Peter Swanhuyser Obituary

Peter Charles Swanhuyser
September 7, 1939 - December 16, 2024
Peter Charles Swanhuyser, West County building contractor and longtime youth soccer coach, died at home near Occidental. He was 85.
He is survived by his family: Dee Swanhuyser, Hiya Swanhuyser and Jonathan Hunt; Jesse Swanhuyser, Natasha Marston and Nateo Colorado Swanhuyser; Garth Holloway; Bruce, Marion, Robin, and Emma Swanhuyser; Dennis, Bow, and Sue DeBey, David, Lauren, Finley River and Laken DeBey, and Nick and Sarah Bowles. He is predeceased by his parents, Charles "Swanny" Swanhuyser and Jane Dawson.
A carpenter by trade, Swanhuyser built and remodeled many fine homes and remained friends with many appreciative homeowners.
Swanhuyser enjoyed coaching youth soccer teams from 1981-1997, including the gender-inclusive Occidental Hawks, the Juicers and Sebastopol United. He was especially proud to have coached Team USA, which won an international indoor FUTSAL soccer tournament in Mexico City. In addition to being a supporter of the professional Sonoma County Sol Team, he earned the affection, respect and admiration of many local kids and coaches who remember him as a loud and energetic coach who was also warm and supportive.
He also found deep satisfaction whitewater river rafting with his wife throughout the American West taking many trips on the Rogue River, the American River, the Green River, and the Salt River, including riding class 10 rapids on 225 miles of the Colorado River. In their 13'.9" raft, they rowed 1500-plus river miles on 16 different rivers. He loved his "river rat" community.
In 1989, Swanhuyser was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. The widespread, vocal support of the Freestone, Occidental, and Sebastopol communities buoyed his spirit in ways that often left him shaking his head in surprise and gratitude. He became a survivor.
For decades, he could often be found at Coaches' Corner, exercising loudly and furiously.
Swanhuyser was a formerly and multiply incarcerated person. His gang- and drug-related criminal activity began in his teens, in San Fernando Valley, and affected much of his early adult life. After getting clean, he was employed in Los Angeles to work one-on-one with outpatient drug addicts in a treatment program funded through the federal Narcotic Addiction Rehabilitation Act. When the family moved to the West County, the local counterculture accurately saw him as hardworking, intelligent, and fascinating. This community welcomed him without regard to his past and he quickly became a part of the community as a friend and brother. With those supports, plus the love of his incredible wife, he built a wonderful life for himself, his children and those around him. He presided over huge holiday tables, constructed sets for ballet performances, provided for his family, and in 1983 gathered a barn-raising-style group of family and friends to put up the massive log walls of the home he built in the West County, where he died.
Nadine Condon, local author and godmother of his children, wrote on the night before he died, "The wind howled, the storm cried. A Great man is passing."
He is sorely missed by many and will be remembered for his strength in adversity, his big smile and hearty laughter, craftsmanship, wit, intelligence, and kindness.
A memorial is planned for May 10. For more information, write to [email protected]. Donations in his name are appreciated at The Last Mile, https://thelastmile.org/.