History of the Berkeley Chapter
Here's how it all began.
The Berkeley chapter of STC started with nineteen members in the summer of 1987 as an offshoot of the East Bay chapter. Their recently elected president, Dr. C. J. Wallia, wanted to start a Berkeley chapter, which could better serve the membership living west of the hills. The first officers were:
- Dr. C.J. Wallia, President
- Susan Harwell, Vice President and Newsletter Editor
- Robert Williams, Secretary
- Marla Wilson, Treasurer
On August 24, 1987, we received our 'Subsidary Chapter' status. We had terrific support from the other chapters in the Bay Area, which at that time included East Bay, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley. Each provided us with grant money to keep us afloat until the chapter rebates arrived in August. By December 1987, we had grown to forty-two members. Our first elections, held in April 1988, resulted in changes for two of the offices: Ray Bruman, president; Amy Kuettner, Vice President, Programs. By June of 1988, we were out of the probationary period that all start-up chapters go through, and we were formally accepted as a full-fledged chapter of the Society.
The birth of the newsletter
Not surprisingly, the first name of our newsletter was the Berkeley Chapter Newsletter. In October, 1988, Kevin Countryman, the winner of the Newsletter Naming Contest, changed the name to the Ragged Left. Kevin also designed the flag for the newsletter. The design has changed over the years, but the name has not.
In the Beginning there were Meetings
It appears from our chapter archives that the first meeting was September 1, 1987 at Shattuck Avenue Spats in downtown Berkeley. We stayed there until April 1988, when we moved to Cody's bookstore on Telegraph Avenue. Cody's served our needs very well until the spring of 1990, when we moved back to downtown Berkeley to Yenching Restaurant. In early 1998 we changed venue to Cafe de la Paz in north Berkeley, and in spring of 2000 we moved to the Silver Dragon in downtown Oakland.
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You can access a
complete list
of all current Berkeley STC officers.
You can access a complete list of all Berkeley STC officers from 1987 to the present.