Community Guide 2017
Interview with SGVCC Founder Jean Berensmeier by Dave Cort and Paul Berensmeier Jean Berensmeier has lived in Lagunitas for over 50 years with her husband Lee and son Paul after first coming to the Valley in the 1950s as a counselor at Forest Farm Summer Camp on Tamal Road in Forest Knolls. Jean worked as a Physical Education instructor at the College of San Mateo for many years and has been extremely active in Valley community life. Jean is a founder of the Art Center (which became the San Geronimo Valley Community Center), San Geronimo Valley Planning Group, and Wilderness Way. DAVE: Jean, I was looking at your personal achievements over the years and you have quite a legacy. First, here’s a listing of what I know to be your accomplishments: In 1968, you stopped the school board from destroying the old school. Then you leased it for an Art Center for one year and the second year organized a board to become a non-profit organization. JEAN: Our art program for the kids was wildly successful that year. I added classes for adults. It was clear to me this building belonged to the community, and so we incorporated. DAVE: In 1972, you learned about the ’61 Master Plan that envisioned an urbanized Valley of 5,000 homes and 20,000 residents with major freeways cutting through the Valley, shopping malls and everything that goes with development. PAUL: Jean came home very upset and told me there was a plan to build homes all along the Valley ridges we loved to hike. I got upset, too. JEAN: I put up a notice at each Valley post office about the plan and announced a community meeting with County Planning Director, Werner von Gundel and Diet Stroeh, General Manager from MMWD. Valley residents were outraged when they saw the ’61 Master Plan Map. That’s where I met Gary Giacomini who was running for election and learned what an “incorporated area” and a “Supervi- sor” were. I got a quick education about the Board of Supervisor politics at the Civic Center and the controversy about a staff-driven visionary Countywide Plan called Can the Last Place Last? Gundel gave me a copy that I still trea- sure. DAVE: So you helped get Gary Giacomini elected to the Board of Supervisors because his vote was crucial to approve the visionary Countywide Plan that limited devel- opment to the eastern urbanized corridor and protected
90% of Marin as rural open space and ranches? JEAN: Right. Interest- ingly, adopting the new county-wide plan also required rural communi- ties to develop Commu- nity Plans. I organized and chaired a group of people that formed the ad hoc SGV Planning Group. We, along with other residents, ham- mered out the Valley’s first Community Plan.
It was adopted in 1978 and preserved and protected the Valley’s rural character and natural resources. That plan has been amended and strengthened, and has guided Valley development ever since. PAUL: It was shortly after the Community Plan was adopted that Gary appointed Jean to the Parks & Open Space Commission. Within three months she got the com- mission to support the purchase of Roy’s Redwoods—the first preserve acquired in the San Geronimo Valley. And during the next 20 years that she served with the com- missioners, the County acquired three other Valley pre- serves—Maurice Thorner, Gary Giacomini, and the French Ranch—four preserves totaling almost 2,300 acres. JEAN: Exactly. My 20 years on that commission were memorable. Then Paul had a career change and the Berens- meier family founded Wilderness Way and began teaching environmental education in the four K-8 programs in the Lagunitas School District. DAVE: So acquiring those nearly 2300 acres protected them from development. Extraordinary! But, Jean, what in your life motivated you to do what you’ve done? PAUL: Great question, Dave. Jean frequently told me the stories of her childhood, and I am convinced, as she is, that there are basically three experiences that were key to who she is and what she does. DAVE: Okay, Jean—you’re on. JEAN: First, and importantly, I don’t think I’m unique. I think everyone has special stories to tell that changed them and what they do. Here are mine. I was born in 1932 during the Great Depression. Life was hard for everyone, and when I was four, my Dad, a Serbian, and my mother, a Croatian,
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