Pauline was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in San Francisco to Catherine Peele (née Catherine Smith) and Larry Peele. She moved to San Rafael when she was four, where she attended Saint Raphael School, Ursuline High School, Marin Catholic, and graduated from San Rafael High School. She later took classes at San Francisco City College.

Over the years, Pauline had many interesting jobs. She worked as a housecleaner and nanny. She was a "dime a dance" dancer in order to buy Christmas gifts one year. Her mother would have been shocked. Her best client was the dance teacher. Around that time, she attended concerts at the Avalon and remembered the Crayon Lady who invited her to draw on the floor. She also went door-to-door selling World Book Encyclopedias, eventually winning top sales awards. In the 1960s, she worked at the original North Face. In her early 20s she worked with her dear friend Sue at Chateau Madrid in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She also worked in San Francsco at the Kabuki in Japantown.

She later worked for Dunne Phelps & Mills as a bookkeeper and office manager, a job she got because the woman that hired her liked that she also went to Catholic school. Pauline also worked as a cocktail waitress at  Mr. D's on Broadway, and later managed a steakhouse.

In her 20s, out of the kindness of her heart, she married a man to help him get a green card. Years later, she met the love of her life, Greg, at the My House bar in the Richmond district. Paul Gallagher introduced Pauline, Greg, Al and Betty. When Pauline and Greg were dating, they would say, "I'll meet you at My House." Their friends would get confused and show up at their home when, in fact, they meant the bar.

In 1975, Pauline was charged an extra $25 in rent for three months in a row. As a result, she pulled out the newspaper, found a three-unit property on Haight and Divisadero, and told Greg they were going to buy the house. She put a $100 down payment on her credit card for the building. They worked on that house for four years to bring it up to code. Pauline was dealing with incompetent people and notably, Pauline did not suffer fools lightly. If she did not like you, God help you. She decided at that moment to take over and become a realtor.

Pauline worked at Pyramid Realty with Jane Bock. There, she met her best friend and sister, Jutta. She loved her job as a realtor, helping many friends and family buy and sell homes, and winning many awards for her performance during her career. Pauline retired from Davis Realty around age 72.

Pauline was committed to community service. She always stood up for, and worked for, what she believed in, never mincing her words. As a volunteer Pauline joined with others in the Bayview to start R.O.S.E.S. (Residence of South East Sector). She was on the board of Southeast Alliance for Environmental Justice (SAEJ), Literacy for Environmental Justice, San Francisco Housing Development Corporation, Community Design Center, and India Basin Neighborhood Association. Pauline was instrumental in the effort to successfully shut down the Bayview Hunters Point PG&E power plant. She was also the secretary for the Bayview ROTARY Club District 5150 for years. "NO, isn't an option!" was something she was often heard saying.

She volunteered for Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, going door-to-door to help with her election and volunteering in her office for ten years. The Bayview was her favorite neighborhood of all the places she lived over the years. Pauleen was a dedicated advocate within it and, right now, would encourage everyone to protest and get into some good trouble. As Sophie said, "Pauline was a fierce champion of people, animals, equality, truth and justice. When something was not right, it became her cause. She did it with love and dedication and she would make you do the right thing!"

Her daughter Tori was born in 1976. Pauline was so proud of her amazing granddaughters, Zoë and Sasha, who brought light and joy to her life. Decades before, Pauline's mother, a respected charge nurse in Marin, knew something was not right with her health. She required the doctors to run every test to figure out what was wrong. At age 19 Pauline was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

At age 21, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and gave him up for adoption believing the doctors who said she might not live much longer. Alas, she did survive and years later Pauline also survived stage II breast cancer. In 2017, the family found her wonderful son, Jim, via DNA testing. They'd been searching for him for decades. Pauline was so excited to finally meet him, his beautiful wife, Shannon, and her three wonderful grandchildren: Marissa, Nicol and Orion.

Pauline was an avid reader and an animal lover (including stray animals). She was a champion for them. She was a great cook; we will miss her meatless tacos. She was a feminist who kept her maiden name. Pauline and Greg celebrated 50 years of marriage together in 2025.

She died at home, peacefully in her sleep. She is predeceased by her parents and brother, Michael (Sharyn).

Her family and friends miss her incredible and endlessly fierce spirit very much. In true Pauline-style, she even insisted on contributing to her own obituary. As Pauline's friends and family know, she could be intense at times, but she had a way of getting into your heart and you always knew that she was your friend. She loved her friends, family and humanity deeply.

Pauline donated her body to UCSF. Donations in her memory can be made to The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).