Remembering Mary Conrad

On a personal note, I mark the move to more heavenly pastures of Mary Conrad, widow of the late writer and artist Barnaby Conrad, at the age of 88.

Born into a prominent family in Pasadena, she was an accomplished horsewoman and avid tennis player, enjoying the game for most of her long life.

After her first marriage, which produced two sons, William and Michael Slater, ended amicably in 1962, she married San Francisco author, nightclub owner, and bullfighter Barnaby Conrad, and in 1964 gave birth to their daughter, Kendall Conrad, a popular fashion designer.

At their Victorian home in tony Pacific Heights, the couple entertained friends and celebrities including Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, Charlton Heston, and legendary San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who I would drink with regularly at Wolfgang Puck’s eatery Postrio when I would fly out from New York every 10 days to appear on the ABC affiliate KGO’s show Good Morning Bay Area, staying rather splendidly at the Fairmont on Nob Hill.

Mary became a well-known interior decorator in partnership with the late Virginia Lynch and would lead tours through the giant redwoods in
Muir Woods.

So, it was no surprise when she fell in love with Zorro, a Texas gray tree fox, which became friends with the duo’s pug Tomas and inspired Barnaby’s 1972 children’s book Zorro: A Fox in the City.

After building a beach house at Rincon Point, the couple left Baghdad by the Bay, as Caen dubbed it, in 1973 and that same year Mary helped Barnaby found the legendary Santa Barbara Writers Conference, a week-long gathering of famous writers and eager adult students, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.

For decades, the Conrads hosted famous writers and celebrities to lecture and hobnob with several hundred avid students, including Ray Bradbury, Christopher Isherwood, Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz, comedian Jonathan Winters, James Michener, William Styron, Fannie Flagg, Gore Vidal, Danielle Steel, and Roots author Alex Haley.

After Barnaby died in 2013, Mary shared writer’s credit with Matthew J. Pallamary and Y. Armando Nieto when they published the 622-page history, The Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook in 2017, and she served as the executive producer of the documentary film of the same name.

An exceptional cook and hostess, Mary also volunteered for the annual Amethyst Ball charity held at the Coral Casino.

Quite the woman who I was honored and delighted to know. Barnaby dubbed me “Herb Caen south,” which I considered a great accolade.