Chris Smith: From the ashes comes a one-of-a-kind piece of Snoopy art

As so many fire-displaced people did once the ashes cooled last fall, Jeannie Schulz searched the remains of her home northeast of Santa Rosa for anything salvageable.

Doug Van Dyke of downtown’s landmark E.R. Sawyer Jewelers, and others, helped Jeannie sift. They unearthed jewelry bearing greater and lesser degrees of heat damage, and coins collected by Jeannie’s late husband, “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles Schulz.

Later, Doug and Jeannie met to discuss which pieces of jewelry could be saved. Soon they explored the notion of using the salvaged coins to make something that might bring dollars to one or more of the youth-focused community endeavors Jeannie cares about.

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WHAT IF SOME of the gold from Sparky Schulz’s coin collection were repurposed into a piece of one-of-a-kind jewelry and sold at auction during this year’s charitable Schulz Celebrity Golf Classic?

The June 6 tournament at Mayacama Golf Club will raise money for the PDI Surgery Center, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County, the family shelter operated by Catholic Charities, scholarships to Sonoma Academy, the children’s programs at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and the regional First Tee youth development program.

A golden idea.

Jeannie, along with Doug’s wife and partner in business and serial community philanthropy, Ame, worked out a design for a pendant. The crew at Sawyer went to work reshaping the salvaged gold into something extraordinary.

“I think they took it on as a challenge,” Jeannie said.

The resulting piece of jeweler’s art is a bit larger than a silver dollar. Within a platinum ring of diamonds, Snoopy sits and holds aloft a lighted candle in a holder.

Forming the smile, collar, nose and ear of the world’s favorite dog are black diamonds.

For the good of organizations that benefit from Schulz Classic, the Van Dykes and Jeannie would be thrilled for people across the nation and around the world to bid on the piece. Proxy bids can be made by emailing Amber Behrens, the tournament’s director, at amberbehrens@comcast.net.

Minimum bid: $20,000.

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AND FOR SENIORS, two supercharged Sebastopol community champions prepare to greet lovers of automotive artistry to Saturday’s “Driven to Perfection” car show and cruise. Dean Brittingham and Gus St. Marie pull together this candied apple of a classic car show. It happens from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at O’Reilly Media.

The car show offers families something cool to do on Memorial Day weekend and brings in dollars for the Sebastopol Area Senior Center transportation program that shuttles elders to where they need to go.

You can reach Staff Writer Chris Smith at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.