Point Reyes Light - December 23, 1999
Forest Knolls camp owner Frances Gregg dies
Forest Knolls resident Frances Gregg, who drew attention from the FBI in the late 1940s for running the first racially mixed, coed summer camp in the state, died of a heart attack on Dec. 16 at Kaiser Hospital in Terra Linda. She was 91.
In her own way, Mrs. Gregg hoped to encourage world peace by promoting racial tolerance among children, said her granddaughter Chloe Cook of Forest Knolls.
From 1943 to 1966, Mrs. Gregg and her husband Harold ran Forest Farms Summer Camp on their 20-acre property on Tamal Road. The camp was "cutting edge," Cook explained, because it welcomed youngsters of various faiths and from various countries, including those that had fought against the US during World War II.
"This was pivotal during the 1940s, because there was so much anti-Semitism. Anyone Asian or foreign - anyone not white Anglo Saxon - was also considered dubious," her granddaughter said.
The Greggs enhanced their camp's international atmosphere - and helped the kids feel less homesick - by hiring counselors from Germany, Japan, France, China, Norway, Russia, India, and South America.
"Grandma believed that you're enriched by the people you know in the world," Cook said. "If you know someone who lives in Germany, or someone who's a Communist, you're not likely to be afraid of them. The more you're exposed to a variety of views and values, the more you're able to establish peace."
The camp's philosophy might seem commonplace now. But in the anti-Communist histeria of the late 1940s and early 1950s, the camp was considered suspicious, and the FBI launched an investigation of the Gregg family.
In the San Geronimo Valley, she said, the Greggs "were shunned. Their children weren't allowed to play with others in the community. It was scary at times to belong to a dynamic, 'alternative' family."
Ultimately the Greggs sold their camp. It is now Serenity Knolls drug rehabilitation center.
After selling the property, the Greggs worked to increase public parklands in West Marin during the 1970s. They traded or donated some of their properties - which included others in the Valley and at Limantour Beach - to Samuel P. Taylor State Park and Point Reyes National Seashore.
In addition, Mrs. Gregg was a longtime member of the Marin Conservation League and an early member of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust.
"She's had a very rich life in terms of experiences," said her daughter Susan Conrad of Forest Knolls. "She's lived three or four lives."
Indeed, after her "retirement," Mrs. Gregg taught English and drama in Turkey and Taiwan, led educational trips around the globe through her company Rediscovery Tours, and published a book, A Better World.
She was also an active member of the San Geronimo Valley Presbyterian Church.
Mrs. Gregg was born Frances Rundall in 1908 to NB and Chloe Rundall, the first residential physicians in Petaluma. She graduated from Petaluma High and earned a bachelor's degree in English and drama at UC Berkeley. Later she earned her teaching credential from Mills College in Oakland, and an MA from Dominican College in San Rafael.
Her granddaughter said she fell in love with her husband Harold, who was a friend at school, when he walked into the classroom playing God Bless America on his harmonica.
Besides daughter Susan and her granddaughter Chloe, Mrs. Gregg is survived by daughters Louise Gregg of Tomales, Linda Gregg of Marfa, Texas, and Chloe MacDonald of Denver; six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16, at San Geronimo Valley Presbyterian Church.
Memorial contributions can be sent to San Geronimo Valley Presbyterian Church, Box 98, San Geronimo 94963; Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Box 809, Point Reyes Station 94956; or the Marin Conservation League, 55 Mitchell Blvd., Suite 21, San Rafael 94903.