Adventures of a Racing Priest

In many ways, Father Jeff Kraemer is a traditional priest. Standing in the aisle of the old, elegant St. George’s Episcopal Church in Laguna Hills, he talks with reverence about the background of each of its stained glass windows, and about how the county’s original Episcopalians made their way from England with dreams of great fruit orchards.

But there’s this other side to Kraemer that he didn’t pick up in seminary school. At 49, he’s a veteran marathon runner, as well as a strong finisher on the ski slopes. But he’s probably best known among his parishioners for his love affair with cars. Fast cars.

Kraemer is a sports car race driver, and has been for nearly 20 years. He explains: “I gave it up when I decided to go to the seminary. But then [in 1978] a friend talked me into going back to the track. The first half turn, I felt a little uncomfortable. By the last turn, I didn’t want it to ever end.”

Kraemer is the principal of St. George’s Academy (preschool through sixth grade) and assists at the rectory. He sees only one conflict between his chosen profession and his chosen recreation: Most races are on weekends, and those are busy times for priests. It limits him to half a dozen races a year.

His pride and joy is a canary-yellow 1963 Merlyn made in England. One of his two daughters called after his race at the Pomona Speedway last Saturday to see how he’d done. He explained: “I hadn’t had a chance to race for a while, and in my enthusiasm I spun out early, so I finished back in the pack. But we had a great time.”

He’s the most adventuresome priest I’ve ever met. But none of that was why I wanted to talk with Kraemer; I was interested in his latest exploit. Kraemer has just returned from 10 days aboard the Peleliu, one of the Navy’s carriers of Marine assault helicopters.

The priest and dozens of other invited civilians hooked up with the ship in Hawaii as the carriers Peleliu, Alaska and Denver returned from six months of maneuvers in the Far East.

The ship is like a small city, Kraemer says, and he eagerly took it all in, from learning the details of a Marine machine gunner’s job to how the chef on board managed to feed 3,000 people four meals a day.

He also got a chance to practice a little ministry. With these men and women so far away from families for so long, many of them were confiding their feelings to him about how arduous the journey had been.

Kraemer’s trip was arranged by Maj. Guy Close, a pilot on board. Close is a St. George’s parishioner stationed at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

“One night he and I went out on deck,” Kraemer recalls. “The ship moves in total darkness at night, so there were no ancillary lights, just the stars. It was majestic.”

Kraemer speaks in a quiet Louisiana voice that’s easy to listen to, especially when he’s explaining the story behind the song “Amazing Grace,” or describing the anxiety of growing up in the segregated South.

“I can remember being vilified at a department store because I once drank from the ‘colored only’ fountain.” But what he remembered most, he says, was that the water tasted the same, which convinced him segregation made no sense.

That Southern background may be part of the reason he’s so happy at St. George’s. “We have Asians, Latinos, we have students who are Buddhists or Muslims. For the first time in my ministry I feel like I’m a citizen of the world, and I just love it.”

Of course, there is nothing this priest loves more than a new world to conquer.

Fairy Tale in Ribbons: Several years ago one of my colleagues left the newspaper business to sail the world with her husband on their boat. My admiration for their decision was mixed with a little envy.

Last November, another couple, Rebecca Gallagher and her husband, Michael, sold everything to buy a boat and set sail out of Dana Point with their 2-month-old son, Robert. She says now of that trip: “We were hoping to spend the first few years of his life discovering the South Sea islands as a family.” Add to that happy time: During the sail Rebecca Gallagher became pregnant with twin boys. . . . Then came catastrophe.

They learned upon reaching Hawaii that Michael had cancer. They moved on to Samoa, but had to end their trip after learning the cancer was worse than feared. Michael died in January. “I am left with our fairy tale in ribbons,” she recently wrote.

Ray Danet of Dream Catcher Yachts in Dana Point was a close friend to both. He’s now trying to sell their 32-foot Tahiti ketch, to help with Rebecca’s plans to return to her native England with her three children. Danet is also helping with a trust fund in Michael’s name. “They were off on the ultimate sail,” Danet says sadly.

Kids Town: Downtown Anaheim will be turned over to the youngsters on Saturday. It’s the annual Anaheim Children’s Festival, with three blocks in the Civic Center area set up for activities directed at young people. Kids can paint, watch puppets, enjoy carnival booths, listen to a Dixieland jazz band or watch Chinese lion dancers. A bonus, for $5: Tickets to a performance of selections from “Annie” at Pearson Park.

Wrap-Up: My father’s best friend from high school is buried in the bowels of the battleship Arizona, which lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor. Twice I’ve been to the Arizona Memorial atop the ship, reachable only by boat. As you view the ship’s outline in the water below you, it’s impossible not to recreate in your mind the day of that surprise air attack that shot us into World War II, and all that massive destruction in what is now such a peaceful bay.

Father Kraemer describes the Peleliu passing by the Memorial as it heads for its final destination of Camp Pendleton: “The Marines and sailors were interspersed as they lined the deck. As we passed the Memorial, they all turned and saluted. It was like watching something choreographed. It made me so proud to be an American. I thought of these men and women I was with as angels, out there to protect us.”

He later wrote his students about that moment: “I prayed that none of the sailors and Marines who were standing at attention in honor of the fallen would ever face war.”

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Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or sending a fax to (714) 966-7711.