Paula Willmore made a splash aboard the Queen Mary by singing with the mariachi band at our last Gala. Whether she's performing, raising a family, or managing Westland's Pomona Mobile Home Park, Paula does everything with passion.
This year marks Paula's 28th year at Westland. She says her job interview is a day she'll never forget — mainly because she wasn't expecting a job interview. After purchasing a home in the park, Paula came to the office to sign the lease. That's when Westland founder Allen Alevy spotted her potential. Thanks to her bubbly personality, he knew she'd make a great salesperson and manager for the property. "He wanted me to manage his park in Pomona. I said, 'No. I'm not looking for a job.'"
Within a month of moving into the community, Ruth Garcia arrived with an employee contract. "I remember Ruth came to my house with a hiring contract. I thought, I never said I'm going to take the job."
Although she needed convincing at first, Paula is proud to be a part of the Westland family and loved working with our founder. "Mr. Alevy is not just my boss. He wants to know that everything is good with my family and me. I've had nothing but good experiences at Westland."
A major challenge with the newly-owned mobile home park was combating crime. "When I first moved to the community, we had lots of problems with drug dealers, gangs, and vandalism. So I asked the Pomona police department to help me. The chief officer said: "Are you crazy? Do you know who you are dealing with? Get your kids and leave.'
"I was a single mom with three kids, and I'd just bought a home. I had to keep fighting. I said, 'If you guys want to help me, we can do it together, but I'm not moving out.'
"The police sent a couple of patrol cars. Right away, windows got broken and the tires were slashed. It took us a while to clean the park up, but I never gave up. I reported everything to the police, and Westland was able to evict the people that made the park unsafe. Because of that, you can walk the streets in the middle of the night with no problem."
Thanks to her hard work, Paula's five children loved growing up at Pomona Mobile Home Park. When she talked about potentially buying a new house, her children said, "That's nice, but we want to stay here. This is our home. We're happy where we are right now."
As well as cleaning up the park, Paula focused on building a community to be proud of. Every Thanksgiving, the local police and city mayor deliver 100 turkeys for 100 of the park's families. At Christmas, the City Council donates gifts to the park's children. She loves helping with the giveaways. "The community supports me, and I like to support them back. We surprise them with toys and food. It brings people together."
Outside of her manager role, Paula loves to sing. "My passion is my music!" She sang professionally in the '70s but stopped after her husband’s death so she could raise her children. In 2011, Paula returned to her music and loved performing with the mariachi band at the Westland Gala. "I'd do it more if they let me," she said. "I'm recording a CD and hope to have it ready by May."