Letters to the Editor

Suzanne Forster has been a special part in the preservation of Banning Ranch

There is a prolific and published author among us. Few people know this because in addition to being modest about her accomplishments, she is better known for her devotion of over a decade of endlessly hard work for the local nonprofit phenomenon, Banning Ranch Conservancy.

I first met Suzanne Forster when I retired from teaching and started getting involved in community projects over a decade ago. Suzanne and another important community leader, Dorothy Kraus, were giving educational talks in private homes and other larger venues about the importance of preserving Banning Ranch as the last unprotected open space in Orange County. I was so impressed with their presentation that I decided to volunteer on the spot. Those presentations were responsible for enticing hundreds of followers to fight for the preservation of Banning Ranch.

During the two years that I was involved with Banning Ranch activities, I was constantly impressed with the intelligence and dedication of its leaders and faithful volunteers. One would be remiss not to mention the role of the Banning Ranch President Terry Welsh, who is also an impressive leader with a kind and serious demeanor. He has devoted countless hours to the cause while holding down a career as a pathologist.

Although I left the Conservancy after two years to become involved in other community projects, I kept in touch with Suzanne Forster who kept me up to date on Conservancy matters. She has always impressed me with her intelligence and dedication as well as her modesty. I became aware only five years ago that she had published novels, but only recently learned that she had more than 40 published works to her credit including – novels, novellas and anthologies featuring multiple authors. Before Banning Ranch, the 30 years that she devoted to her writing resulted in her becoming a New York Times bestselling author.

Her writing career began by accident, literally. She was pursuing a career as a psychotherapist when she was involved in a car accident and had to drop out of grad school. The recovery took longer than expected, and by the time she was well enough to return, she had published a book and launched a new career.

In the last few years, I have met several people who are aspiring authors. None has written as much or as successfully as Suzanne; however, most of them would acknowledge, as she does, that writing is a lonely pursuit and often a frustrating one. But it is also very rewarding. When asked about her advice for new writers, Suzanne’s response is, “a writing career takes discipline and perseverance and wanting it really badly,” but modesty keeps her from admitting that to be successful, it also takes talent. To be as successful as she has been takes lots of it.

Lynn Lorenz

Newport Beach