Salli Rasberry, a counterculture trailblazer from west county, dies at the age of 78

[Barry]

Salli Rasberry, a counterculture trailblazer from west county, dies at the age of 78
CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT April 29, 2019, 7:23PM

Salli Rasberry was a 1960s San Francisco counterculture trailblazer who migrated north to become a guiding light in west Sonoma County back-to-the-earth, literary, art, gardening and conservation circles.

Recalling the year 1969, the Ohio native once wrote that she split from the hippie scene in the Haight and Filmore districts “when people on tour buses started pointing at us and our community was overflowing with homeless kids suffering in the streets.”

Among her wide-ranging achievements, Rasberry wrote and co-authored several books; co-lead the Sonoma Land Trust and the environmental training center that became the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center; and produced San Francisco’s first erotic film festival.

She died Sunday at her country home in Freestone. She was 78.

“She was a very compassionate person, a true person,” said longtime friend Ernie Carpenter, the former west Sonoma County supervisor.

“She was kind to everyone and a leader. And she helped people out,” Carpenter said. “Some even called her the Queen of the Hippies.”

Friend and co-author Padi Selwyn said Monday she’s feeling like she lost a sister.

“She was a real Sonoma County icon,” said Selwyn, who collaborated with Rasberry on the 1995 book “Living Your Life Out Loud: How to Unlock Your Creativity and Unleash Your Joy.”

Rasberry “definitely lived her life out loud. She walked the talk,” Selwyn said.

Eighteen years ago, Rasberry and co-author and fellow west county resident Carole Rae Watanabe released “The Art of Dying: Honoring and Celebrating Life’s Passages.”

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