Obituary of Leslie Pamela Wiss Dineen

Leslie Pamela Dineen passed away peacefully with her family by her side at home on June 19th following a difficult battle with metastatic breast cancer. Leslie was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on October 30, 1945 to William and Frances (Blazer) Weisburd, and grew up in St. Paul with her two older sisters, Judy and Barbara. Leslie attended Monroe High School and the University of Minnesota, majoring in Theater Arts. In the early 1970s, Leslie and her young son Stephen left the frigid 10,000 Lakes behind for California, joining her sister Barbara and her husband Gene Palmer in the Bay Area. Leslie lived in San Francisco for the next dozen years, making many friends and building a successful executive career in accounting and office management, primarily with Decimus Corporation, a banking technology firm. Along the way, she happened to meet another Decimus employee, Sean Dineen, and against her better judgement, dated him, married him, and moved her life to Santa Cruz for the next 35 years. Leslie was a lifelong fan of live theater, and continued to enjoy local, regional and major Broadway road productions throughout her life, as well as participating in local Improv activities in Santa Cruz. She also became an avid collector of sea glass, and had many of her favorite pieces turned into jewelry. Until illnesses restricted her ability to do so, she especially enjoyed scouring beaches far and wide finding sea glass. Leslie is survived by her husband, Sean Dineen, her son Stephen Wiss, step-children Lise Dineen McCarthy, Amy Dineen, Michael Dineen (Sophia Young), daughter-in-law Jennifer Dineen, grandchildren Caitlin, Michael and Molly McCarthy and James and Joseph Dineen, her sister Barbara Palmer, Maurice and Leann Dineen, Thomas Dineen, Shannon Dineen Birchler (Nikai) and her special friend Jane Schwamberger-Toft. A private graveside service took place June 22nd at Oakwood Memorial Park in Santa Cruz. The family is grateful to Dr. John Hausdorff, Dr. Michael Yen, Dr. Melinda White, Dr. Michelle Nguyen and the wonderful staff from Hospice of Santa Cruz County for their help and thoughtfulness throughout Leslie’s illnesses. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to animal rescue funds, Hospice of Santa Cruz County (https://www.hospicesantacruz.org/ways-to-give/) or a charity of your choice.