Saratoga News

Saratoga Sampler

Mary Ann Cook

Writers share tales of orphanages, cops and Steinbeck

AUTHORS AT FUNDRAISER: Authors who talked about their books at the annual AAUW fundraiser at the Saratoga Country Club last month included one Saratogan--Audry Lynch--plus Nona Mock Wyman and Joseph McNamara. Lynch's book is With Steinbeck in the Sea of Cortez and was published in '91. Always a Steinbeck devotee, when she heard her husband was being transferred, her thought was not "I'm moving to California, "but "I'm moving to Steinbeck country."

For the book she managed to interview his first wife, Carol Henning, a San Jose native, his children and several friends in order to write the account of the scientific trip that Steinbeck organized and financed.

Referring to a recently published book about traveling with dogs that contained stories by both her and Steinbeck, Lynch joked, "We're finally between the same covers." Lynch teaches classes on Steinbeck at Mission and other community colleges, has been a middle school counselor and is a traffic school instructor on weekends.

Audry is spelled without an "e" because, her family being Catholic, the name had to be found in the Bible. And the only one her mother was able to find was sans "e."

Another author, Wyman, told about growing up an orphan in Ming Quong in Los Gatos. She read an excerpt from her book Chopstick Childhood in a Town of Silver Spoons describing how she felt as a 2-year-old when she was left at the orphanage, screaming and terrified, as her mother walked out the door. Heart-wrenching stuff.

But she says the succeeding years were not as grim as it might seem, and she contributes royalties from the book to Eastfield Ming Quong. Wyman owns a gift shop in Walnut Creek called, yes, Ming Quong, meaning Radiant Life. "I don't know why I was abandoned, but [because her mother was an immigrant in the depths of the Depression], she was probably saving my life. I miss her still."

The third author, McNamara, is a former San Jose police chief who now works at the Hoover Institution and is a best-selling mystery author. Though he always intended to write, he credits insomnia as one of the impetuses that resulted in his becoming an author.

That and the fact that "as a police chief I couldn't always say what I wanted, whereas a character can say anything." He calls the writing life full of both anguish and power.

McNamara recounted the plot of his book Code 211 Blue, until he got near the end. More he wouldn't divulge. That info is only available in the book, which is sold at the Saratoga Book Market by owner Rachel Cart, along with the others. I felt rather as though I had been shadowing McNamara for the past 24 hours, metaphorically speaking, what with seeing L.A. Confidential that afternoon and The Irish Immigrant Experience on TV that night.

MAUI MAGIC: The McKims, Dick and Elaine, have been going to Maui for some five years now, and they love it so much they up the ante each year, as far as the length of their stay is concerned. This year, post-retirement, they'll stay five weeks, all of March and one week in April.

They rent a condo a stone's throw from the ocean near a rocky cove, where they concentrate on snorkeling and reading. Give them two more years, and they'll stage a McKim Maui Millennium, bringing along their offspring and families: Susan and Trevor Durham; Rich and Susan McKim; and Tim and Jen McKim; plus the five grandchildren.

TOAST AND ROAST: Bob Beyer gave wife Tish a 50th birthday party at Viaggio's last month, replete with family and friends. Scott Lynch, a friend who's in the video business, put together a 20-minute video of some high points in the Tish life to further commemorate the occasion.

But when Tish's brother, Chris Ryan, got up to speak, things took a wilder spin, and the event turned into a roast. Chris showed no mercy in reminiscing about Tish's adventures as a teenager in Michigan.

Her group was much inclined to party on weekends, and one time, when they couldn't find an appropriate place (i.e., a house where the parents would be gone that evening), they rented a U-haul to serve as party headquarters. Portable party time ensued. Those attending the roasting included offspring Jen, Will and Christopher Kron of Saratoga, as well as Kari and Jason Unruh from San Diego.

MEMOIRS AT MONTALVO: A memoir-writing workshop at Montalvo will run Feb. 18-March 26. Phyllis Koestenbaum will lead the course. Koestenbaum, well-known poet and teacher, is the author of Criminal Sonnets, coming soon, and has two articles in the current edition of Prairie Schooner. Koestenbaum is a senior scholar at Stanford's Institute for Research on Women and Gender. The price for the course is $150; to reserve a spot call Marcia Adams at 741-4808.

CHANGING SEASONS: Since parts of Saratoga are beginning to look like the historic postcards commemorating this valley's blossom heritage, I think I'd really better get the Christmas decorations tucked away.

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