Bill’s son Calvin taught in the West Contra Costa Unified School District for 35 years. Calvin died in 2023, and his school just completed a mural dedicated to Calvin. Read more about it here.
Bill Trampleasure was a man of many passions. Whether you knew him through peace, prayer, politics, poetry, or public, I think he found his best peace when working for the Post Office. Bill was a natural at delivering mail. He loved to walk, loved to meet people, and loved to be outdoors (our family story … Last day delivering mail
The following are letters to the Berkeley Daily Gazette written by Bill in 1971, published in the “The open forum” section. (Information on Reverend Doug Smith’s Vietnam War Protest on Mt. Shasta can be found here.) From the Mountain Top (published August 20, 1971) Tuesday morning I watched the sunrise from the summit of Mt. … Two letters about hills and mountains
I have finally scanned Bill’s book in as a PDF. A few of the pages are missing (November 2012), but I hope to find them soon. Download it here.
there is a glorious golden tree still so alive for me these many years since first I glimpsed its shimmering, glimmering glory that I know it will glow and grow ever so long after all the leaves fall long after all the trees fall long after all Bill reading “Golden Tree” This poem has appeared … Golden Tree
Bill distributed these four poems on a flier in March of 1991. His introductions are in above each. Dear friends, Poetry has been good for me lately. This first day of spring seems right for collecting a few and sharing them with some of you. I owe some of you written copies of one or … Four Poems — distributed 3-20-1991
Ogunquit, 11-6-1993 The museum is closed, winterized. Benches and some of the sculpture garden critters are wrapped snugly in blue plastic, cocoons, hibernating until spring, with here and there a head, tail or toenail showing. Some statues, pieces of scupture, have been released from their concrete anchorages and hidden away somewhere in deeper hibernation. The … Five Ogunquit Poems, 1993
I have a rosy viewout to Talmapais and the Golden Gatewhere the mountainmeets the sea.The Sleeping Princessmay yet swing freeout through the Gateto an ocean of emotionwith a peaceful bent.Perhaps all of timehas been well spent.A single rosea single worda single silent spaceA single woman single manA coupled life embrace.Two persons communeon the Rose Garden … I have a rosy view
Memory Hikes Through Marin “A Fairy-Land of Moon-Light” By Calvin Roy Trampleasure [circa March 1917] It was a beautiful day in mid-September. We had been to the top of Twin Peaks in the morning, just by way of an appetizer for’ the trip we had planned for later in the day. The air had been … A Fairy-Land of Moon-Light