Beginnings
California may be known for its devotion to driving, but sometimes enough is enough. By the late 1980s, there were enough writers and would-be writers in the East Bay that the idea of locating a branch of the California Writers Club in Contra Costa County made sense.
Some people were already at work creating what would become the nucleus of a new CWC branch. Berkeley Branch members Bobbie Davis, Shyrle Hacker and Ted Fuller decided the new branch should have its geographic center in Pleasant Hill. At the same time, Helen McGrath, one of the charter members of the Mount Diablo Branch of the CWC, remembers starting three different informal writers groups. One met in her home in the evening, one met during the day in various members’ homes, and one met on a Saturday in a restaurant. Meetings often included a speaker as well as a critique of members’ work.
By 1987, the members of these informal groups decided to do the hard work of organizing an official branch. The first organization meeting was held January 7, 1987 (pdf), with seven people in attendance. The charter for the Mount Diablo Branch was authorized June 6, 1987, with 41 people named on the document.
Although the charter wasn’t authorized until June, the Contra Costa Times reported that the group was actively seeking members in an article dated March 31, 1987. The article featured president Mary Anne Dolan, as well as the authors who would be speaking at the general meeting – Irma Ruth Walker (Air force Wives) and Edward F. Dolan, Jr. (no relation to Mary). Sidebar articles described the history of the state-wide California Writers Club and advertised the fifth-grade writing contest for students in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Although the contest was sponsored by the Berkeley Branch, the newly formed Mt. Diablo Branch supported the contest.