Forest Knolls carpenter Stefan Ritter was born in the small village of Pörmitz in what was then East Germany. Growing up, he watched his uncle lay brick with mortar, and at 16 he became an apprentice in timber framing. After attending a tertiary school focused on applied sciences, he set off on the Wanderjahre, a vestige of medieval Europe whereby guildsmen travel for three years and a day to apply their craft around the world. Mr. Ritter caught boats from Europe to the Cape of Good Hope, then past the Falkland Islands and up the western spine of South America. In 2007, he received an invitation from another wanderer who was living in Fairfax to work on a house in Yosemite. He hitchhiked his way to an America in the midst of a financial crisis. He found little demand for new home construction, but said his skills as a carpenter were always needed. He moved to Forest Knolls in 2012 after meeting his second wife, Marissa. Their son, Theo, was born last October at a time when Mr. Ritter said he was experiencing strange symptoms. “I started to notice things weren’t normal at the beginning of 2021,” Mr. Ritter said. After a series of doctor appointments and an M.R.I., a fist-sized tumor was discovered in his chest. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Reluctant to undergo chemotherapy, Mr. Ritter tried natural approaches, but he just began a six-month chemo treatment. He is on disability leave from his role as a construction superintendent and Marissa has gone back to work. “My silver lining is that I get to spend more time with my kids than ever,” said Mr. Ritter, who has two children from his first marriage. His neighbor, Rosalie Watson, has organized a GoFundMe campaign for the family. When Ms. Watson first met Mr. Ritter 14 years ago, she was going through her own round of chemotherapy. The community came together to support her with groceries and babysitting. “You shouldn’t have to worry about the price of diapers when you’re fighting for your life,” she said. Ms. Watson recalls a time when Mr. Ritter and his daughter June were spending a Sunday afternoon at the Watsons’ home. “I mentioned that we had a nest of bees in the wall and Stefan walked over to the wall and banged on it as hard as he could,” she said. “A swarm of bees came out and covered him in stings.” Mr. Ritter returned the next day, covered in bites beneath a bee suit, and sucked all the bees out of the wall, fixing the problem. “That’s just who Stefan is,” she said. To support Stefan and his three children, June, Sienna and Theo, visit
https://www.gofundme.com/f/stefan-ritter.