Peter Remembered

Peter Carson Minkwitz died at home in Point Richmond, Saturday, 11 February 2012 of lymphoma at age 67.  He was diagnosed in December 2010, went through several rounds of chemotherapy at Kaiser and a bone marrow transplant at the Stanford Cancer Center.   He was preceded in death by parents Mary and Earl Minkwitz.

Peter was born September 7, 1944 in Hamilton, Australia however he spent his early years at the Stanford Village, on-campus housing, where Earl attended school.

He met Doreen Hardy in 1986 and they married June 21, 1987 at sunset in Big Sur, CA on a bluff overlooking the Pacific.   Their reception followed a few months later at ‘Oak Hollow’, the Minkwitz Family Farm in Kelseyville.

Peter attended Lowell High School and had been working on their 50^th Class Reunion .  He graduated from UC Berkeley where he was captain of the Fencing Team.

Peter and his six siblings grew up sailing small boats on San Francisco's Lake Merced. "There were always boats outside being sanded, rigged or repaired," says Kit Stycket, a friend of the entire family's since childhood. "The basement stored all the gear necessary for the four or five small boats that the Minkwitz children were sailing." 

After graduating from UC Berkeley and leaving the corporate world behind Peter went to work for Weeks-Howe-Emerson, a fishing tackle and marine supply outfit. In fact, he designed, built and managed their flagship retail store in San Francisco, Downtown Marine Supply, before moving on to become the yard manager for Svendsen's Boat Works, a position he held for more than 15 years.   Peter later trained under Jim Jessie to earn his surveyor accreditation with the National Association of Marine Surveyors. He bought Jessie's business when Jim and Diana left the Bay on their circuit of the North Pacific in the '90s. "People knew he was one of the good guys," says Allison Lehman of Yachtfinders/Windseekers. "Every surveyor in the Bay is torn up about his passing."  I was there when the doctor told him he only had a few weeks left to live," recalls Lehman. "He was extremely brave. He looked at me and said, 'Well, I've got a lot to do.' And, wouldn't you know, he got most of it accomplished."

One of the things Peter left unfinished was the refit and sale of his Ingrid 38 China Rose. Built over the course of seven years on a small lot along Mission Creek and above what is now McCovey Cove.  Peter enlisted the help of his entire family during the early '70s to finish what several people have described as "the most beautiful ferro cement boat you'll ever see." Stycket laughed that the younger siblings felt like they were indentured servants because every weekend was spent working on the boat.  Doreen notes that China Rose is so fair that "every once in a while we’d hear a tapping on the hull...'what material is this?  Is it fiber glass?'”  They spent many happy years living aboard and sailing China Rose to the Delta and on coastal cruises.  

Peter wanted to make sure the boat got a facelift and was sold so Doreen wouldn't have to deal with it after his passing.  Stycket volunteered to head up the effort and dozens of friends have turned out to lend a hand. "Peter was a perfectionist," she says, "so we're doing it the way he would have wanted." In addition to the manual labor provided by friends, companies such as Svendsen's, Bay Marine Boatworks and Hanson Rigging have donated supplies. Stycket has even set up a 'Friends of China Rose' Facebook page to post updates and enlist recruits.  If you'd like to help out, the crew is usually working every weekend at Sven's - contact Kit at (916) 712-3571 or k11747@yahoo.com for details.

Once China Rose is finished, Lehman says she'll help Doreen sell her. "I feel privileged and lucky to have been a friend of Peter's," she says. "I'll do whatever I can to help." 

In addition to his contributions to the marine industry Peter immersed himself in the Point Richmond community serving as President of the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council for several years.  "Peter loved the village feel of The Point and our little neighborhood" his wife Doreen shared.  "Building our home was huge source of pride for him and a project we shared for 1 1/2 years with only ONE disagreement!  Peter was a genuine human being incapable of anything other than honesty, generosity and integrity at the highest level. He was a brilliant problem solver, a warm, thoughtful and loving soul.”

Peter is survived by his beloved Doreen, siblings Ed Christwitz, Meg Brown, John Minkwitz, Harriett Scampoli, Ellen Barrett, and Andrew Minkwitz. 

A project Peter was actively involved in is the Ferry Point Tunnel Mural in Point Richmond that is waiting to be painted on the Bay side of the tunnel and will now include something special about Peter.  In lieu of flowers donations in Peter’s name may be sent to the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council, P.O. Box 70386, Point Richmond, CA 94807 designated for the Ferry Point Tunnel Mural fund.  

Doreen wishes to thank:  Leslee Edward and the Lotsa Helping Hands “Peter’s Notebook” community, Dick Horn and Jerry Keefe, Dave Hardy, Laura Larkin, Harriet Scampoli and all Minkwitz sibs, Sheri and David Espar, Julia Caldwell, Deb Clark, Ralf Morgan, Pam Hyland, Buzz Baylis, Allison Leeman, Kit Stycket and the Friends of ‘China Rose’, Bay Marine Boatworks, Svendsen’s Boat Works and Hansen Rigging, Kaiser Oakland (especially the Chemo Angels), Sunny Scott, Dr. Wen-kai Weng and the Stanford Cancer Center Bone Marrow Transplant team.

Friends of ‘China Rose’ include:  Pelican Fleet 1, Martin Flaherty Rue Flaherty, Dick Loomis, Jonathan Livingston, Jesse Wedler, Matt Nobel, PJ Foley, Jacob and Liz Abrahams, Freddy Andersen, Chris Corlett, Stephan Canright, Julia Canright, Ellen Minkwitz-Barrett, Andrew Minkwitz, Kim Desenberg, Victor Zarich, Mary Barrett, Harriet Minkwitz-Scampoli, Joe Abeyta, Jill Lutz, Bill and Wendy Doll, with advisory help from Commodore Thompkins and Josh Pryor.

A date of remembrance is pending.

Funeral Blues – W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone.
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling in the sky the message He is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.