Ginny Brownback,
world traveler who called Inverness home
by Larken Bradley

Longtime Inverness resident Ginny Brownback, a photojournalist and travel writer who journeyed round the world many times, died unexpectedly in her sleep on Saturday, September 3. She was 87.

Ms. Brownback set out for the Great Beyond after a lovely day that included a swim at Chicken Ranch Beach, dinner at home with her daughter Brooke, a pink sunset, and listening to a broadcast of her favorite opera, La Boheme.

A popular member of the community, if Inverness had a social director, Ms. Brownback could have been it. When someone moved to town, she held dinner parties to make introductions. She knew the history of everyone around.She took an interest and listened deeply.

“Everyone wanted to sit next to Ginny,” said friend Barbara Jay. “She made you feel more interesting than you actually were.”

Daring journeys

An adventure traveler before the phrase was even coined, over 25 years Ms. Brownback made 35 trips to Third World countries. In a collection of travel essays titled Daredevil Twilight, she chronicled her expeditions as an older woman traveling alone, without an agenda, far from tourist destinations. She went to Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam. To Urkraine, Kashmir and Cambodia.

In 1988, at age 62, she published her first travel article in The Los Angeles Times. She then became a regular contributor to Modern Maturity for the next 10 years.

Reflecting on these times, Ms. Brownback wrote, “I felt sprinkled with the water from the spring of Eternal Youth and Luck. Nothing I ever did was more satisfying than these High Spot years.”

Virginia Barton was born in Philadelphia on August 28, 1924, and grew up in Bryn Mawr. At 15 she contracted tuberculosis, was taken out of school and suffered with the disease until age 24, when she was cured with penicillin and given a second chance at life.

Go West, young woman

In 1949 her parents gave her a trip to San Francisco with a handpicked girlfriend. It was meant to be a winter in the West, but young Ginny never went home again except to visit. Two years later she married Hunter Brownback, also from Pennsylvania, whom she’d met back East.

The two eventually settled in Berkeley, had two daughters, and lived together for 25 years. The marriage ended in divorce. Ms. Brownback went back to school, earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Cal State Hayward and doing graduate work in the English program at San Francisco State.

Years teaching

She went to work at Indian Valley Junior College in Novato, entering the work force for the first time in her 50s. She ran the tutoring program at IVJC and taught composition and literature classes.

“I did not know I was an extrovert who thrived on an audience,” she wrote of this time. “But, I found out, felt reborn . . . .”

In 1980, four years after her divorce, she bought her property on the salt marsh in Inverness, where egrets land on the porch. “Mom said, ‘I’ve never loved a man more than I love this piece of land,’” said her daughter, Brooke Brownback.

Settled in Inverness, Ms. Brownback left her post at Indian Valley College to make a career combining writing, photography and travel. “I became at home in the world,” she wrote.

Exhibits

Her work and travels led to many slide-show presentations and photographic exhibitions, including one-woman shows at Gallery Route One. An exhibit at the Red Barn Classroom in Point Reyes National Seashore sold out in one day.

Ms. Brownback’s halo of hair, which had turned snow-white when she was still young, helped open doors for her on her travels, eliciting respect and trust.

Attractive into her later years, when she entered a room dressed in Indian silks, she stopped traffic, friends said.

“She never ceased to amaze me with her energy and enthusiasm for everything,” said her daughter, Dorsy Curth. “In her travels she loved to go to the end of the road.”

Political commentary

She drove a silver VW Bug decorated with bumper stickers including, “Born Okay the First Time.” She lived by a quote from Henry Miller, “All growth is a leap in the dark.”

Ms. Brownback was predeceased by her brother.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Dorcy and George Curth of Limantour Spit; daughter, Brooke Brownback of Inverness; and her grandsons, Sandy Curth and Jesse Lee.

Plans for a memorial gathering are pending and will be announced.

Family members suggest any memorial contributions be made to the American Cancer Society.

West Marin Citizen, September 22, 2011

Well-known literary figure Blair Fuller, 84
by Larken Bradley

Tomales resident Blair Fuller, a man of the world – and a prominent writer, editor and literary mentor – died in a Petaluma nursing facility on July 23, from cancer. He was 84.

A former editor of the Paris Review and co-founder of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, Mr. Fuller moved to the tiny hamlet on Tomales Bay after a lifetime of acclaim, achievement and adventure that propelled him from New York to West Africa to France – and finally to California.

Mr. Fuller felt protective of West Marin’s rural beauty and its minimal development. “He wanted it to stay that way,” said his daughter, Mia Fuller. “He was very happy there.”

Sporting an oversized cowboy hat, Mr. Fuller tooled around in a white electric car, which friends called the Blairmobile. A writing adviser to many, he hosted meetings of the Tomales Writers’ Group, with his wife, Arlene.

Distinguished family

“Blair was one of the most darned likeable people I have ever known,” said Kelly Phillips, a member of the group. “I always got the impression that he cared about what I told him.”

Added friend Lynn Schnitzer, “I was struck by his genial acceptance of any and all folks he met, finding the good in everyone, but not hesitating to point out unacceptable behavior to those who deserved his opprobrium.”

Blair Fairchild Fuller was born on January 18, 1927, in Bedford, New York. His father, Charles Fairchild Fuller, was an architect; his mother, Jane Sage White Fuller, a sculptor. Later in life he would publish a book on his forebears’ artistic careers titled, Art in the Blood: Seven Generations of American Artists in the Fuller Family.

During World War II he served in the US Navy. After graduating from Harvard he worked for Texaco in Ivory Coast and Ghana. “His early writing captured his experience of relations between colonizers and colonized in Africa,” Mia Fuller said.

English professor

In the mid-1950s he moved to Paris, becoming an editor of the Paris Review. A few years later he returned to New York to teach English at Barnard College. He once appeared on the television game show, To Tell the Truth, fooling all four panelists into thinking he was an African safari guide.

Squaw Valley

Mr. Fuller next moved to California, accepting a position in the Creative Writing Department at Stanford, headed by Wallace Stegner. He also spent a year as a Fulbright professor at the Universite d’Oran in Algeria. His novels and short stories were largely inspired by his years in Africa.

In 1969, he and Oakley Hall co-founded the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. In San Francisco, he became co-owner of Minerva’s Owl bookstore on Union Street.

A major turning point in his life came when he got sober. “He was explicitly, vocally grateful for it,” his daughter said. “But he was not preachy about it,” she added.

Mr. Fuller’s recent work consisted of a series of short personal memoirs, the last of which, An Evening with J.D. Salinger, was published on the Paris Review blog earlier this year.

Globetrotting

Always curious about other countries, he visited destinations around the world throughout his life, making many return trips to France and Italy.

At home in Tomales, he enjoyed riding his motorcycle up the coast.

Mr. Fuller is survived by his wife, Arlene Hogan Fuller of Tomales; daughters, Mia Fuller of Berkeley; and Whitney Fuller of Rohnert Park; son, Anthony Fuller of Los Angeles; sisters, Sage Fuller Cowles of Minneapolis; and Jill Fuller Fox of Vermont; granddaughter, Antonia Fuller of Los Angeles; and a stepbrother, Cass Canfield Jr.

He also leaves behind two former wives, Nina de Voogd Fuller of Lectoure, France; and Diana Burgess Fuller of San Francisco.

Services will be private. Family members suggest any memorial contributions be made to the scholarship program at Cinnebar Theatre, 3333 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma, CA 94952; or to Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, 10 Memorial St., Deerfield, MA 01342.

West Marin Citizen, August 11, 2011

Jonathan Rowe – West Marin loses a beloved friend
by Larken Bradley

Point Reyes Station resident Jonathan Rowe, a nationally recognized journalist, economist and community builder who co-founded West Marin Commons and the Tomales Bay Institute, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday, March 20. Mr. Rowe, 65, fell ill on Saturday and was taken by ambulance that evening to a hospital. Results of an autopsy are pending.

Almost everyone in Point Reyes Station knew Mr. Rowe, and often saw him at work, tapping away on his laptop computer near the coffee bar at Toby’s Feed Barn. And many loved him. Mr. Rowe was a gentle, kind soul. He possessed a brilliant mind, yet was entirely self-effacing.

“I can’t count all the friends I’ve made just by sitting in Toby’s during the day,” Mr. Rowe wrote in an essay.

West Marin Commons is an organization he co-founded to preserve and expand social spaces and activities. Sitting and writing at Toby’s, and talking with everyone who came by, he created the community he talked about.

Village green

What he seemed to mean by this was a return to the village green and to community, as contrasted to the separation and loneliness and advantage-taking he saw in modern life.

In the same spirit, Mr. Rowe helped create the Tomales Bay Institute, an organization started to revive the concept of the commons in American public policy and debate.

Mr. Rowe came to this vocation after a life on the East Coast working in journalism and politics. He was a staff writer at the Christian Science Monitor and editor at The Washington Monthly.

Years in DC

On Capitol Hill, he worked for US Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND). Earlier in his career, he served as one of [Ralph] Nader’s Raiders, a member of the Tax Reform Research Group.

“Jon was a man who knew what true wealth is – the ties that bind us together,” said friend Gary Ruskin of San Rafael, a co-worker in Mr. Nader’s office in the 1970s.

“Jon was the best thinker on economics in the United States,” added Ruskin. “He was a national treasure for his work on economics, the economy and commons.”

“One thing I appreciated was his exquisite writing style,” said friend and neighbor Peter Barnes, co-founder of the Tomales Bay Institute, now named On the Commons, and operating out of Minneapolis. “Everything he wrote was perfect – it looked graceful, effortless.”

Radio host

In writing about economics, Mr. Rowe could make a murky subject clear to the average reader. In a KWMR radio interview given four weeks before his death – on his own program, America Offline – Mr. Rowe said, “My main qualification for addressing the subject is that I never studied economics in college and I came to it with the proverbial beginner’s mind.”

Born in Boston on January 19, 1946, young Jon grew up near Newton, Massachusetts, outside Boston. His parents divorced, and his mother remarried, moving Jon and his brother to North Truro on Cape Cod. He graduated from Tabor Academy and went on to Harvard, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1967, followed by a JD in 1971 from the University of Pennsylvania.

“Jon had a severe speech impediment as a kid which carried into adulthood,” said his brother, Matt Rowe. “He was able to overcome that impediment and host a radio talk show very ably for many years.”

Mr. Rowe’s early speech difficulties may have motivated him to learn to write well, as he had no other way to communicate, his brother added.

Mary Jean and Josh

A first marriage for Mr. Rowe ended in divorce. His second marriage, to Mary Jean Espulgar, whose homeland is the Philippines, resulted in the birth of their son, Joshua. He was well into his 50s when Joshua was born, and Mr. Rowe joked about being a geezer father.

“Jon was so totally into being a dad,” said Peter Barnes. “Every day he walked Josh to and from school.”

“I spent much of my life trying to avoid having kids, and Josh is the greatest thing that ever happened to me,” Mr. Rowe said last month on his radio show. “So thank you, Josh.”

Mr. Rowe was a Christian Scientist. “In his own way Jon was a religious man,” said Gary Ruskin. “He read the Bible daily.”

Memorial contributions

He is survived by his wife and son, Mary Jean Espulgar-Rowe and Joshua Espulgar-Rowe, both of Point Reyes Station; his brother, Matt Rowe of Harwich, Massachusetts; and his stepmother, Elizabeth Rowe of Sandwich, Massachusetts.

Plans for a memorial service are pending and will be announced.

Memorial contributions may be made to an account set up to help support the family, or specifically earmarked as college funds for Joshua. Checks may be made to Mary Jean Espulgar-Rowe, or deposited at any Wells Fargo Bank branch, or online to Account No: 556129036.

Alternatively, contributions may be made to help realize Mr. Rowe’s vision of creating a town commons next to the Point Reyes Emporium. Tax-deductible contributions may be made to the West Marin Fund, memo: West Marin Commons/Town Commons Project, PO Box 127, Point Reyes Station 94956.

West Marin Citizen, March 24, 2011