Paula Flowers Phillips, who was a fixture in Malibu for 10 years as an assistant for her father’s governmental affairs business during the 1980s, died in Woodland Hills on Saturday after a bout with pneumonia. She was 54.
Born Paula Flowers on Aug. 21, 1953 in Culver City, she attended UCLA and received a nursing degree from the Bryman School. Her interest in medicine began at a young age. She volunteered as a candy striper for more than 2,000 hours at Cal Lutheran Hospital in downtown Los Angeles during her junior high and high school years
After receiving her nursing degree, Flowers began work at an emergency clinic in Culver City. She remained there until 1980. Then she began working for her father, Paul, who ran a business in Malibu helping various clients with situations with the county government. Paul Flowers had previously served as deputy to the county supervisor for the Malibu area and the surrounding communities.
Flowers was in charge of putting on health fairs at the then-Santa Monica Bank in Malibu. And she helped set up fundraisers for county supervisors and other politicians.
Flowers married Warren Phillips in 1990 at a ceremony at the Sea Lion Restaurant (now Duke’s Malibu). The couple lived in Woodland Hills.
Paul Flowers said his daughter “loved people and animals” and enjoyed writing. She was the teenage editor of a magazine he published in the 1970s called “Movies Now.”
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adjourned its meeting in Phillips’ memory on Tuesday.
Phillips is survived by her father and husband as well as her stepmother, June. She was preceded in death by her mother, Marion.
A memorial service will take place at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church of Culver City, located at 4427 Overland Ave., on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.