Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 05:12:50 :
Independent Journal
Thursday,
October 17, 1985
FRED CARL BERENSMEIER
A memorial service for Fred Carl Berensmeier, known as “Santa” in the San Geronimo Valley, will be held Sunday.
Mr. Berensmeier, who was 84, died Friday at his home in Lagunitas.
The memorial event will begin at 2 p.m. with a show of his art work at the San Geronimo Community Center. At about 3 p.m. friends and family will walk to the nearby Roy’s Redwoods for a memorial service.
Terry Garthwaite and Kate Wolfe, two of his San Geronimo Valley friends, will sing during the memorial.
Mr. Berensmeier was born in Westphalia, Germany, and came to the United States in 1919.
He was a farmworker and prospector during his first years in this country.
He also worked for Ford Motor Co. on the East Coast, as a gold miner in Colorado, a welder in San Francisco shipyards and a truck maintenance worker at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
He moved from San Francisco to Forest Knolls after he retired as fork lift mechanic 19 years ago.
Mr. Berensmeier viewed his work merely as a means to provide food and shelter. What he really enjoyed were writing, creating photographic art works and doing Santa’s work at Christmastime.
Mr. Berensmeier, an active conservationist, was a member of the Friends of the Valley, Sierra Club, Valley Planning Group and a charter member of the Valley Pioneers senior club.
During his two decades in Marin, Mr. Berensmeier made many friends and admirers of all ages. He was affectionately called “Grandpa,” “Santa” and the “Mayor of Forest Knolls.”
In 1980, the West Marin Senior Services nominated him for Outstanding Senior Citizen of Marin award.
The year before, the Transcendental Meditation organization honored him as one of 10 outstanding Marin residents.
Teachers at Lagunitas School and local nursery schools made an effort to break the news of his death very gently to children who thought of him as Santa.
Mr. Berensmeier, however, never said he was Santa. He merely played “Santa’s helper” for the past 16 years.
After donning a false wig and beard, the first year he played Santa’s helper, he grew a beard. He let his hair and beard remain long year-round after that.
“He really was a magical person,” his daughter-in-law, Jean Berensmeier, said. Even a trip to the grocery store with him was an adventure, rather than a chore, she said.
He participated in Drake High School’s open classrooms annually.
Mr. Berensmeier created art works by superimposing photographic images, a process he called “artgraphy.” Some of those works will be shown Sunday.
During the 1960s, he collaborated with his son, Fred Leon Berensmeier, on several films using artography. Some were shown on television.
Mr. Berensmeier also was a prolific writer. Owl Press published a book of his poetry in 1981, “Road to Ophir.” He also wrote short stories about his childhood and a novel. His family plans to sort through the diaries he kept for about 50 years.
Mr. Berensmeier is survived by a son, Fred Leon Berensmeier of Lagunitas; a daughter, Maguerite McNally of Oakland; and two grandchildren.
The family prefers memorial contributions to the Marin Conservation League or to the county’s open space district fund.
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A Death Notice in the Oct. 18th paper adds that he was the husband of Ina Berensmeier, and grandfather of Paul Berensmeier of Lagunitas and Shad Turney of Oakland; two brothers and three sisters preceded him in death.
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