Fourteen classmates gathered at Barbara Elden Scavullo's house in San Francisco on October 30, and they agreed that regular Bay Area minis are worth planning.

Barbara reports: "...there was great support for making it a regular event so we have settled on semi-annually.  Barbara Creed will lead us in an examination of several Supreme Court cases about a year from now.  Jennie Gerard is going to arrange an event in the East Bay in about six months.  The Bay Area being so large geographically, we are going to move from SF to the East Bay to the peninsula.  Laurie Mobilio drove 2 hours to attend!"

In attendance at this mini, besides Barbara, were Marion Brenner, Kathleen Broome Williams, Barbara Bywater Creed, Alice Chiang, Laurie Follansbee Mobilio, Jennie Gerard, Browyn Hughes Hall, Joan Norris Boothe, Aida Price Merriweather, Melinda Ponder, Holly Smith, Ellen Varmus Bloch, and Linda Wyatt Gruber.
 

The gathering started as part of Melinda Ponder's book tour, but five more of the attendees are published or about-to-be published authors, and this became an opportunity to discuss all of their experience as well as look at copies of some of the recently published books. Already published are Marion's beautiful new book, Private Gardens of the Bay Area; Laurie's imaginative grandmothers' book, The Grammie Guide: Activities and Answers for Grandparenting Today; Joan's Antarctica book, The Storied Ice: Exploration, Discovery, and Adventure in Antarctica’s Peninsula Region; and Melinda's biography, Katharine Lee Bates: From Sea to Shining Sea.

And two more attendees have books in the works. Holly's forthcoming philosophy book, Making Morality Work, is scheduled for June 2018. Kathy's next book does not yet have a publication date. Its working title is Combat Art: George Plante’s Combat Art on Sea and Land in World War II, an addition to her previous books of naval history, of which one of the most noteworthy is Grace Hopper: Admiral of the Cyber Sea.

Aida commented about the discussion of books and writing, "I liked what Kathy said about her own work as a published naval historian that none of the advice she was given about writing applied to her."

Melinda said of the mini, "I found it to be a completely special time....I never felt I had time in college to listen to classmates talk about their work like this, so I am very glad that now we do have time and so much interest to hear about how everyone spends their creative time."

And Joan summed it all up: "I'm so looking forward to a future of more mini-reunions. They are so wonderful, stimulating, and just plain fun."

Top photo, left to right: Ellen Varmus Bloch, Aida Price Merriweather, Kathleen Broome Williams (with Laurie's book), Alice Chiang (with Marion's book).
Next photo, left to right: Laurie Follansbee Mobilio, Browyn Hughes Hall, Linda Wyatt Gruber, Barbara Bywater Creed

For more photos, see the Bay Area mini photo album. (This requires logging in. If you don't have your Wellesley user name and password, get them here.)