Obituaries : Mattie Gleichmann; Pierpont Inn Matriarch

Pierpont Inn matriarch Mattie Gleichmann died at the age of 100 Sunday at her home on the inn’s property in Ventura.

A Ventura County native, Gleichmann was born April 18, 1895, in Santa Paula and attended elementary school in Santa Paula and high school in Oxnard.

Shortly after marrying Gus Gleichmann in Ventura County in 1921, she left her career as a teacher and managed hotels in Oakland and the San Joaquin Valley.

This career change proved to be her life’s work, and her crowning glory was the renovation and management of the Pierpont Inn in Ventura.

“Mrs. G, as the employees called her, was a real perfectionist and her standards were very high,” said general manager Rod Houck, the husband of Gleichmann’s granddaughter, Alisa. “She was an incredibly hard worker and never gave up. She was generous and giving and stern if she cared about you and was the most inspiring person I’ve ever met.”

In 1928, Gus and Mattie Gleichmann bought the deteriorated Pierpont Inn and renovated it. After her husband died in a car accident in 1938, Mattie Gleichmann continued to operate the inn until their son, Ted Gleichmann, took it over in 1945. He died of a brain tumor in 1975 and his son, Vic Gleichmann, managed the inn until 1990, when Houck took over the inn’s management. The inn is owned and operated by Mattie Gleichmann’s daughter and grandchildren.

Gleichmann adored the Pierpont Inn gardens, and her grandchildren continue her tradition of tending the gardens and decorating the lobby with fresh flowers, family members said.

“Flower arranging was her trademark at the hotel,” Houck said. “You’d see her in the entryway of the lobby pruning and cutting flowers. She loved flowers. The gardens are stunning. We fully intend to continue the legacy she and her husband started.”

The Pierpont Inn restaurant will be renamed Mattie’s Oceanview Dining in April to commemorate what would have been Gleichmann’s 101st birthday, Houck said.

Gleichmann was also an avid outdoorswoman who enjoyed horseback riding, fishing and camping.

“She’d go fishing in Yosemite in the ‘30s and ‘40s with other women and catch trout. She was very progressive,” Houck said. “She was a Katharine Hepburn type. That’s how I always saw her. She used to go camping and loved to fish.”

Gleichmann is survived by her daughter, Nancy Henson of Ventura; six grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Ventura Missionary Church.

Mansell, June K., 62, of Thousand Oaks, homemaker. Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura.

Tullet, Dorothy L., 63, of Camarillo, buyer for aerospace firm. Pierce Brothers Griffin Mortuary, Camarillo.

Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by cooperating mortuaries.