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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2025 51 The locations and times of Rainbow Group events are available via our Facebook page or email (rainbowgroup@myyahoo.com). This month, our selection for the Famous LGBT Americans series is Patricia Nell Warren. Warren was born in 1936 and grew up in Montana. She received an AA from Stephens College in Missouri and a BA in English from Manhattanville College in New York. Warren worked at Reader's Digest as a copy editor and book editor. In the 1960s, Reader's Digest stationed her in Spain. While there, she wrote her first gay novel about a Spanish bullfighter and a peasant, publishing the book in 2001 under the title, e Wild Man. In 1957, Warren married Yuriy Tarnawsky, a Ukrainian poet. She learned the Ukrainian language and wrote poetry in Ukrainian. In 1969, Warren ran in the 1969 Boston Marathon. At that time, marathons were almost exclusively male pursuits. She ended up completing the race. It was during this time that she acknowledged being lesbian. Afterwards, Warren wrote e Front Runner, a novel about a college coach and one of his athletes, a runner. Fearing her husband's reaction to the book, Warren later stated that she wrote the book "in secret, in fear and terror, on my lunch hours at work, keeping it locked in my desk at night." She subsequently divorced her husband. e Front Runner, published in 1974, became a best- selling gay novel. She left Reader's Digest in 1980 and moved to California, where she wrote other novels and nonfiction books. Writing in 1998 in e Advocate, Warren spoke of the struggle of gay and lesbian athletes in the late 1960s to be open about their sexuality: "Closeted college jocks of both genders were electrified by that dual challenge — coming out and long-distance running. Students came f looding into the big road races. … Some of these young gay and lesbian runners … dared to be more socially visible." She also observed how things had changed for gay and lesbian athletes. She quipped, "The city of Palm Springs, California, has stopped pretending that 10 million lesbians don't come to town for the weekend of the Dinah Shore golf classic every year." Warren died in 2019 in Santa Monica at the age of 82. For more information and for the sources for this article, please go to the Rainbow Group's Facebook page or request a copy via our email. ~ Dan Hazeltine and Frank Galvan Inset photo by John Selig, used with permission Rainbow Group Our next screening on July 29 will be Walt Disney's 1940 classic Fantasia, a groundbreaking movie that combines classical music with animation. It is divided into eight segments, each inspired by a dierent piece of music. Discussion of the movie will follow. ~ Paul Plamondon, 4seasonsmoviegroup@gmail.com Classic Film Group Our monthly meeting is Thursday, July 17 at 6 pm (doors open at 5:15 pm). This month, we're thrilled to welcome back one of our favorite presenters, Heidi Daniels from Michael David Winery. Heidi is renowned for her expertise and for consistently delivering wines that exceed expectations. Colin Taylor will give an engaging talk on wine and alcohol, including how alcohol is produced in wine and what its percentage means. This will be a very informative presentation. As always, please bring: two glasses, a bottle to share (your choice), and something to share with your table (snacks or a dish to complement the wines). If you have four wines (two red and two white) that you'd like to present to the group, please reach out to me by email or phone. We encourage our members to share their insights and contribute to the experience. Looking forward to seeing everyone there! ~ Tom DePaola, tomdepaola@roadrunner.com, (714) 404-1956 Taste d'Vine

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