In honor of Redwood’s founding principal Donald Kreps’ fight against Alzheimer’s, his family is reaching out to the Redwood community to encourage participation in the Alzheimer’s Awareness Walk next week in San Francisco.
The walk, which will be held from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in Mission Creek Park next Saturday, is open to the public and will be raising money for Alzheimer’s research.
“We wanted to reach out to the Redwood community, because Redwood was the love of his career and his professional life,” Sevy said.
According to Sevy, Kreps began showing symptoms of Alzheimer’s 10 years ago, and has been progressively worsening since.
“He was a very intellectual man, and you watch as the disease takes over. It’s like watching a light bulb dim and get dimmer and dimmer,” Sevy said.
According to Sevy, Kreps used to be a very active member of community but is no longer able to participate in any of his old activities. He swam daily and ran 5Ks until the disease forced him to stop.
“The hardest thing is losing the person,” Sevy said “It’s losing this person who was so devoted to my mom, who never forgot a birthday or an anniversary. For that person to be gone, for him to not be that person anymore,” Sevy said.
Kreps was in his early thirties when he became Redwood’s first principal. His job was to hire the teachers and encourage families to choose Redwood, a newly opened school without an existing student body, for their children. Kreps attended countless parent meetings and spent a majority of his days at the school.
“Redwood was definitely a part of all of our lives because school principals don’t just work a nine to five job,” Sevy said. “They hire the faculty and they go to all the sports game. I felt like all those teachers that I grew up with, that he hired, were all part of the family. The school was part of the family.”
The walk is held by the national Alzheimer’s Association, and will raise money for Alzheimer’s research through online donations. “Redwood Giants for Don Kreps” has a goal of raising $15,000.
“I think it was ten to 15 years ago, there was this stigma about Alzheimer’s, and people tried to hide it and pretend it didn’t happen,” Sevy said. “I think as a society we have grown past that and that’s good and healthy. That’s part of the reason my brothers and I wanted to walk in honor of my dad, to show people that Alzheimer’s isn’t something to be ashamed of.”
Sevy said she believes that research is progressing and someday find a cure for Alzheimer’s.
“I really do truly believe that they will find a cure, but unfortunately it is too late for my dad,” Sevy said.
Sevy said she encourages people to come participate in the walk or make a donation in honor of Kreps, which can be done by visiting act.alz.org and donating under the team name “Redwood Giants for Don Kreps.”
