Gayle Lensing Rimerman
July 16, 1949-March 12, 2021
Calistoga, California

Gayle Lensing Rimerman, a long-time resident of Menlo Park and Calistoga, died peacefully on March 12, 2021.

Gayle spent her life helping others, serving on Peninsula and Napa Valley community boards, organizing fundraisers, and volunteering. She was president of the Palo Alto Junior League from 1989-90 and a driving force behind Christmas in April. She brought whimsical playhouses to the Stanford Shopping Center for the first time in 1993, charming top architects and area builders to collaborate at a child-sized scale and auctioned their one-of-a-kind houses to benefit Dreams Happen. Funds from this biennial event rehabilitated homes and community centers for low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled. Gayle was instrumental with colleagues in turning this project into a nonprofit agency, now called Rebuilding Together, still operating between Sunnyvale and Daly City. A natural leader, Gayle brought passion, inspiration, and master orchestration to improve the communities where she lived.

The daughter of May Lensing Biggar, who immigrated from Stonehouse, Scotland, and Otto Lensing, Gayle was born and grew up in Pasadena. She worked with her dad at Lensing Pharmacy in high school and shared his love of the L.A. Dodgers, watching Sandy Koufax hurl 90 mph pitches over home plate. Gayle graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in education, teaching elementary school in Los Angeles before moving to the Bay Area. She met her husband Tom while working at Frank, Rimerman + Co. in Palo Alto. They spent the first 23 years of their marriage in Menlo Park and retired to Calistoga in 2000, where they pursued their shared love of modern architecture by designing and building a home nestled among the trees off the Silverado Trail. Tom and Gayle also traveled extensively, visiting more than 20 countries, including Nepal, India, Thailand, South Africa, Botswana, Israel, France, Belgium, Mexico, and Peru, but felt most at home at the Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Gayle is survived by her beloved husband of 43 years, Tom Rimerman, and her brother Bryce Lensing and his wife Carolyn. Her family also includes three stepchildren and their spouses: David, Susan, Deane, Debbie, and Andrew; three grandsons: Matthew, Justin, and Dashiell; and two nieces and a nephew: Jennifer, Robyn, and Scott, plus a grand nephew, Myles.

We will miss her sharp sense of humor, effortless style, infectious laughter, generous hospitality, and deep friendship. She loved to talk politics over a glass of Chardonnay, and she played a fearsome game of tennis. Gayle rocked the dance floor at most parties and always enjoyed life with the volume on high.

Tags: public service