Beth Ashley (May 21, 1926 – May 1, 2020) was an American author and columnist. She wrote for the ''

Marin Independent Journal The ''Marin Independent Journal'' is the main newspaper of Marin County, California. The paper is owned by California Newspapers Partnership which is in turn mostly owned by MediaNews Group.

'' for over 60 years. In remarks before the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, Congresswoman

Lynn Woolsey Lynn C. Woolsey (born November 3, 1937) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, her district included all of Marin County and most of Sonoma County. She was a memb ...

stated "Beth Ashley's work has expressed the heart and soul of

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

Early years

Beth Ashley was raised in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. Her father was an investment banker, who moved Ashley and her family to

Belvedere, California Belvedere is a residential incorporated city located on the San Francisco Bay in Marin County, California, United States. Consisting of two islands and a lagoon, it is connected to the Tiburon Peninsula by two causeways. At the 2020 census, the ...

in order to assist in running a shipyard in

in August 1941. She was enrolled in

Tamalpais High School Tamalpais High School (often abbreviated as Tam) is a public secondary school located in Mill Valley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is named after nearby Mount Tamalpais, which rises almost above Mill Valley. Tamalpais High Scho ...

in 1942 and 1943. Ashley was an alumnus of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where she was the editor of the campus newspaper, the ''

Stanford Daily ''The Stanford Daily'' is the student-run, independent daily newspaper serving Stanford University. ''The Daily'' is distributed throughout campus and the surrounding community of Palo Alto, California, United States. It has published since the U ...

'', and graduated with a major in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

in 1946.

Career

She moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and later worked for a magazine, and for the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

as a public affairs officer in Germany in 1949. She joined the staff of the ''Marin Independent Journal'' in 1951, and wrote over 1200 columns for the newspaper. Ashley not only focused her writing on life in Marin County, but also on her wide-ranging travels outside the US, including

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. She is the subject of a tribute by Congresswoman

placed in the

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...

. Woolsey praised Ashley's “passionate and thoughtful writing that has made her a community institution.”

Books

Ashley was the author of two books, one being a compilation of her columns for the ''Marin IJ'' titled ''Since You Asked'', the name of her long-running column. A book on Marin County titled ''Marin'', with photos by Hal Lauritzen, was released in 1993.

Personal life

She raised five sons, from two marriages, and lived in

Greenbrae Greenbrae is a small unincorporated community in Marin County, California. It is located south-southeast of downtown San Rafael, at an elevation of 33 feet (10 m), located adjacent to U.S. Route 101 at the opening of the Ross Valley. Part of ...

, California from 1959. She married retired IBM engineer Roland Fellows in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Beth 1926 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American women columnists American essayists Tamalpais High School alumni Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni People from Greenbrae, California 20th-century American women 21st-century American women