Path Pal Diane Resek started volunteering on Berkeley Path Wanderers Association’s path maintenance crew, and then got (very) involved with path building 3 or 4 years ago. She was on the small but mighty team that built out Lower Columbia Path, with 180 steps, and Lower Halkin Walk, with 145 steps; and rerouted Wildcat Path.
Diane Resek and one of her homemade birthday galettes.
“I love the physical exertion,” says Resek, 81, a retired SF State math professor. “For me it was really exciting to do something with my body that made a difference, and helped people.”
Resek has lived on Poppy Lane, where Miller Avenue dead-ends, for the past 34 years, and she often goes for long walks in the paths-rich Cragmont neighborhood.
Resek’s forte is installing 50-pound railroad ties. “I’m very good as pounding the rebar into the steps. That I can do quite well.”
She also likes using the mattock — a pick-like tool that’s pointy on one end and flat on the other — to clear away brush and remove old steps. “It’s nice to put the mattock underneath a step and pull,” Resek says.
“Diane has a wicked sense of humor and is a pleasure to work with on our step and other maintenance projects,” says Francesca Verdier, Berkeley Path Wanderers Association board member and a leader of the path-building volunteers. “She quickly learned the art of putting in those eucalyptus steps and likes feedback about whether she has done it just right.”
Mimosas and galettes
Resek initiated the team’s tradition of celebrating birthdays with mimosas, grapefruit juice, and a home-baked dessert, usually a fruit galette.
“There are 4 or 5 of us, and we really work together and get along,” Resek says. “We enjoy each other.” Other team members include Christine Borchani, Andrew Dickson, Bob Gomez, Steve Glaeser, Dave Kittams, and Rob Strong.
On the Wildcat Path reroute, Resek and Verdier hauled many heavy-ish sideboards down the narrow switchbacks. Resek devised a system for coordinating their movements by yelling "halt," "slow down," "wait up a bit," and "I haven't made the turn yet.”
Verdier says, “We didn't lose any sideboards, nor did we fall down the hill in the process.”
Resek taking a rare break on the Lower Columbia Path rebuild. To her right, Bob Gomez, and lower right, a mattock.
Note: Diane Resek, path builder extraordinaire, passes away
With much love and sadness, Berkeley Path Wanderers Association reports that longtime path pal Diane Resek passed away peacefully at home on March 19, 2023 at age 82.
“A great Path Builder recently passed,” said Steve Glaeser, lead path-builder for Berkeley Path Wanderers Association. “We will miss her humility, her humor and fortitude, her love of playing in the dirt and hitting things with a sledge hammer, the joy she took building the paths, working with others to accomplish great goals.”
The path-building team is developing plans to construct a bench near Pinnacle Path in Resek’s honor. To make a donation in honor of Diane Resek, please click here.