Bellach stirs a Sebastiani Halloween

Susan Bellach stands on a 20-foot ladder draping spider webs and positioning witches on walls of the Sebastiani Theatre, transforming the 76-year-old beauty of a building into a place spectacularly spooky and hauntingly Halloween. Her extensive and transforming decor wowed the Witchie Poo audience and will delight moviegoers this jack-o-lantern weekend.

Then when December rolls around, Susan will whirl through the Sebastiani again, making it into a winter wonderland, lavishly decorating it with layer upon layer of garlands, greenery, glistening ornaments and thousands upon thousands of twinkling lights. She has warehouses full of decorations and is dedicated to making Sonoma’s beloved theatre the most joyfully decked out place in town.

“I can’t sing and I can’t dance and Roger and Diane don’t decorate so it makes the perfect arrangement,” she says about the theatre’s longtime Rhoten management team. She met the Rhotens 16 years ago when she signed her 4-year-old grandson Austin up to be in Witchie Poo, and she’s been enamored with the theatre ever since.

Susan is a professional interior designer, having grown up in a family whose San Francisco floral company served San Francisco’s old time elite, including the Spreckles, the Zellerbachs and the Fleishhakers. She and her husband Darryl owned a home furnishing company, traveling annually to Milan, Paris and Cologne for furniture shows. She’s a wiz when it comes to making things beautiful and her generosity is just as grand.

She’s a lifelong fan of old movies, making her dedication to the Sebastiani a perfect fit. The home in Kenwood she and Darryl bought 33 years ago belonged to cameraman and special effects artist Farciot Edouart, who earned nine Oscars and worked on the “Ten Commandments,” “Vertigo” and “Rosemary’s Baby.” There are lanterns on the property that once hung at the entry to Paramount Studios, a retirement gift to Edouart.

Susan also belongs to the Cha Chas, a group of volunteers who enrich the lives of the kids at the Sonoma Valley Children’s Home. She takes a large group to Witchie Poo every year, followed by pizza and then all they eat at the ice cream shop. At Christmas time she makes dozens of gingerbread houses and holds a huge decorating party for the children and, of course, does the decorating for the holiday party.

She and Darryl also volunteer at Kid Street in Santa Rosa and run Kenwood Cares, which provides for needy families and children in times of crisis, a much appreciated service proven by a very touching stack of thank you notes.

Susan endured polio as a child and is a Type 1 diabetic, having lost two of her brothers to the disease. Beginning when she was a young woman, she was a diabetes educator at UCSF, and for many years served on the board of the American Diabetes Association. She was the spokesperson for the Eli Lily pharmaceutical company, an early leader in diabetes treatment, and she traveled nationwide giving speeches about diabetic care.

She also appeared in advertisements for Diet Delight in magazines like McCalls and Ladies Home Journal with the headline “Susan Bellach: Designer, Scuba Diver, Diabetic,” which included a recipe for a sugar-free desert. She points out they didn’t include “mother” in the list, because although she had two healthy sons who do not have diabetes, diabetic woman at the time were advised not to have children.

Susan’s heritage is 100 percent Italian, influencing her passion for cooking. She rides horses, kayaks and goes on fishing trips. “I think I’m very lucky because I should have been killed at least four times,” she said, going on to describe a horrific horse riding accident years back, a roofing ladder that blew over on her just a few years ago, and a long stay in intensive care after being wiped out by a snowboarder while she was skiing.

“I’m still here,” she said, as is her enthusiasm, her love for her family and friends and her drive to give back.

There are dozens of redwood trees on their hillside property that she planted as saplings. Now maybe 100 feet tall, they continue upwards, reaching towards the stars, just as Susan does.