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Dec. 4, 1933-Nov. 15, 2014
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Glennys Christie, a former editor of the Lafayette Squire, has died of cancer at her home in Florida. Christie, 80, was a longtime resident of Lafayette and Walnut Creek who went from a one-room Canadian schoolhouse to the University of British Columbia and Stanford University, where she earned a Master's degree in journalism and worked briefly for the San Francisco News.
While raising five children in Lafayette, she became editor in 1971 of the weekly Squire, a free community newspaper that challenged the Lesher newspaper group, publisher of the Lafayette Sun. As editor she championed the extension of BART through the Caldecott Tunnel and helped forge the identity of newly-incorporated Lafayette. Her editorials and headlines were witty and direct: the family of former Lafayette mayor Don Black remembers fondly the election banner "Lafayette Elects Black Mayor."
When the Squire folded in 1974, Christie became communications director for Orindawoods, one of the earliest planned communities in California. There she wrote the state's first Environmental Impact Report to comply with new environmental legislation. After founding a public relations consultancy, she worked closely with the Eugene O'Neill National Monument Foundation to get the playwright's former home, Tao House in Danville, designated as a National Historic Site. She also served as director of public information for the Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools during the tenure of Richard LaPointe.
In the 1980s Christie relocated to Point Roberts, Washington, a small peninsula attached to the Canadian mainland, where she co-founded a monthly newspaper, the All Point Bulletin. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1986 and retired to El Cerrito, then to Florida, where she campaigned actively for Democratic causes, tutored immigrants in English, and traveled widely.
Her son Andrew died as a result of schizophrenia in 1990. She is survived by four children: Joseph Christie III of Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Alix Christie of London, England; Ann Victoria Christie of Malvern, Penn.; and Stuart Christie of Hong Kong; and seven grandchildren. Memorial services in Point Roberts and Canada are planned. The family requests donations to The National Resources Defence Council, www.nrdc.org; and Tidewell Hospice of Sarasota, Florida, www.givetotidewell.org.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA