Carolyn M. Byerly grew up in an army family that moved all over the place, but settled in Colorado in the 1950s. In 1967, she dropped out of college to live in Breckenridge to ski and party, but eventually finished college and pursued journalism and writing, including a year working for the Brazilian national English daily in Rio de Janeiro. She came to Olympia in 1975 to take a job for the State Office of Community Development as a public information officer. While in that job, she also found her way into feminist politics, which resulted in her involvement with the YWCA’s Rape Relief program. In time, she also was active in Washington Women United, and briefly, the League of Women Voters. After leaving state service around 1978, she worked full time for Rape Relief for two years, during which time she became part of a small group of women that merged the YWCA’s Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter programs to form Safeplace, an independent nonprofit organization. She served as the first administrative director for Safeplace, remaining until 1985, when she left to pursue graduate studies. After a long academic life on the east coast, including 17 years on the Howard University faculty, she returned to Olympia with her wife Kay McGraw to settle into retirement among familiar friends and places. She still writes, serves on several local boards, and takes part in local activism.
- Safeplace – My Story on Its Origins and Early Work – By Carolyn ByerlyBefore there was Safeplace, there were the Rape Relief and the Women’s Shelter programs at the Olympia YWCA. Each had a paid coordinator, with the work of the programs carried on by trained volunteers. That work initially involved taking calls from women who had been battered or sexually assaulted to support them through the police reporting process, hospital exams, finding shelter (if needed), and accompanying them to court. In time, an educational component evolved as both groups were called on to speak to community groups about the problems we addressed. It was cutting edge feminist work, and our community was among the first in the US to establish these programs.
- Rick O’Reilly – Neighbor, Friend, Smiling Chef – By Carolyn ByerlyRick decided to start offering small-scale cooking classes at his house. He called his project “Bachelor Survival,” a class for guys. I thought that was an interesting project and decided to do a freelance story about his classes. The Daily Olympian (as it was then called) was interested in it and sent a photographer to capture some scenes from one of his home cooking classes. Photo by Del Ogden