Gaye LeBaron

Gaye Theresa LeBaron (born 1935) As of 2004 she was writing two Sunday columns a month. and a readership survey confirmed that hers was "the most popular feature in the paper". She became a local celebrity. She was even mentioned by a fictional character in Greg Sarris' 1998 novel Watermelon Nights: "Patrick's studying journalism," I said, then thought of Mother's limitations. "He wants to be a writer," I translated. "I know, he told me," she said, "Like Gaye LeBaron. She tells about the goings-on."

LeBaron co-authored two books on the history of Santa Rosa: Santa Rosa: A Nineteenth Century Town (Historia, Ltd., 1985) and Santa Rosa: A Twentieth Century Town (Historia, Ltd., 1993). She appeared in two videos discussing Sonoma County history that aired on C-SPAN in 2015.

In 2001 LeBaron gifted her interview notes and research material to the Sonoma State University Library, which entered the material into its special collections department. In 2003 the library added the Gaye LeBaron Collection to its online catalog and also opened a Gaye LeBaron website for the use of students, researchers, and community organizations. U.S. Representative for Mike Thompson named her Sonoma County Woman of the Year in 2015. In 2016 LeBaron received the California Community College Distinguished Alumni Award from the Community College League of California.

Personal When she joined The Press Democrat as a reporter in 1957, John LeBaron, seven years her senior, was working as a photographer for the paper. They married in 1958 and had two children. They resided in Santa Rosa and owned a beach house at Bodega Bay. He died in 2014.