Frank Berkenkotter

Frank Berkenkotter Sept. 26, 1938 - Dec. 16, 2005 Frank was born in Seattle and grew up in the Berkeley area. He held two masters degrees, teaching art in the Midwest for 10 years. He was an expert lithographer and a prolific artist, with over 40 gallery showings of his work. He returned to California in 1980, purchased a 20 acre organic almond orchard and designed and built his own home. He loved music, especially jazz, and the game of GO, co-founding the Davis-Sacramento Go Club. For the past decade, he and his wife traveled yearly to the European Go Congress, held in a variety of Eastern and Western European countries. Having written poems and essays since the 50s, Frank recently self-published two volumes of poems. He took the time to ponder the larger questions of life. Widely read in history, science, politics and the arts, his main query was about the mystery of human consciousness, writing, "It is ironic that we perceive at all and daunting to know your fate." A man who valued family and maintained lifelong friends, Frank is survived by his mother, Margaret Dury of Berkeley; his wife, Marilyn Stettler of Davis and San Francisco; brother, Peter; sister-in-law, Carol; brother, Richard Dury of Berkeley; daughters, Maria Berkenkotter and Ingrid Shepherd; son-in-law, Frank Shepherd; four young granddaughters, Zoe, Kyle, Aza and Kendall of Boulder, CO; niece, Eren; nephews, Eric and Kurt; four grand-nephews; and step-daughter, Sarah Stettler of California. A private Memorial will take place on Saturday, February 11, 2006. Donations may be made to The Sierra Club Foundation or to any local blood bank.