Gweneth Anne Dietrich/ Rose May Dance

Gweneth Anne Dietrich, known to many of her friends as Rose May Dance, died peacefully at home in Richmond, California, with her beloved partner Bill and dog Queenie by her side. Gweneth was the daughter of Eugene Hugh Dietrich and Cora Naftel May Dietrich of Toledo, Ohio. She attended Wittenberg University, eventually moving to San Francisco in 1975, where she completed her education at New College of California. Gweneth was an activist for peace, social and environmental justice throughout her life. Her activism led her to pursue a career in public health at UCSF School of Medicine’s Urban Health Study, where she trained a generation of health counselors and outreach workers in “how to reach the hard to reach”. Her work as a respected mentor in the harm reduction movement led to her role in starting the San Francisco needle exchange - known as Prevention Point - in 1988. The grassroots program revolutionized HIV/AIDS prevention services and became a model for the rest of the country.

In the early 1980s, Gweneth helped to found Reclaiming, an organization dedicated to feminist, earth-centered activism and spirituality. She co-developed hundreds of rituals over the years as well as many classes, songs, chants and liturgies. Gweneth taught all over the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia.

She is mourned and celebrated by her partner, Bill Simpich, son Markus King, daughter Melissa Brown, son-in-law Michael Brown, granddaughters Kali Brown and CeAyra Brown, Queenie the poodle, cousins and in-laws Bruce & Dorothy Baunach, Christine Dance, Lynn Daly, Brandon Baunach, Emily Baunach Easterly, Elizabeth Baunach Cooper, Katie Kraynak and Jennifer Blevins, and many more cousins who see Gweneth as a sister and role model. Gweneth also leaves hundreds of close friends, students, mentees, initiates, colleagues and co-resisters who carry her in our hearts. What is remembered lives.