A retired Los Angeles teacher was surprised to find her monthly pension payment missing from her bank account, despite having worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District for more than 40 years.
Although the issue was later clarified, the situation highlights the importance for older adults in Los Angeles and across California to regularly verify their pension status and stay informed about system updates.
The department mistakenly believed that 94-year-old Gloria Wilson had died, even though she had moved to Texas and continued to receive her pension from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS).
Gloria’s payments stopped abruptly at the beginning of 2026. “It was scary. I was upset,” Wilson told KABC. Her family received a letter from the department stating the agency had “received notification” that Wilson “may be deceased.”
“We got a letter, and it said termination of benefits due to her being dead,” Wilson’s daughter, Melva Williams, said. “I was really upset. It disturbed me,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t imagine anybody saying I was deceased when I wasn’t,” she added.
‘It Disturbed Me’: California Agency Declares 94-Year-Old Woman Dead, Cuts Off Her Pension and the Explanation Lands Like Blatant Indifference on Full Display https://t.co/YI2Eh2V3Ut
— Phillip Rhinehardt (@Phillipdrphl) February 22, 2026
Gloria’s daughter, Melva Williams, immediately contacted the appropriate authorities, after which they said that Wilson and her primary care doctor would have to sign a letter confirming she was alive. However, the family said they submitted the paperwork twice and still faced issues.
The pension delay caused major financial strain for the Wilson family. Gloria noted that some of her monthly payments are automatically debited and, without timely pension deposits, those payments could be missed, raising concerns about essential services being disconnected.
“It was terrible,” Gloria Wilson said. “You wouldn’t want anything to be turned off.”
During a follow-up call, the family was informed that the issue may have affected retirees who moved out of state and were impacted by a new computer system implemented in October.
Williams said they were told that individuals without a California address prefix were mistakenly declared deceased or ineligible.
“The way he put it was any one of the retirees that had moved out of state and they not have a California prefix… was running into trouble because of the new computer system that they had set up in October, I think,” the Los Angeles native, Melva Williams, said.
“The basic thing is that just like my mother, they were declared dead or ineligible now or something of that nature. And I’m like, what? A computer glitch?” she added.
As these claims by the Wilson family grabbed headlines, California State Teachers’ Retirement System spokesperson Thomas Lawrence told ABC7 that it is not a system-related error.
He said the department regularly double-checks benefit payments to prevent fraud. Lawrence also said officials are not aware of any payments that have been barred incorrectly.
On behalf of the department, he stated, “If a member does ever have a payment delayed, we work as quickly as possible to reissue the payment.”
As of Friday, CalSTRS sent ABC7 an email confirming that it had resolved the issue with Gloria Wilson and would resume her pension payment by early next week. Her daughter said she will follow up with the authorities and provide updates.
