The Yale Road Book Club was founded in 2003 with five members shown above, starting left with Sheree Luttrell, Barbara Tyler, Jayne McCann, Joani Culver and Caroline Tonetti. Their first meeting was held at one of the member’s homes on Yale Road in Menlo Park, hence the name. There are currently six active members with the addition of Shirley Heine, Elizabeth Blois Becky Nelson, Michelle Sasson and Philippa Perkin. Caroline, Suzanne, Sheree and Joani are now honorary members.

The women meet eight times a year and discuss a current book selection. Books are selected attempting to balance our choices between non-fiction, fiction, mystery, humorous, a classic, selfhelp and biographies. Each member takes responsibility to lead the discussion on a book of her choosing.

When one of the selections has been written by a local author/editor they have been invited to speak to the group. These guest authors have included Joe McNamara author of “Code 211 Blue”, Dr. Stephanie Brown author of “A Place Called Self”, and Brian Solon editor of “Think Big, Act Small”. We enlisted the aid of two local top financial planners Tom Curran and Les Koonce to lead the discussion of a book called, “Start Late, Finish Rich” by David Bach. We enjoyed an evening with Maureen Draper learning more about the healing qualities of music, “The Nature of Music”. We even learned about the beginnings of the television industry from Fran Adams Kearton when she shared her book with us, “Waiting for the Banana Peel…we did it.” One of our memorable evenings was spent with Sue Blois, the niece of John Steinbeck. Best selling author, Meg Clayton lead our discussion of, “The Wednesday Sisters”. We have gone to movies that are about books we have read and attended lectures by authors.

In addition to their regular meetings, the group has traveled together and enjoys an annual dinner that includes spouses. We have “been there” for each other in many ways. When one of the members was going through treatments for cancer the group pulled together offering a valued support network.