Michael Daren Redemer

Michael Daren Redemer Obituary 3/9/1949-2/4/2026 Michael Daren Redemer was born in Kingsburg, CA on March 9th, 1949 to Dean and Shirley Redemer. He resided in Kingsburg, first in their home on Nevada street, and then, after the birth of his brother, Mitchel Redemer, on the family farm on Del Rey, next door to his maternal grandparents, Lawrence (Doc) and Clementine (Tinie) Olson. He attended grade school, middle school, and high school in Kingsburg and the family were members of the Kingsburg Methodist Church, the same church that his great grandfather had dug the basement out of with a team of horses. He played Lumpy Lions football as a grade schooler, raised sheep for 4H, and memorized bible verses for Sunday School. He had an inquisitive mind which pursued scientific and engineering explanations for reality and he was an avid reader of non-fiction. In High School he played football, sang in the glee club, played french horn in the band, and worked odd jobs green dropping peaches, digging irrigation ditches, and cleaning chicken coops for family farms around the community. After graduation he worked at the Del Monte peach canning factory while attending Reedley Junior College. His childhood was suffused with the presence of family. After earning his AA he matriculated to UC Santa Barbara where he studied Biology. He managed to graduate with a not insignificant insect collection he had gathered during his course of studies. It was brought with him in every subsequent move. He then took a job in Madera as a county health inspector making sure restaurants were operating up to his meticulous and mildly neurotic cleanliness standards. He then traveled down to USC for graduate school where he got a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering, one of the first offerings of that degree program, and also where he used a portion of his grant money to purchase his first Porsche. In 1975, while still at USC, Michael met Margaret Francis Nichols, daughter of Wes and Dorothy Nichols of Hanford, CA whom he courted and married in 1978. On their first date they discovered that Margaret's aunt was his 4H leader who helped him with his aforementioned insect collection and her uncle had taught him how to dehorn cattle on their ranch down the street. Margaret and Michael moved to Sacramento and attended Fremont Presbyterian Church. There they led the high school youth group and Michael began his life-long love affair with bicycling, at one point bicycling from Sacramento to Kingsburg and another time leading the entire high school group on a trip from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay. Sacramento was also where they had their firstborn son, Justin Nichols Redemer while Michael worked for the California State Air Resources Board. In 1982, to be closer to home and family, Michael took a job with Beacon Oil and the small family moved to a 20 acre farm in Hanford, CA. There, around family and friends, they attended First Presbyterian Church of Hanford, where he was elected an elder, and again co-led the high school group with Margaret, and where they had their second born, also a son, Colin Michael Redemer. Michael ran for and won election to the Pioneer Union School Board and this period of their lives comprised of Church trips to Calvin Crest, vacations to Pismo, and a camper tour of the Western United States. Colin never looked at a bag of marshmallows the same way again. This was a time with family and establishing deep enduring friendships. In 1987 Michael moved his now growing family to Westlake Village in Southern California to work with Texaco. They joined Westminster Presbyterian church where he also became an elder and as Michael rose up the corporate ranks, he also invested himself in the life of the community and church, coaching his son's youth sports teams, taking Margaret, the boys, and friends to the Hollywood Bowl, vacations to Hawaii and Washington DC, trips back home to the Central Valley, and weekly march or die hikes into the hills surrounding northern Los Angeles. In 1992 the family left California, driving across the country to see the sights of America. Michael and Margaret packed the kids into the minivan with their dog, Copper, two turtles, and pulled a camper as Michael was promoted into the Texaco C-Suite. The family settled in Ridgefield, CT where they attended First Congregational Church. Here Michael's work expanded and his travels took him around the world from Malaysia to China to Germany and beyond. And as the scope of his career responsibilities expanded so did the life of his family. He and Margaret ran Sunday School classes, middle school ministries, bible studies and Appalachian Service Project trips. He coached youth basketball, filmed every one of Justin's Senior year football games, attended all of Colin's wrestling matches and was a regular attendee at the various school activities the boys participated in. His crowning achievement was to spearhead fundraising efforts for a new football stadium for Ridgefield High School. In 2002, with Justin at Wake Forest University and Colin on his way to Arizona State University, Michael and Margaret made their final move with Chevron to Danville, CA and joined Community Presbyterian Church where Michael again became an elder. He finished his career with Chevron and then worked in green energy fuels for the next five years and finally joined Margaret in her real estate practice. Their travels continued to the Cotswolds, Provence, the Greek Islands, Turkey, Israel, Lanai'i and always returning to Pismo. In 2005, Justin Nichols Redemer married Julia Ann Redemer nee Easler and over the following twenty years had five children: Elijah (2008), Caleb (2010), Joshua (2012), Hannah (2014) and Selah (2023). Meanwhile in 2009, Colin Michael Redemer married Cheryl Victoria Chan and over the following seventeen years had three children, Leif (2012), Felicity (2015), and Avila (2018). Michael Redemer was renamed Bompa by his grandchildren, taking on the familiar moniker of his father before him and as in all things took to his new role with enthusiasm and delight. He took them on treasure hunts across the bay. And he enchanted their lives with the potentially possible. Michael liked to tell how he enjoyed the pandemic like no one else because in 2020-2021 he and Margaret got the opportunity and privilege to homeschool five of the grandchildren for the entire school year where he taught them everything from the mammalian taxonomy to Latin etymology to the fundamentals of physics: protons, neutrons, and electrons. He invested himself in Men's Ministry, leading Raising a Modern Day Knight classes, Father-Son Journey courses, led small groups, attended Alpha Bible Studies, joined multiple bike riding clubs and continued to invest himself in the lives of his sons. He was an ardent supporter of Hayward High School Football, and a founding donor to the Redwood Christian Football program. He read Charles Taylor's A Secular Age in its entirety, learned Koine Greek, and never missed a Roosting or a March of the Merry Men. He possessed an engineer's mind but his bent was doggedly attempting to understand the nature of reality and being, teaching all who crossed his path that curiosity was the key to unlocking the mystery of God's glorious creation. Most of all, he was prepared to receive God's greater reward for him. He is survived in life by his wife, Margaret, his sons, Justin Redemer, Colin Redemer, his daughters-in-law Julia and Cheryl, and his grandchildren, Elijah, Caleb, Leif, Joshua, Hannah, Felicity, Avila, and Selah. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." - Ephesians 6:10-11 In lieu of flowers, the family asks that all donations be made to the Redwood Christian Football Program (RCS Football Program): Michael's Memorial Service will be February 28th at 1pm at Community Presbyterian Church in Danville, CA. Services have been entrusted to Salser & Dillard Creighton Chapel. Memorial Tributes and condolences may be offered by logging onto www.salseranddillard.com.

Michael Daren Redemer

March 9, 1949 - February 4, 2026