RIP to my dad, Rudolf Lanzendorfer (1939-2023).
My dad passed away this weekend from complications with cancer. It’s a very surreal feeling. I was/am a Daddy’s girl and we were very close.
My dad was born in San Francisco in 1939, before Rudolf the Red -Nosed Reindeer was a thing. He hated that song because kids teased him about his name once it came out. He grew up in the world of Rebel Without a Cause, drag racing with his friends in the streets around Walnut Creek. After a glorious term in the navy–to hear him describe it–he came home and fell in love with my mom, who he knew from childhood as a playmate with his little brother Rick. My parents celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary on May 26.
My dad was an accomplished woodworker. Just in my home, he made my jewelry box, blocks for Gideon, my cat litter cover, and a plein air easel. He could build a house from the ground up, including wiring, plumbing, laying floors, tiling bathrooms, etc. In my childhood, he built several houses for our family, which he filled with stained-glass fixtures and furniture he made.
He struggled in his life with a disability caused by a construction accident when he was 30. I’ve written about that aspect of our family in an essay for Curbed. People never knew my dad was disabled because he was such an opinionated, energetic person. He liked sailboats, coffee, cowboy movies, fishing, hot dogs, hamburgers, and vanilla ice cream. He was a sincere and devoted Christian. I’ll miss him very much.
