Long Beach author Darlene Quinn dies from cancer

Long Beach author Darlene Quinn dies from cancer
on Jun 04, 2021

Darlene Quinn, a Long Beach native who left the world of high fashion to become a writer and penned the award-winning “Webs of Power” book series, has died. She was 83. Quinn died in her sleep late last month after a being diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and opting against treatment, family members said. Quinn was born on June 17, 1937, in Long Beach. She graduated from Wilson High School in 1955 and received an associate degree at Long Beach City College, before moving up north and earning a bachelor’s degree in education from San Jose State University. After teaching elementary school in San Jose, Quinn taught modeling and charm classes through Bullock’s Wilshire. She returned to Long Beach to serve as coordinator of the Long Beach Miss Universe Pageant. Quinn returned to Bullock’s as corporate training director, ultimately rising to personnel director of organizational development at the Wilshire location. She retired in 1986. She then began another career as an author, first writing for industry journals and Savvy Magazine about the retail world before turning to fiction. Her first novel, 2008’s “Webs of Power,” won the best fiction award in the National Indie Excellence Awards. She wrote and published five more books in the series, working first with Emerald Book Co., then Greenleaf Book Group Press. She also acted as a writing coach and started the Talking Fiction author’s group in Long Beach. Quinn stayed involved with her Wilson classmates as well, acting as reunion chairwoman and organizing weekly dinners. She met Jack Quinn at one of the reunion board meetings and married him when she was 68. Quinn, who died May 21, was the mother of two children, had six grandchildren and one recently born great-grandchild. The grandchildren knew her as “Grandy,” a name coined for a character in one of her novels, daughter Jodie Dominguez said. Her son is John Fields. “After enduring months of pain and receiving much needed comfort from palliative care nurses, Darlene was ready to leave,” Dominguez said in an email. “She often said she was not afraid of death, but was reluctant to leave her loved ones behind.” Memorial services are pending. Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/