Clyde William Preston

Just three days short of his 82^nd birthday, Clyde W. Preston ascended into heaven after a recent, severe fall and a four-year-long battle with Dementia.

Clyde was born in San Franciso and grew up in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. He graduated from San Francisco Polytechnic High School, class of 1960 and attended City College of San Francisco. In 1966, he married the love of his life, Mary Ann, and moved to San Mateo.

Clyde worked for several companies over the years, including Xerox and John M. Cole Construction, but most were spent on the San Francisco waterfront working as a truck driver for Pacific Ship Repair, San Francisco Welding and Continental Maritime, where he was successful in obtaining his Class A license with endorsements.  Clyde spent the last 12 years of his career working in the burials and gardening maintenance department at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma. While working there, Clyde had the honor of serving as one of the pallbearers for baseball legend Joe DiMaggio and former California Governor Edmond “Pat” Brown. 

Clyde was a devoted husband and father and a true perfectionist in everything he did, both at work and at home.  A handyman who could fix almost anything, he took tremendous pride in gardening work, with his yearly crop of tomato plants, but especially in maintaining his front lawn, which many neighbors compared equivalent to a world class putting green. In his younger years, Clyde was an avid camper and fisherman, often chartering many fishing trips for co-workers and friends on the Butchie “B” in San Francisco as well as lake fishing.  He also took joy in caring for the many dogs and cats that were part of his family over the years. He was a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West Guadalupe Parlor #231 for the past 59 years.

Clyde was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Caroline Preston and brother-in-law Bill Adams.  He is survived by his loving wife Mary Ann, devoted son Clyde Jr., sister Carolyn “Sis” Adams, sister-in-law Margie DeMeo (Gil), nieces Carolyn Thayer, Sandy Schuhmacher (Roy) and Karen Oeffinger (Larry), cousin Lynne Fuelscher and many great nephews and great nieces and life-long friends and neighbors. 

Services will be held on Monday, August 4, 2025 at St. Timothy Catholic Church, with visitation starting at 9:30 a.m. and mass at 10:30 a.m.  Interment will follow at St. John’s Cemetery in San Mateo.

The Preston family would like to thank Clyde’s in-home caregivers, Jake and Jennifer, Mills-Peninsula Hospital, Sutter Care at Home, Sutter Health Palliative Care, ANX Hospice Care and the staff at Gordon Manor in Redwood City, for their compassionate and professional care given to him in his final months of life. 

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Timothy’s Catholic Church, 1515 Dolan Ave. San Mateo CA  94401 or a charity of your choice.