few years where she was active in her retirement community before moving to Long Beach in 2013. She continued to be very social and traveled back to Paradise frequently as well as to Montana to visit her eldest son and his family during her last few years.

Priscilla is survived by her four children, two grandchildren and seven brothers and sisters. She will live on in their hearts as well as all of the people who's lives she has touched during her 74 years of life.

In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation in her name to one of the following organization:

Mental Heath America Donate to Mental Health America

Hope for Mental Health Mental Health Give

Luyben Dilday Mortuary (562) 425-6401