Pat Maurer, wife of former Newport Beach mayor, marks her 100th birthday with friends, family

Although Newport Beach resident Pat Maurer’s 100th birthday isn’t technically until Thursday, her friends and family members couldn’t wait to celebrate the milestone occasion, so they threw a surprise shindig on Saturday for the former mayor’s wife.

A parcel of well wishers gathered at the Red O restaurant for a lunchtime feast to honor a woman who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, resided on Balboa Island for 40 years with late husband Philip Maurer and made numerous friendships along the way.

“It was beautiful, just beautiful,” the still-99-year-old said Monday of the fete. “It was a lovely surprise, which is the best way to do it.”

Birthday girl Pat Maurer table hops during her 100th birthday party Saturday at Newport Beach’s Red O restaurant.

(Susan Hoffman)

Born in 1923, Norma Patricia O’Connor lost her parents to influenza when she was a girl but still managed to have a full and happy life. She was 20 and living in San Diego when she learned of an effort to enlist women into Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, a division of the Navy created to free up male personnel for sea duty.

“There was sort of a void in my life at that time. And I’d never heard of the WAVES, so I went down and signed up,” she said, recalling how she once prepared inflatable boats for the South Pacific fleet. “I was mostly a secretary with a uniform. But it was great fun.”

Patricia “Pat” Maurer with husband Philip in 1986.

(Courtesy of Jay Maurer)

During a night of dancing at San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado, she met the man she would later marry. Philip Maurer also served in the Navy during the war and, like her, had lost his parents to the flu.

“He swept her off her feet at the Hotel del Coronado, and the rest is history,” son Craig recalled.

The couple married in 1945 and lived briefly in Whittier before settling in a house on Balboa Island, where they remained for four decades.

Her husband worked as a school teacher and served on the Newport Beach City Council from 1980 to 1988, serving as mayor for two years.

Patricia “Pat” Maurer, right, with daughter-in-law Jay Maurer in March.

(Courtesy of Jay Maurer)

Pat stayed at home to raise sons Craig and Matt, garnered a reputation as an avid gardener and tennis player and became involved in the Balboa Island Assn., penning a newsletter of neighborhood happenings and planting flowers outside the local post office.

The Maurers retired to Fallbrook in 1989, more than a decade before Philip’s passing in 2002. Pat later returned to Orange County and now lives in Newport Beach’s Atria senior living community “with all the old ladies.”

The secret to her longevity?

“Is there any secret? Who knows,” she said. “Taking care of yourself and watching what you eat. I think your outlook is important and what you’re doing — taking care of your family and getting out in the sunshine.

“I’ve had a very wonderful life. I’ve been very fortunate.”

Pat Maurer, center, with her grandchildren and son Craig, right, at the Fallbrook home they named “Lob Hill” in 2018.

(Courtesy of Jay Maurer)

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