ContraCostaTimes.com | 04/03/2006 | Deacon lights up = the season each Christmas

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Monday, Apr 03, 2006

Posted on Mon, Apr. 03, 2006

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THE MONDAY PROFILE

Deacon lights up the season each Christmas

By Chris Metinko

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Cindi Christie/Times

Deacon Dave Rezendes' elves are featured in = his annual=20 Christmas display, which attracts thousands of people each year.

Audio:=20 Rezendes discusses annual light display

Many folks who set up old light-up Rudolphs or frame their houses in = colored=20 lights for Christmas set goals for when all the glitz and glamour should = come=20 down. Maybe New Year's Day, maybe mid-January.

Deacon David Rezendes has to set aside some major tear-down time.

"I wanted to get it all put away by Easter," said Rezendes -- known = simply as=20 "Deacon Dave" to many in the East Bay. He was on track last week, as = only a few=20 lights and props still awaited their summer resting places.

Procrastination is not the issue here. Few, if any, Bay Area = residents have=20 to take down more lights, props, buildings, animated scenes and = electrical=20 wiring than Rezendes, who uses more than a quarter-million lights as the = focal=20 point of his annual "Ministry of Lights" holiday show.

The display --featured on the Home & Garden TV program "Extreme=20 Christmas: Bigger and Brighter" in 2003 -- is so big that Pacific Gas = and=20 Electric Co. installed a special power transformer for the neighborhood = just so=20 Rezendes could power all those lights without blacking out his street. = He=20 estimates more than 87,000 visitors came to his home this past Christmas = to see=20 the display.

"It is one of the biggest in the Bay Area," said Alex Dourov, who = created the=20 Web site lightsofthevalley.com to track popular Christmas lights = displays around=20 the Bay Area. "And it's one of the best known. What makes Deacon Dave's = so=20 unique is it's different every year.

"Clearly, to do something like this, you have to love the holidays, = but I=20 think you also clearly have to love the community," Dourov added.

So it is with the 62-year-old Rezendes, a fourth-generation Livermore = resident. "The house is probably a lot more well-known than I am," he = joked.

While that may well be true, many say there is much more to Rezendes = than=20 Christmas lights.

In 1970, he started Security Eye Patrol Inc. in Livermore with one = employee.=20 The idea for such a business came to him after he literally ran into a = security=20 guard at a drive-in movie theater while getting some popcorn.

"I thought to myself, 'Someone is making money on having this man = provide=20 security at the theater,'" Rezendes remembered. "So I went to the old = Hayward=20 Detective and Patrol Co. and I said, 'I want to be an intern. You don't = have to=20 pay me anything, but I want to learn about this business.'" And so he = did.

Today, Security Eye Patrol is a thriving security firm serving the = Tri-Valley=20 -- including the Alameda County Fairgrounds -- with anywhere between 75 = to 150=20 employees depending on the time of year.

"I think, without a doubt, one of the reasons he's been successful is = he's=20 professional," said David Graber, vice president of Security Eye. "He = expects=20 others also to act that way. He also always treats everyone fairly, just = like he=20 would like to be treated."

In addition to being a successful businessman, Rezendes was ordained = a=20 Catholic deacon in 1982. He works in the Oakland Diocese office each = week, and=20 he has an office at St. Michael's Church in Livermore, where he has been = a=20 member of the clergy since he was ordained.

"He's so diverse," said Marilyn Fraser, a member of St. Michael's who = has=20 known Rezendes more than 40 years. "Some people are amazed when they see = him at=20 church, and then the next time you see him, he is in his Security Eye = outfit.=20 But he's just a very, very down-to-earth person who's just nice to be=20 around."

Ed Johnson, operations manager at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, has = known=20 Rezendes for more than 20 years and works closely with him during fair = time in=20 the summer dealing with security.

"It's an odd situation," Johnson said. "He has the collar on, then he = has his=20 uniform on. But he handles it great."

Just like he handles Christmas great every year, according to most = who seek=20 out his home -- named Casa del Pomba, or House of the Dove -- on = Hillcrest=20 Avenue. The house sits on little more than a half acre, and while = Rezendes opens=20 up the gates to his front yard for the holiday season, the back yard = stays=20 closed, and under tight surveillance, year-round.

"It's like my own oasis back there," said Rezendes, who raises = pigeons,=20 turtles and other animals in his back yard. There is also a pool, ponds = and even=20 a prayer chapel.

It is in the back yard where Rezendes also keeps a vast collection of = doves,=20 some whose history goes back more than 30 generations. Doves -- a symbol = of the=20 Holy Spirit -- are very close to Rezendes' heart. He has countless = pieces of art=20 depicting doves in every room of his house, and he always includes at = least one=20 live dove in his holiday lights spectacular.

"I would say that is what I enjoy collecting the most," said = Rezendes, who=20 also collects Pepsi and Daffy Duck memorabilia, American Indian art = work, model=20 trains and religious relics. He also is an avid reader of mystery books = where=20 the hero is a religious figure.

Even with his job, post in the church and his eclectic tastes in = hobbies, it=20 is the bright, busy Christmas displays for which Rezendes is best known. = He=20 started the Livermore tradition to celebrate his being ordained a = deacon, and=20 more than 24 Christmases later, the display continues to evolve and = grow.

Work begins in August, and each year, Rezendes hopes to have = everything from=20 his lighting extravaganza taken down and put away by Easter. His = favorite=20 description of his display came from a friend who said the house at = Christmas=20 "is where the Vatican meets Las Vegas."

The Christmas theme goes far beyond the front yard at the House of = the Dove.=20 Rezendes decorates more than 30 Christmas trees in his home, including = what he=20 calls the Grand Library Tree, which stands more than 22 feet tall and = has=20 approximately 1,000 ornaments. Because he gets so many visitors, only = invited=20 guests get to see the inside the house. However, he emphasizes all are = welcome,=20 regardless of their faith, to wander around the almost parklike front = yard --=20 with its "Proposal Bridge" where at least 50 marriage proposals have = been made=20 during the holiday season.

Rezendes does not mind sharing the touching stories he has stored up=20 throughout the years while putting on his light show. One is of a = sobbing woman=20 who told Rezendes her tears were those of "joy" because she and her = husband --=20 who had died in a car accident a few weeks before -- loved visiting his = light=20 display every year.

"That's what makes this worth it," Rezendes said. "To see people's = reaction=20 and make them smile."

What he will not share is how much it costs -- for electricity, in = particular=20 -- to stage his holiday extravaganza.

"Every year, I make sure I'm sitting down when I open my electric = bill for=20 December," he said with a laugh. "This year, I should have been lying = down. It=20 was a humdinger."

Reach Chris Metinko at 925-847-2125 or cmetinko@cctimes.com.

BIOGRAPHY

DAVID REZENDES

Age: 62

Occupation: Roman Catholic deacon and bishop's representative to the = 100=20 deacons in the Oakland Diocese; president and founder of Security Eye = Patrol=20 Inc. in Livermore.

Residence: Livermore

Claim to fame: Puts on a massive light display each Christmas season, = with=20 more than a quarter-million lights covering his house and yard. More = than 87,000=20 people visited his yard last year, and it was featured on the Home & = Garden=20 Television network in 2003.