So the Willow Glen resident, who has been a YWCA member for 43 years, got busy. She educated herself on publishing costs, raised $100,000 to cover those costs and hand-picked the person for the job--Willow Glen journalist Fran Smith.

At the time, the experienced freelance writer with a 15-year career at the Mercury News hadn't done much history work, let alone written a book. And she wasn't familiar with the YWCA.

But she accepted the assignment. After two years of interviews and extensive research, Breaking Ground: The Daring Women of the YWCA in the Santa Clara Valley 1905 ­ 2005, a 134-page documentary, was completed.

The book will be introduced officially at the YWCA's centennial celebration on June 23, with proceeds from the book's sale going toward the organization.

Wilson, honorary chair on the YWCA's advisory board, says Smith's talent and dedication resulted in an impressive piece of work.

"She's written a terrific book that just breathes with human stories about what the daring women have done in 100 years," she says.

The book recaps the organization's largely unknown story, says Keri McLain, chief executive officer of the San Jose YWCA, but most importantly, it provides employees and volunteers with a sense of tradition and belonging.

"When you know your roots and your heritage there's a pride in it and I am already seeing staff respond in this way," she says.

Smith says she initially approached the project somewhat apprehensively, concerned about whether she would have enough material to work with, especially when it came to writing about the early history of the organization.

She started with two cardboard boxes of mementos and a scrapbook of news clippings Wilson had saved over the years. But soon YWCA staff helped unearth long-forgotten boxes of photographs, letters and board minutes dating back to 1914. Smith dug up additional resources at various archives and libraries in the area.

"Once I realized that the information was there, it really became fun because it was about telling a story," she says.

The YWCA story began in 1905, when Harriet Cory, daughter of an influential San Jose pioneer family, summoned roughly 40 women--most of them from a strong Christian, well-educated and respected background--to form the YWCA of San Jose.

Dedicated to Bible studies as well as to helping girls who were coming to town from surrounding farms, the organization ran out of funds and folded four years later.

But it was resurrected in 1914, largely due to the efforts of Maria Schofield, a rancher's widow who donated $25,000 toward building the original YWCA building on San Fernando and Second streets.

Soon the organization was up and running with teas, classes and plenty of other opportunities for the women and girls of San Jose to socialize and grow.

While originally a Christian organization, the YWCA was created with a pragmatic attitude, Smith says.

Whether it was citizenship classes in the 1920s, when women obtained the right to vote, job training classes in the 1930s or wives' and mothers' clubs in the 1950s, the organization--which prefers to call itself a movement--continually focused on the pressing issues of its time.

Even more, Smith says, the YWCA was often well ahead of its time.

"They took up civil rights before it was a cause that a lot of people embraced," says Smith, pointing to the book cover, which shows a 1950s photograph of YWCA teens from all ethnic backgrounds laughing together.

Helen Hayashi, the first vice president of the YWCA board of directors, joined the organization in 1978 to socialize with other young mothers. The organization's emphasis on diversity and its policy of non-discrimination always made her feel valued as an Asian American woman, she says.

The YWCA also set milestones when it came to numerous societal issues. In the 1970s, for example, it opened one of the first two rape crisis centers in California.

"The women took chances; they risked a lot," Hayashi says. "When we began the rape crisis center, it was very unpopular. We didn't talk about things like that, but we did it anyway."

Among the biggest YWCA achievements, Smith says, is the organization's ability to become a leadership training ground for women during a time when baking cookies for men's clubs was the norm. The organization's programs gave women an opportunity to learn leadership skills and develop self-confidence and a taste for activism.

"The YWCA is an organization set up by women, run by women to serve women," Smith says. "That had a huge effect on the people who came through."

Wilson, who from 1967 to 1970 was president of the organization's board of directors, says her experience at the YWCA has been essential to her personal development. It sparked her passion for local politics, she says, which in 1973 lead her to become one of the first women on the San Jose City Council and then vice mayor in 1976. Wilson also served as one of the first female members of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for 12 years.

"I don't think I would have ever run for city council if I hadn't been so firmly committed to action and to changing systems," she says.

To Smith, the two years immersed in the lives of San Jose's trail-blazing women not only catapulted her back into a time when women had to fight for what has since become the norm, the research and writing also proved inspirational.

"What really moved me was realizing how even a small group of people who came together with commitment could change and eliminate huge barriers," Smith says. "Some of the things they did don't even seem all that remarkable until you think, 'gee, women couldn't even vote then.' "

For information on the book, 'Breaking Ground' contact the YWCA of Silicon Valley, 375 South Third St., at 408.295.4011.

The YWCA of Silicon Valley will celebrate its centennial dinner on June 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the Fourth Street Summit Center, 88 South Fourth St., San Jose.