Donor Stories

Michael Keropian a retired physical therapist walked in Golden Gate Park rain-or-shine every day, circling Stow Lake, and crossing the bridge to Strawberry Hill in the lake’s center, often in the company of long-time friends, almost always with Ferdie, his aged and blind Boston terrier.

“We have Mike’s obit on the Boat House wall,” said Jeff Fones, Stow Lake Boat House manager. “Everybody liked him.”

Keropian arrived at the Boat House in his mint-condition 1957 Chrysler New Yorker about seven thirty each morning for his walk around the Lake, pausing to chat briefly with boat-house staff. “Mike was a man on the move,” Fones said. “He was a really happy guy.”

After he died unexpectedly at age 82 in March, 2007, his wife, Saralee, carried out instructions in their living trust to fund a park bench in his memory near the Stow Lake Boat House.

“Michael fell in love with the park,” Saralee said. “It was a refuge for him, a sanctuary, a place in the middle of the City where he could get close to nature and bond with his buddies.”

A San Francisco resident from age five, Keropian graduated from Washington High School where he pitched varsity baseball, leading his team to a City championship. He served in Europe in the US Army in WWII during the Battle of the Bulge. Using the G.I. Bill, he graduated from SF State and from the Stanford University Physical Therapy program. He was a physical therapist and department head at Children's Hospital in San Francisco for 32 years.

The memorial park bench was Mike’s idea, his wife Saralee said. “He found out about it and put it in our living trust. I’m thrilled that we could put together something that would make Mike happy. Having the bench there brings comfort to me.

”Whenever his friends meet at the Boat House they use his bench. I go there every so often with my bucket of water and brush to make sure it’s clean. We have this jewel of a park, a comfort zone in the middle of a hectic city. You can connect with nature. Mike enjoyed that. I know the Park is appreciated. I hope it’s appreciated as much as it deserves.”

SF Parks Trust appears on Grace Almon’s Bequest List

Two weeks after the interview below with Grace Almon was written, she passed away from cancer. The article, presented as written then, is meant to honor the memory of someone who knew both how to enjoy San Francisco’s parks during life and how to support them through her estate at death.

Grace Almon of San Francisco has been involved in so many good causes over her lifetime she had to cull the list of charitable bequests in her estate plan.

She had volunteered for the American Heart Association for thirty years, remains deeply attached to Vanderbilt University where she met her late husband David, and for forty years served patients afflicted by stroke, brain trauma and neurological disease as a speech therapist, including a stint at the Rehabilitation Unit of San Francisco’s Davies Medical Center. She is also interested in feeding the hungry and world health issues.

When she re-wrote her estate plan this year, reducing the number of good causes receiving bequests to six, the San Francisco Parks Trust made the list.

“We’ve always had beagles,” she said in the soft southern accent of her native Alabama. “San Francisco’s parks have been our favorite walking place.”

When she moved with her husband David to Ashbury Street in San Francisco from the East Bay in 1967, they determined to visit all the parks. Like generals planning a campaign, they studied a map of the city. “We saw all these little green spots dotting the map, many more parks than we had visited, and thought we’d look them up.” Their weekend park forays brought them to neighborhoods they might not have visited otherwise.

One of their favorites was Holly Park, described as a “petite and pleasant bubble of a park on a shoulder of Bernal Heights.” Established in 1874 so local families could play and picnic in their own neighborhood rather than trek to Golden Gate Park, the oval-shaped park offers facilities for tennis, basketball and baseball, and a children’s playground, along with a 360 degree view of the City.

Their park outings convinced Mrs. Almon of the need for citizen involvement to maintain the parks and motivated her bequest.

“It’s going to take private donations to maintain these public resources,” she said. “I remember visiting Sigmund Stern Grove years ago and seeing just one gardener taking care of it. We have to help him.”

Her husband David, a retired real estate investor, died in 2002. In 2004 she moved to a retirement community. She wants part of her bequest to underwrite a memorial bench in Golden Gate Park. “I’m hoping it will go somewhere behind the Conservatory of Flowers, but whatever the trustee of my living trust works out is fine with me.”

She’s happy with her revised estate plan, saying, “It’s a big relief to have everything up-to-date. I simplified things and focused on fewer charities, including the San Francisco Parks Trust.”

Donor Stories

Michael Keropian a retired physical therapist walked in Golden Gate Park rain-or-shine every day, circling Stow Lake, and crossing the bridge to Strawberry Hill in the lake’s center, often in the company of long-time friends, almost always with Ferdie, his aged and blind Boston terrier.

“We have Mike’s obit on the Boat House wall,” said Jeff Fones, Stow Lake Boat House manager. “Everybody liked him.”

Keropian arrived at the Boat House in his mint-condition 1957 Chrysler New Yorker about seven thirty each morning for his walk around the Lake, pausing to chat briefly with boat-house staff. “Mike was a man on the move,” Fones said. “He was a really happy guy.”

After he died unexpectedly at age 82 in March, 2007, his wife, Saralee, carried out instructions in their living trust to fund a park bench in his memory near the Stow Lake Boat House.

“Michael fell in love with the park,” Saralee said. “It was a refuge for him, a sanctuary, a place in the middle of the City where he could get close to nature and bond with his buddies.”

A San Francisco resident from age five, Keropian graduated from Washington High School where he pitched varsity baseball, leading his team to a City championship. He served in Europe in the US Army in WWII during the Battle of the Bulge. Using the G.I. Bill, he graduated from SF State and from the Stanford University Physical Therapy program. He was a physical therapist and department head at Children's Hospital in San Francisco for 32 years.

The memorial park bench was Mike’s idea, his wife Saralee said. “He found out about it and put it in our living trust. I’m thrilled that we could put together something that would make Mike happy. Having the bench there brings comfort to me.

”Whenever his friends meet at the Boat House they use his bench. I go there every so often with my bucket of water and brush to make sure it’s clean. We have this jewel of a park, a comfort zone in the middle of a hectic city. You can connect with nature. Mike enjoyed that. I know the Park is appreciated. I hope it’s appreciated as much as it deserves.”

SF Parks Trust appears on Grace Almon’s Bequest List

Two weeks after the interview below with Grace Almon was written, she passed away from cancer. The article, presented as written then, is meant to honor the memory of someone who knew both how to enjoy San Francisco’s parks during life and how to support them through her estate at death.

Grace Almon of San Francisco has been involved in so many good causes over her lifetime she had to cull the list of charitable bequests in her estate plan.

She had volunteered for the American Heart Association for thirty years, remains deeply attached to Vanderbilt University where she met her late husband David, and for forty years served patients afflicted by stroke, brain trauma and neurological disease as a speech therapist, including a stint at the Rehabilitation Unit of San Francisco’s Davies Medical Center. She is also interested in feeding the hungry and world health issues.

When she re-wrote her estate plan this year, reducing the number of good causes receiving bequests to six, the San Francisco Parks Trust made the list.

“We’ve always had beagles,” she said in the soft southern accent of her native Alabama. “San Francisco’s parks have been our favorite walking place.”

When she moved with her husband David to Ashbury Street in San Francisco from the East Bay in 1967, they determined to visit all the parks. Like generals planning a campaign, they studied a map of the city. “We saw all these little green spots dotting the map, many more parks than we had visited, and thought we’d look them up.” Their weekend park forays brought them to neighborhoods they might not have visited otherwise.

One of their favorites was Holly Park, described as a “petite and pleasant bubble of a park on a shoulder of Bernal Heights.” Established in 1874 so local families could play and picnic in their own neighborhood rather than trek to Golden Gate Park, the oval-shaped park offers facilities for tennis, basketball and baseball, and a children’s playground, along with a 360 degree view of the City.

Their park outings convinced Mrs. Almon of the need for citizen involvement to maintain the parks and motivated her bequest.

“It’s going to take private donations to maintain these public resources,” she said. “I remember visiting Sigmund Stern Grove years ago and seeing just one gardener taking care of it. We have to help him.”

Her husband David, a retired real estate investor, died in 2002. In 2004 she moved to a retirement community. She wants part of her bequest to underwrite a memorial bench in Golden Gate Park. “I’m hoping it will go somewhere behind the Conservatory of Flowers, but whatever the trustee of my living trust works out is fine with me.”

She’s happy with her revised estate plan, saying, “It’s a big relief to have everything up-to-date. I simplified things and focused on fewer charities, including the San Francisco Parks Trust.”