Well-known Simi restaurateur succumbs to battle with cancer
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

Paul Molé

Paul Joseph Molé was a pillar of strength.

Most people in Simi Valley knew him best as the owner of Paul's Italian Villa- the restaurant that's been a community favorite for 43 years. But the stories shared by those closest to him tell of a man who was a modest hero, a natural do-gooder, and a loyal friend.

Gordon Weeks, Molé's longtime friend and fellow Marine veteran, said he was humble, compassionate and big-hearted, but never wanted anyone to know it.

"He was a guy that served his country, got shot up while trying to save a friend, and tried to get the other guy to bring him home so his mother would have someone to bury," Weeks said. "But where we came from, doing heroic stuff is kind of like the norm."

On April 22, after what his wife, Roseann, called a life of "fulfilled dreams," Molé, at the age of 60, succumbed to his year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Throughout his life, Molé showed strength in just about everything he did.

PATRIOT- Paul Molé, a veteran of the Marine Corps, performed "Taps" at countless veterans' events around the city. Here he performs during the Mormon Church's Salute to Arms event held last summer.

Roseann said she remembers the time, in April 1968, when Molé was critically wounded in the abdomen while serving in the Vietnam War. The couple had started dating about a year earlier, then Paul was drafted to serve his country. He could have gone straight to the Army, Roseann said, but he chose to join the U.S. Marines.

"It was a terrible time," she said. "The last two months after his last surgery, we were going back and forth to San Diego and nursing him back to health. He spent about 18 months recuperating and getting stronger.

"And then he proposed to me. And of course I said yes."

The couple met as teenagers in 1964, when Roseann's parents bought a small restaurant on Erringer Road called Kitty and Simone's. Paul Molé, a student at Simi Valley High School, had been working at the restaurant since it opened in 1961.

"My father bought the restaurant not knowing much about the business," Roseann said. "Paul ended up teaching him just about everything, how to roll dough, how to make pizzas- just everything."

By 1975, the couple- then married for six years- bought the place from Roseann's parents and renamed it Paul's Italian Villa.

But Molé was so much more than just a restaurant owner, Weeks said.

"He was absolutely a straightshooter," he said. "If you didn't want the truth, Paul was not the guy you would go to. He didn't care if he was your best friend or if he hurt your feelings, he would tell you straight up. And if you didn't like it, shame on you for asking the question.

"I really wish we had more people like that," Weeks added.

Still, the most important thing Molé did in his whole life, according to Weeks, was raise two "very solid" young men- Paul and Peter- with Roseann.

"He raised two boys that have the same work ethic, level of integrity and morals that he did," Weeks said. "I am so proud of the way those boys turned out, and it's just a testament to how Paul raised them."

Mayor Paul Miller said Molé always made himself available to help out in the community. He played taps on his trumpet during Memorial Day and Veterans Day events and during funerals for fellow servicemen.

Molé was also an advocate for Toys for Tots and established a chapter of the Marine Corps League in Ventura County.

He started the Paul Molé Late Night Big Band and played swing music every month at the restaurant. He was also a big supporter of high school music programs.

Roseann said her husband had a lot of dreams and was always very optimistic. When he passed away last month, it was exactly 40 years since he first was injured in Vietnam.

"He crammed 80 years of life in 40," she said. "He tried so many things, and I always told him that if he was a ride at Disneyland, he'd be a cross between Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Peter Pan."

Before he died he asked that his family start the Paul Molé Music Fund, to collect donations in lieu of flowers to help music programs in the Simi Valley Unified School District. To make a donation to the Paul Molé Music Fund, send a check to Simi Valley Unified School District, c/o Lowell Schultz, 875 Cochran St., Simi Valley, CA 93065. All donations will be used for students in need of instruments or instrument repair.