Darlene Quinn-In Memoriam
Novelist, philanthropist, benefactor, friend, wit, Bon Vivant, award winner-Darlene touched so many lives and made us all better-her loss hurts all of our hearts.
Darlene Quinn, a longtime member of SCWA and successful novelist with her series of "Web" books, was a Renaissance woman, a woman who began as a teacher, then a model, led the West Coast fashion icon Bullock's into becoming a leader worldwide in fashion, and became a hugely successful best-selling novelist.
Darlene was so talented and diverse. She even directed the Miss Universe contest for several years and always assisted the women into getting an education.
Of course it is Darlene's writing that made her a giant. She wrote Buddy Ebsen's biography, and also wrote the Barnaby Jones series of novels.
When she began her series of "Web" novels, they went right to the top. They won the Independent novel of the Year Award several times. And Darlene had fans around the world and visited from Alaska to Florida to New York constantly to meet with them. Her Facebook group has more than 5,000 members. To hear some of the stories about signing books in airports (her books were always an airport feature) and on literary cruises are prime pictures of her dedication and value in setting the stage for others.
Darlene Quinn helped to build SCWA into a vibrant family with her love not only for writing but her love for people.
When SCWA was struggling, Darlene would bring tables of writers to the meetings. And Darlene would provide teachings and free editing services to SCWA members and saw those writers improve. People say SCWA is so friendly and helpful to each other--Darlene was the inspiration for that tone of style of SCWA.
Darlene spoke at conference around the world and always came back to SCWA sharing the wealth of experience with all of us. And she was so philanthropic to many of us who needed assistance with publishing. She was quiet about it and never asked for anything in return except that we keep writing.
How do we say goodbye to a person who was a legend in life? It is hard.