JULY
1 July 1992 Wednesday
Jeff Workman and I were up by 5 this morning to make sure everything was packed and ready to go. John Reeves drove us to the Logan Airport where we said our goodbyes to him and to Boston. The flight home was more comfortable than it was going and we arrived back in Salt Lake City at 10:30 this morning, Utah time. We were amazed to find it raining and it was cold only about 60 degrees.
We caught a bus right away into the city and we didn’t get rained on much walking home to the La France. Jimmy Hamamoto, Bobbie Smith and others started calling right away welcoming us back so it was a busy afternoon unpacking.
At six this evening, Faerie folk came over to our place to plan out trip to Pagosa Springs Colorado for the Rainbow Family Gathering. Robert “Popcorn” Olson, Harold “Silver Fox’ Jones, Jason “Red Coyote’ Demmick, Bobbie Smith aka Gillian, David Ball aks Moonfire, and Jimmy Hamamoto aka Fuku came over and we decided that we will need three cars for the trip. Mark Angus aka Asparagus is leaving tomorrow with a bunch and they said they would pick up Mike Pipkin aka Puck, who is in Moab, along the way.
While we were planning the trip, David Ball said he saw a U-haul outside the Rhino Next and that they must be closing down. I said we ought to go over and get Bobbie’s things he had left while we could. It was sad and pathetic seeing Alice Hart taking down everything that once held such promise.
As nice as I could, I said we were here to get Gillian’s things such as the floor buffer. I asked where was Gillian’s cassette player and Alice came unglued. She demanded that I leave saying she did not want to deal with me and I responded what does that have to do with retrieving Gillian’s property?
She snarls “I’ll give Gillian back his things after he returns the $2,000 worth of books he stole for the Stonewall Library. At that accusation I got angry and said “Don’t you dare start spreading lies about Gillian!” The whole situation was getting volatile. She was going to call the police and I said “Please do so we can get Gillian’s property.”
Anyway I leave to cool off and Fuku stays behind talking to Frank. I found out later, from Fuku, that Alice took Gillian’s cassette player and threw it literally out the back door. Susan who was displaying her artwork at the Rhino Nest later came over to return it. Alice has gone nuts.
2 July 1992 Thursday
I was up nealy 20 hours yesterday so today I slept in. Tomorrow we are leaving out early for Colorado. I went grocery shopping mostly for camp out food for the four days we will be gone. I really didn’t know what to get because not sure what the site will be like.
I still can’t get over how Alice behaved yesterday. She was totally out of control. Jeff Workman went off to Unconditional Support tonight. I just stayed home and tried putting things away that we had unpacked from our Boston trip. I’m glad to be home although I miss Boston. Jeff and I had so much fun there.
3 July 1992 Friday
The faeries all met over at my place about five thirty this morning to get Jeff’ Workman’s truck and the other cars packed. We ended up taking three vehicles with almost all the gear piled in the truck. Jason Demmick aka Red Coyote and his young brother rode with Robert Olson aka Popcorn. Jimmy Hamamoto aka Fuku and and Bobbie Smith aka Gillian rode with David Ball aka Moonfire. Jeff Workman aka Morninstar and I rode together.
I guess Mark Angus aka Asparagus, Enzio, and Harold Jones aka Silver Fox left out yesterday and they said they’d pick up Mike Pipkin aka Puck along the way who is meeting them in Green River.
Anyway our adventure began with the drive down through Spanish Fork Canyon to Price, stopping at Walkers in Wellington to refuel and get drinks. We were making good time as we drove across the Green Desert into Grand Junction. We reached Glenwood Springs around one thirty and from there we turned south and drove another seventy miles.
There we had to climb this mountain pass that was so steep that I was worried the truck would overheat as it was so loaded down with camping equipment. We finally found the turn off after seeing a van full of hippies who were parked along the side of the road giving directions. We had to then travel over twenty miles on dirt roads, eating the dust of the cars ahead of us until we reached a pull over place in the middle of this pasture that suddenly became a huge parking lot.
As Morningstar and I wearily arrived at the long sought out destination we were held up by other hundreds of cars waiting their turn to park. Popcorn, who had arrived before us, spotted us. Harried and frantic, he runs over to us and says “This is Your Worst Nightmare!” And so it would seem.
Then this refugee from 1969 says to us “Welcome to Woodstock.” He said we have to unload our car and park it in this meadow where as far as you could see were all types of vehicles from jalopies to BMW’s; from jeeps to converted school buses, all parked in this makeshift parking lot. We then heard that the actual Rainbow Gathering was still another seven miles up the mountain where cars were not allowed.
We were dumbfounded as we had brought up tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and enough food for 12 people for three days! Now they were telling us we had to dump it here and caravan it up to the main camp site.
Popcorn showed us where the other Faeries had parked and we regrouped. There were about 35 people waiting for rides all ready and here I am thinking how are we ever able to find someone with a truck to haul all our gear along with us up the mountain. Impossible.
I hatched the only sensible scheme and that was to set up camp off the road there we basically dumped all our gear. We carried everything about 50 yards up the side of a hill, pitched our tents and scramble the best we could. Because of all the tall grass I knew they’d be no fire built either to cook with or keep us warm. However after the tents were erected with our Rainbow flag unfurled we felt like we had mastered the first hurdle
We then waited our turn to take this old school bus that had as its name “Heaven” painted on the outside in colorful bubble letters. We climbed on board the bus that was shuttling Rainbow folks up to the gathering site.
All the seats had been removed and we sat on pillows, blankets and cushions. The windows were covered with decorative scarves and it seemed to me that the bus was a hippie harem. There must have been fifty of us squeezed inside of Heaven.
The long haired bus driver took us up this steep narrow winding single-lane gravel road that had some turnouts that the on one side was a sheer drop off. The bus would jerk and roll back a little whenever the hippie driver shifted into lower gears. I thought for sure I’d be going to heaven in Heaven.
At Ten thousand feet was the top of the mountain plateau and there we disembarked only to learn that it was another three mile hike to where a tribe of Radical Faeries had set up a kitchen station. Every imaginable granola head, New Age practitioner, Wiccan, EST follower, old and young hippie and counter culture devotee were to be seen in a multitude for as far as you could see.
We finally made it to the Faerie Camp where large pots of lentils, rice, beans, potatoes, and kettles of soup were being distributed. Most of the other camps and kitchens were secluded in the surrounding spruce and fir covered slopes of the mountain. We were told that a huge communal latrine had been dug about a half mile from the camp site for both men and women to use. No thanks.
Besides the aroma of food cooking, the air at the Radical Faerie camp was perfumed with scents of pine, sage, patchouli, and pot. After eating, and introducing ourselves as the Sacred Faeries of Salt Lake, Morningstar and I had a powwow with the other Sacred Faeries about our situation. We realized that we could never bring all our gear up to the Radical Faerie camp and it was getting late in the day. We had to make a decision where to spend the night. I wanted to go back to the truck and set up the tent there, to sleep down in the meadow as did about half of our group. The other half elected to bunk with the Radical Faeries, especially Fuku and Puck.
We who wanted to go back down located Heaven which luckily was leaving to go back down to the parking meadow. We climbed in the less crowded bus but when we got to the parking lot, nothing looked familiar. We, to our great distressed, learned that there had been two designated parking meadows and we were on the wrong side of the mountain.
Although I was with Morningstar, the prospect of being hungry, tired, and lost was not appealing. We found a cute granola guy driving a jeep, who was going back up the mountain over to the other side. He said we could hitch a ride with him. His jeep probably was meant to hold five at the very most but at least ten people were riding in it and hanging onto the side of it.
Of course the guy was loaded and it was dusk out and it was one of the most harrowing rides of my life as he maneuvered around other vehicles coming up as we were going down. Talk about Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride zooming down the dark mountain with a million stars above us. I dared not close my eyes as he zoomed around the edges of the road because I wanted to be a witness to my doom. It was apparent to me that the single land road was too steep and winding to be cruising at the speed he was, but the dude seemed familiar with driving on these types of roads. Only by the grace of the goddess did we make it back to the truck where we pitched out tent by the head lights of the truck.
There were five of us who packed ourselves in the four man tent; Moonfire, Morningstar, Gillian, Popcorn, and myself. The rest were up at the Overlook site.
Additional Material
· EST Erhard Seminars Training was an organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971 that offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training". This seminar aimed "to transform one's ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself".
4 July 1992 Saturday
We roused ourselves from a miserable night. The morning mountain dew was drenching the tent. None of us are feeling restful and we are sort of stiff from sleeping on the ground. We slept in our Faerie garments so we didn’t have to change as we went to find transportation back up the mountain for the circle ceremony.
Climbing out of the tent we found that we were in a sea of every type of vehicle. This one guy in charge said there were over 3,000 cars parked in this meadow alone. We also found that there were already lines of hundreds of folks climbing into several large Ryder packing trucks to head up. They were cramming fifty people probably more into standing room only spaces, that had no ventilation once the doors were shut and latched. I told Gillian I would walk up before I’d climb into one of those moving vans. I am adventurous but not that adventurous as I know I am claustrophobic.
Other shuttle drivers carried folks hanging onto the hood, roof, sides and tailgates of packed pickups. Actually we found the same pothead jeep driver who said we could ride again with him.
In the daylight the trip up to the Overland Mountain top was not as scary for sure. We hiked over to the Faerie camp and kitchen, and joined up with the others of our tribe. We ate a little breakfast of rice, lentils, beans and scrambled eggs.
As much as I would have liked to used the bathroom, I was not about to do my business hanging over a log with ten other guys.
After breakfast I heard that the actual drumming and sacred “om-ing” ceremony was in the Great meadow about another four miles away and about one mile from the Overlook Reservoir. Several trails, leading from the camps and kitchens, surrounded the meadow and converged at the main gathering circle so it was easy to find. I was really exhausted and felt too old for this until I saw several old women hippies probably in their sixties making the trek using their hiking sticks.
It was a continual pilgrimage of thousands of old and young, male and female, straight and gay, long haired and dreadlocks folks, some who were totally sky clad and some fully clothed in an array of tie-dye accoutrements. At the Great Meadow thousands of people formed a huge circle to “om” for peace, love and respect for mother Earth and all her creatures, great and small within her bosom.
I saw this young guy fuck his girlfriend while standing in front of me with cum dripping down her thighs. I bet they hoped to conceive at the peace ceremony.
I must say it was one of the most powerful ritual I have ever attended. Over 20,000 Rainbow Folk were drumming, shaking rattles, dancing, singing, and chanting. It was magical. The circle dispersed after about two hours and we trekked back to the Radical Faerie kitchen to regroup.
Asparagus’ companions chose to stay longer and Moonfire and Red Coyote figured out who was staying and who was leaving. Morningstar and I caught a ride down the mountain to the truck, packed up the tent and gear and decided to head home.
We were exhausted, hadn’t bathed in days, or had a decent meal. I also wanted to find a real toilet. We both also were miserable from the amount of mosquito bites we endured. We had no campfire to cover us with smoke, so we were prime for the blood suckers. I told Morningstar that the Mosquitoes up here will be talking for years about the great blood feast of 1992.
We were quick to get back on the road and out of the Gunnison National Forest into Delta where we stopped to eat a bite, use the restrooms and get back on the road to Grand Junction. We were home by dark. And thus so ended our Grand Adventure with the Rainbow Tribe.
5 July 1992 Sunday
Jeff Workman and I spent almost the entire day sleeping in. We were too tired to even cook besides there wasn’t much in the house. Even Billy Cat is running out of food.
6 July 1992 Monday
Marlin Criddle called today to see why no one was at Community Council from Unconditional Support. I told him that we had a group excursion to Colorado for the Rainbow Gathering. He was rather impressed. He said nothing went on much at Council except wrapping up the results of Pride Day. I guess it went off without a hitch this year without any disruptions by Nazi. I was disappointed to hear that Craig Miller received the Kristin Ries Award. Actually it pissed me off but I didn’t tell Marlin that.
Jeff Workman and I finally went grocery shopping as there was nothing in the house, no milk, eggs, cheese, bread or vegetables. Billy Cat was wanting his can food too. He is tired of dry.
7 July 1992 Tuesday
Chuck Whyte called and said that this character who was always at the In-Between bar as kind of a fixture died of AIDS. I guess he was even employed by Bobbie Dupray behind the bar. He was skinny and usual shirtless and seemed to always be dancing and twirling about. I only knew him as Weeze and that is all Chuck new him as too. Chuck said he did a lot of drugs so I am kind of surprised he lasted this long to be honest.
In the late afternoon Dave Ball, Jeff Workman and I went to the movies and to Sister Act with Whoopie Goldberg in it. It was pretty funny and had it’s moments.
Additional Material
- Ralph Leroy Stoddart (Weeze) SLC 29 May 1954 Idaho Falls, Perfoming Artist InBetween OutBack “I’m Over It”
8 July 1992 Wednesday
Jeff Workman left for Idaho to see his folks and for a Peace Corp reunion this weekend so I am on my own for the next few days. It’s getting hot up in the apartment because we are on the second floor without any cross breeze.
9 July 1992 Thursday
Mom called at 10 tonight to say Grandma Johnson had another stroke with blood in her urine and she is not expected to make it through the night.
10 July 1992 Friday
I received a call about 1 in the morning from Mom saying Grandma Johnson died about midnight Texas time. She was pretty shook up but I am not sure of my feelings. After the phone call I just went back to bed. What else could I do? When I got the news that Grandma died I didn’t cry either. I think I felt relief for myself and the family more than anything else. I had not seen Grandma since March 1982 and when they put her in the rest home in Littlefield in 1987 it was almost like she died then.
At 7 this morning, Aunt Marie called me and said if I could get down to Flagstaff I could ride with Milton and her back to Texas for the funeral. I started calling around and the cheapest flight into Phoenix on such short notice was $425. It was only $120 by bus to Flagstaff but with 10 hours of lay overs in Las Vegas and Needles, California.
As I was talking to my brother in law Dennis Wachs on the phone, Marie had the operator cut n and I called her back. She said that Aunt Pauline said the funeral was tomorrow at 10 in the morning. I had planned on taking a bus to Texas but I wouldn’t have gotten there until 10 tomorrow night so that canceled that. Hate to admit it but I was rather relieved. I think going back would have been very physically hard on me and very emotionally draining.
I called Dennis Wachs and told him to let my sisters Charline and Donna know that I’d get the flowers from the three of us. So I withdrew $100 out of the bank and walked down to the Flower Exchange in Trolley Square. I had them wire flowers to the funeral home in Littlefield.
I called Grandpa Johnson. He sounded weak and fragile. He said he was doing fine and that Grandma had been suffering s it’s a blessing she is gone and in no more pain. My dear sweet cantankerous Grandma Johnson, she knew that I loved her.
With Jeff Workman gone for his Peace Corp reunion in Idaho, I was on foot most of the day. The house is a disaster but I have absolutely no energy to clean with Jeff being gone and me batcheloring it.
11 July 1992 Saturday
Today was Carla Gourdin Dancer and Debbie Rosenberg’s Holy Union and it was really a wonderful occasion. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go with Grandma Johnson’s being buried at 10 this morning in Littlefield, Texas. I called back there at noon which would have been 1 in the afternonn Texas time. Mom said lots of people showed up for the funeral and that my flowers arrived in time. There was a big batch of them I guess. Dad said they made grandma look real pretty. I’’m glad for that.
Anyway, David Ball picked Jimmy Hamamoto, Bobbie Smith, and I up for the ceremony that was held at the South Valley Unitarian Church. Both Carla and Debbie were in white wedding dresses. Becky Moss and Luci Malin invoked the directions as it was a beautiful pagan ceremony with both Spirit Dancer and Applestar’s sisters standing in as bride maids.
Lots of community people attended the wedding including Curtis Jensen, Garth Chamberlain, Ben Barr, Robert Austin, almost all of the womyn community as well as other straight friends of Carla and Debbie.
After the union we toasted the newlyweds with Champagne and then we went home to rest a little before going to the reception this evening which held at the Northwest Community Center’s Multipurpose Room. The reception was catered by Rude Café. Debbie and Carla had gone all out. Debbie’s parents, sisters, and grandmother came out from New York. Carla’s Mormon family with all their kids were dancing at the reception along with us Gays. It was really great to see. In fact it was the best Gay event I attended all year. It was super.
Willy Marshall sat at our table and we danced a slow dance together. I guess he’s getting ready to go off to Europe for six weeks to bum around. He also said that John Butler is back in Utah living in Centerville. Willy said John has a cute boyfriend too. Willy’s television station is looking for a home in the central city area as the broadcast signal is way to weak from West Valley.
Becky Moorman came to the reception with Sonia with whom she is staying. She is looking better, less stressed out. I guess the Bridge Magazine is truly history now. Bobbie spoke with both Sonia and Becky and they settled some issues between them. I made up with Becky Moss over perceived slights about my involvement with Concerning Gays and Lesbians also. It was time. We are family.
12 July 1992 Sunday
I don’t even want to look at my apartment. It’s the pits. I did straighten up a bit thinking Jeff workman might come in tonight with his friend Beth. I mostly spent the day typing up my Williams’ genealogy on my Revolutionary War grandfather Britton Williams. Who the hell is your parents?
In the afternoon, Dave Ball, Bobbie Smith, and I went to the Utah AIDS Foundation’s new home on 11th east to help Melissa Sillitoe and Marlin Criddle with a fundraiser for the Utah Stonewall Center. I pledged $20 a month to help keep the center up and running. We were there for a couple of hours but I had to be home by 6 this evening to get ready to do a program at KRCL.
I walked down to the station and Becky Moss and I taped three shows for Concerning gays and Lesbians. One was with Greg Garcia who promoted the Leather Men’s Falcon Flight Weekend and we discussed that the film Edward II was being shown at the Broadway Theater. The second show I interviewed Donald Steward about the Horizon House and the programs they offer to people with AIDS. The third program was on upcoming Community Events and the Randy Richardson’s Outfront Magazine. It felt good to be back in front of the microphone.
I left the station at 9 at night and walked back home. There I finished straightening up and went to bed at midnight after typing up more genealogy.
13 July 1992 Monday
Jeff Workman and his friend Beth came in at 3 this morning and Jeff had to be up at 6:30 to take her to the airport. I really never had a chance to really meet and visit with her before she was gone. Jeff slept for most of the rest of the day while I went grocery shopping.
In the evening I went to Bobbie Smith’s Utah Stonewall Center’s Library Committee meeting with Jeff who was finally awake. Others there were Marlin Criddle, Melissa Sillitoe, Scott Carpenter, and David Ball. I said I’d agree to be an editor for a quarterly Stonewall Center newsletter as well as begin a historical society connected with the library. With Rocky O’Donovan down in Moab now, there’s no direction for the old Gay and Lesbian Historical Society and there needs to be one.
14 July 1992 Tuesday
I spent all day at the LDS genealogy library after going to the Broadway Center Theater with Jeff Workman to see Edward II, the Gay love story of the tragic Plantagenet king from the Middle Ages. It was an excellent movie. Jeff Workman and I went to see it because the Odeon Cineplex pulled a fast one! They brought the movie into town a week before it was scheduled, then changed theaters, and gave it no advertisement. Cheap shot.
Anyway as we walked into the theater, I said to Jeff, “Isn’t that Alice?” And he peers at her and she turned around and saw him. It sure was Alice Hart. And sitting a couple of rows in front of her was Jimmy Hamamoto and Troy Lunt. We were about the only ones in the entire theater.
In the evening Jimmy came over to my place with some Salt and Sage content. He wants me this time to mail them out after we get it together as he’s leaving tomorrow for California for about three weeks.
15 July 1992 Wednesday
I took Jimmy Hamamoto out to the airport at 9:30 this morning for his flight to California. He won’t be back until after the first of August. After dropping him off, I brought Jeff Workman’s truck back home and then walked up the genealogy library after listening to our Concerning Gays and Lesbian program on Falcon Flight.
It’s so frustrating at the library to find almost everyone else’s roots that lived in Barnwell County, South Carolina but my own. I can’t find anything on Britton Williams except he was a Colonial Assembyman and was killed by the British in 1781 but as to who his people were zilch. I stayed at the library doing research until they closed at 9 at night. Back at the apartment I stayed up until three in the morning typing up my notes. Jeff Workman has truly become a genealogy widow.
Bill Clinton of Arkansas was elected by the Democrats at their convention in New York City to be our nominee for the Presidency. Dale Sorenson is back there as an alternate delegate and he’s been on TV a couple of times and even mentioned in the Tribune.
16 July 1992 Friday
Bill Clinton gave his acceptance speech tonight and I was truly moved by it. Before his speech I was simply going to vote for him out of opposition to the Republican bastards but after hearing him, I am now voting for him because of his “New Covenant” speech. It;’s time to be inclusive again and be socially responsible to one another.
I was moved when Clinton spoke of those not allowed to be a part of the other party’s family, to come join “our family.” He said he was pro-choice, anti-abortion, wanted to build new jobs and believed in the rights of working people. He even mentioned Gays as being part of “us” and not one of “them”.
It was a warm summer day but I didn’t leave the house any. I moved the bookcase from front room to our spare room. We have a lot of books. Jeff Workman went off to check wjat it would take to get a Special Education degree at the University of Utah because I think he doesn’t want to be a classroom teacher.
In the evening as usual I was typing up genealogy while Jeff went off to Unconditional Support. I wanted to stay home and watch the last day of the Democrat Political Convention. Ross Perot bowed out of the Presidential Race leaving it to just George Bush and Bill Clinton.
Bobbie Smith dropped by and said David Ball was acting weird at Unconditional Support. It’s about 12:30 in the morning and Jeff still didn’t home. He must be out with Dave.
Additional Material
- The Intermountain Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), refurnished and redesigned the new offices of the Utah AIDS Foundation at 1408 S. 1100 East, Salt Lake City,. The efforts coordinated by Deanne Uriona and Brent Forsyth, and required two months and hundreds of volunteer hours to complete. Designers estimate the community contributed more than $50,000 in paintings, furniture and wall coverings. Ben Barr, outgoing foundation executive director, calls the result ``a much needed facelift and efficient and beautiful beyond our wildest dreams.'' Contributing interior designers were Sharon Kindred, Julie Dodworth, Joan Ceccarelli, Matthes Design Group, Kurt McGrew, Barbara Matthes and Pat Brown; Life Designs, Michael Draper, Sharon Olpin, Karen DeSmet, Kathy L. Holt, Barbara Cowley, Jeff Landry, Robert Brain, Patty Miller, Commercial Contract Group, Miles Hunsaker; and BYU student Paul Tew. (07/16/92 Page: A6 UTAH DESIGNERS SHARE TALENTS, TURNING AIDS FOUNDATION OFFICES INTO SPACE THAT SOOTHES: By Carolyn Monson THE SALTLAKE Trbune)
17 July 1992 Friday
It was a warm day around 95 degrees. This morning, while I was straightening up the place, Kay Wiker dropped by. He was back in the state because his mother died yesterday. Her funeral is Sunday. She was around 70. I’ve know Kay since he was a teenager back in 1977. Poor Kay, he’s such an alcoholic. I suppose it’s the only way he can deal with his pain caused by being raised Mormon and being Gay.
Jeff Workman and I went shopping today for little things we needed for the apartment. It was kind of a lazy day. Bobbie Smith popped by in the afternoon to drop some Salt and Sage content off. We need to get it out this weekend. Gillian leaves tomorrow for a family reunion in Spokane for a week.
In the evening Jeff went off to aerobics and when he came home we stayed in and watched Birdy with Matthew Modine and Nicholas Cage. Jeff had not seen it before.
Additional Material
- Elaine Emelia Larson Wiker died 14 Jul 1992 (aged 70) divorced George E. Wiker She is survived by Verlin Kay Wiker bor 4 March 1960 SLC. UT
18 July 1992 Saturday
I moved the bed from the back porch back to the front bedroom today and scrubbed some of the widows. I’m in the mood to clean. Jeff Workman’s friend Leanne Spetta is in town today and Jeff spent most of his day between helping his friend Todd get to the airport and with Leanne Spetta.
Old George Bush is in Salt Lake today to make a speech at BYU. Hypocrites said it was to be non partisan and only Republicans were invited to be on the stand with him. Congressman Orton, a conservative Democrat from Utah County was snubbed. Jake Garn called Bill Clinton and Al Gore “pretty boys” like that was an insult to their manliness. This is from the same people who brought us Dan Quayle because his looks would appeal to woman according to Bush. Gawd, how I loathe Republicans and all their mealy mouth bigoted hypocrisy.
In the evening Jeff took me out to dinner to the PIE at the University of Utah. It really wasn’t as good as the last time we ate Pizza there.
I called mom and we talked for about one and half hours. She’s handling Grandma’s death pretty well, however I think she is hurt and upset that Grandma was buried so soon which didn’t give the California people enough time to go back to Texas. Mom said Betty and Norman Danforth and Milton and Marie wanted to be there to show their respect. Mom said that Grandpa was mistaken about Grandma suffering because she didn’t. She took one deep breath and then she was gone.
19 July 1992 Sunday
This afternoon Jeff Workman and I went to the Stonewall Center’s picnic at Sugar House Park. It was a lot of fun. I played volleyball for the first time in years. It was good to see John Bennett and so many of the old crowd. It felt like a family reunion. We stayed for a couple of hours, and then Dave Ball came home with us to work on the Lammas issue of the Salt and Sage. I wasn’t much help, as I was frazzled from being out in the sun without a hat on for so long without realizing it.
I talked to mom again today. She said they got back to Arizona I guess Friday night. I think Mom is doing okay. She really wants me to come down for a visit and I will.
Additional Material
- I was born David Decker Freezy Frost on June 15, 1958 to Sandra Decker Frost and Michael Freezy Frost in Corpus Christi, Texas. I left this life for a better place on July 19, 1992 after a lengthy battle with HIV diseases including Lymphoma cancer and MAI. I was raised in McAllen in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. I spent a year at the Marine Military Academy and graduated from McAllen High School in 1976. From there I went to Texas A & M University and studied agriculture economics. My most rewarding experience growing up was being able to attend Outward Bound at Hurricane Island off of the coast of Maine. I lived a full and wonderful life with my life mate, Michael Ray Bohney and was preceded in death by Roger in 1989. I loved to cook and spend time with my many friends. The greatest excitement in life were my five dogs, Chi, Austin, Sable, Molly Sue and Prancer as well as Max my cat. Those that survived me are my lover, Michael; my parents, Michael and Sandra Frost; my grandparents, Harold and Jessica Decker; my loving and generous sister, Cynthia Elaine Frost; my brother, James Edward Frost and his wife, Carrie Jan; and their children, Benjamin Freezy, Nathanael and Jessica. How could I ever leave this life without thanking Dr. Kristen Ries, for not only becoming one of my best friends as well as for the care she has given Roger and me. She is truly one of God's great gifts to this world as she has given her life to caring for HIV patients when many doctors still won't deal with the matter. A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the Wasatch Lawn Mortuary Chapel, 3401 South Highland Drive, where friends may call one hour prior to services. Interment, Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. T 7/21 N 7/21
20 July 1992 Monday
Three years ago I started the Sacred Faeries in my brand new apartment at the Buckingham on A Street. Sometime after that we did a butterfly spread for a four year plan to see what direction we were to go. Our first year was the Porcupine which said it was okay for us just to be playful. Our second year’s totem was the Squirrel when we were to start gathering faeries into a tribe. Our Ant stage was our third year and was to be our most important process as we were to be community minded folks. Now it’s the year of the Deer in which the faeries will heal with unconditional love. I can only hope, because I think I am changing.
Where am I at with the Sacred Faeries? In the past three years we have adopted a few tenants or ideas in common with Wicca primarily due to Bobbie Smith aka Gillian and David Ball aka Moonfire’s desires. I have resisted becoming a coven and want to remain a Circle but feel like we are drifting. But we do believe in Do as Ye Wilt and Harm None. Other of our beliefs are that we respect all living creatures; we respect Mother Earth, walking lightly upon her, doing little to upset her intricate circle of life; we respect the Power [Great Spirit] which creates the galaxies, DNA, and Billions of terrestrial life forms; we respect the law of Karma and we know that true Magick is Love. The Five Tenants of the Sacred Faeries we adopted over time are:
1. The equality of the sexes is acknowledged through timely rituals linked to the Sun and the Moon
2. The Earth is our mother and we must take care of her
3. We are incarnating essences in an endless cycle of birth death and rebirth
4. Magick is used for life affirming purposes only and must be in harmony with the laws of nature and the psyche.
5. Missionary tactics are taboo. Faeries are attracted to the call of the Sufi [and the rustling of taffeta] by Gay Spirit speaking to Gay Spirit
We have accepted some Faerie Lore from other radical faeries such as Faeries hiss when we are happy, we are blue when we are very good; we are mostly vegetarians, and love to make love in our their gardens, and we commune regularly with the Delvic World and with all plants and animals.
In the evening Dave Ball came over to work some more on the Lammas Salt and Sage ‘Zine. I had to leave to walk down to KRCL for a meeting but as it turned out it was canceled without telling me. I talked to Ken about attending the Rainbow Gathering although. He was rather impressed. Jeff Workman and David Ball went out tonight to the Trapp.
21 July 1992 Tuesday
Jeff Workman is really upset. It’s going to cost him $400 to fix his Toyota Pick Up. The radiator has a crack in it and has to be replaced. It’s always something isn’t it.
I went to the genealogy library for most of the day still hunting Britton Williams’ roots.
22 July 1992 Wednesday
There was some awful and depressing news today. When I came home thois evening rom the genealogy library. Jeff Workman said that Gary Boren had called to say that David Sharpton had died. I was stunned and then burst into tears. I cried and cried. David Ball was here when I heard the terrible news and the dear fellow was so sympathetic and tried to comfort me although he never knew him. Dave Sharpton gone! I almost have to pinch myself to really believe how many people are gone. Dave seemed invincible. He died in Texas. I tried calling people to share the news but it seemed that no one was home but I left a message for Gary Boren to call me. He finally did after midnight and we talked for about an hour. He only heard about it because Michael Angotti, David’s lover, made an announcement about him at the Youth Group. Gary just happened to be at the Stonewall Center when he heard the news.
Davis really represented the old days for me. Gawd, so many changes in the last fiveyears and so many deaths. Nothing changes and then everything changes. I am so upset and heartsick. I’m not able to even write what I feel. David Sharpe-tongue gone. Darrell Webber gone! Dave Reed gone! It’s hard for Jeff to understand my loss. I said try to imagine that in five years many of your friends, now so alive and fun, are gone.
Additional Material
- AIDS DEATHS-David Sharpton co-founder of the People With AIDS Coalition died at the age of 32 in Dallas, Texas. Sharpton founded the coalition with Tom Lindsey in 1988. Born 8 Feb 1960 in Kimball, Nebraska. Governor Bangeter of Utah had sent a letter of support to Sharpton shortly before he died. (SLTribune 7/23/92 pg. B3)
- DAVID SHARPTON, WHO HELPED FOUND UTAH AIDSCOALITION, DIES IN DALLAS Associated Press David Sharpton, co-founder of the People With AIDS Coalition of Utah, has died of complications related to the disease. Mr. Sharpton died early Wednesday at a Dallas hospital. He was 32. "He was in terrible pain," said his mother, Doreen Sharpton, "but was brave and courageous to the very end." Mr. Sharpton had returned to Lancaster, Texas, in February as the disease progressed and had been hospitalized for two weeks. His mother and other family members were at his bedside. As death approached, among those sending letters of support was Gov. Norm Bangerter. He cited Mr. Sharpton's "valiant effort to continue life to its fullest. "He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1985. Along with Tom Lindsey, he founded the Utah coalition and conducted a high-profile, public-information campaign. "David felt people in the Salt Lake City area hadn't fully come to grips with the AIDS crisis," said Ken Verdoia, senior producer at KUED and producer of an upcoming documentary on Sharpton. Some 3 1/2 years in the making, "Remembering David" will be aired nationally in September by PBS. The documentary "graphically shows how the disease claimed every aspect of this man, who once stood so tall," said Verdoia, who last visited Mr. Sharpton in Texas three weeks ago. In 1988, Mr. Sharpton addressed the 7,000-member U.S. Conference of Mayors on behalf of the National Association of People With AIDS, with which the local coalition is affiliated. "I have as much right as anyone to live and die with dignity," he said shortly after moving to Utah. "I will probably die of AIDS. . . but death is no longer my enemy."
23 July 1992 Thursday
I called a lot of people today to inform them about David Sharpton’s death. There was an excellent article on David in the Tribune about him forming the People With AIDS Coalition here in Utah and all his other activist endeavors.
Bruce Barton said that David died at home in Texas and that he had had a series of strokes towards the end that incapacitated him. He died with his mother being with him. I guess he went back to Texas shortly after leaving for California because he couldn’t get the assistance he needed there. I spoke with Jim Hunsaker and just so many other people who knew David.
Jeff Workman went to Unconditional Support and when it was over Dave Ball and Bobbie Smith popped over and dragged me out to the Trapp which was having a Grand Opening of their patio. I went reluctantly but since the Saliva Sisters were performing, it was a lot of fun. Jeff brought with him some guy named David to the Trapp as he had never been to a Gay Bar before. It was good to see Jeff making new friends.
I was tired of the bar scene by 11 tonight however and persuaded Dave Ball to take me home.
24 July 1992 Friday
Today was Pioneer Day and for me it was just another day mostly. I didn’t go out to watch the commotion on Main Street last night either. This has been probably the most low key I’ve ever been in years. I must still be grieving for David Sharpton and my grandma.
Jeff Workman went to see his grandma this afternoon so Dave Ball and I went to Liberty Park for the Neighborhood Fair. I told Bob Waldrop and his friend Fred that I would help out at the Mood for a Day Booth which I did. I perhaps registered 25 people to vote. Maury Modine gave me a great big hug when I left about 5:30 in the afternoon. He’s looking great.
I needed to ask Bob Waldrop a question about whether there had been a Gay Pride Event in Salt Lake City as early as 1876 as Randy Holladay claims. Bob did say je knew of one in 1977 when he was pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church. He said it had been written up in the Tribune.
In the evening Robert Olson aka Popcorn and Dave Ball aka Moonfire came over the La France and watched the Ritz with Jeff and me. We also watched from our balcony the fireworks that were set off over at Liberty Park.
Can it really be six years since I left Fran and moved into my new apartment at the Juel to start a new life and begin a futile love affair with Billy Bikowski?
25 July 1992 Saturday
I spend my summer days in the genealogy library’s microfilm files. Will I ever find the missing piece of the puzzle? I feel pretty comfortable now that Ezekiel Williams of 18th Century Colonial South Carolina and North Carolina is close kin to Britton Williams, maybe even cousins. There seems to be a link now at least from close proximity in time and location to Joshua Williams either a cousin or even brother. It’s been a fun diversion this summer I must say taking a sabbatical from being at the center of Gay activism.
I went grocery shopping this afternoon and then watched with Jeff Workman the opening ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics which were impressive.
26 July 1992 Sunday
It was a do nothing summer day, I called a few more people to let them know of David Sharpton’s death, It’s affected me more than I thought it would.
In the news William Andrews will be executed this Thursday unless Governor Bangerter uses his powers to commute his sentence to life. People are upset because while he was involved in the horrible “Ogden Hi Fi” murders, he was not the trigger man. Some feel that it’s only because he’s black that he has to die.
27 July 1992 Monday
I took a bus down to the Stonewall Center for a Historical Society meeting since Jeff Workman was at aerobics. While at the center, I met with Melissa Sillitoe, Mike Angotti and two other friends of David Sharpton to plan a memorial Service for him. We decided to hold it this coming Sunday at six in the evening. I had to tell them up front that I wouldn’t be able to attend what with the Lammas Gathering and going to Arizona. However I said I would help as much as I could and I gave $10 to Melissa to help defray some of the cost of the wake on Monday.
Anyway Jeff showed up in time for the Historical Society Meeting where we voted to call ourselves The Utah Stonewall Historical Society and Archives. He also voted to have the historical society be a subcommittee pf the Stonewall Library. We will meet the last Mondays of each month to plan workshops and a yearly symposium. We also want to publish a monthly newsletter so there are lots to do. Those who attended the planning meeting were Melissa Sillitoe, Dave Ball, Bobbie Smith, Jeff and I.
28 July 1992 Tuesday
Jeff Workman said this morning that he was going to take his sister to Denver tomorrow because she’s moving there after all. He let her have the pick up for the rest of the day so she could get all her shit together.
It was so fucking hot today! We walked to Golden Braid Bookstore on 3rd South so he could buy his sister a self healing book. I went with him because I’ve been in the house all day typing genealogy and need to get out. I bought some sweet patchouli oil.
The plan is for Jeff to go directly to Moab on the way back from Denver and meet the faeries there for Lammas. I decided not to go down but stay for David Sharpton’s memorial service.
29 July 1992 Wednesday
Jeff Workman left this morning to take his sister to Denver and I went to the Genealogy library for a little bit. I had a meeting tonight at the Utah Stonewall Center to discuss the Quarterly Newsletter. Dale Sorenson, Melissa Sillitoe, Marlin Criddle, Bobbie Smith, Dave Ball, and myself attended. Lynn Gillman wasn’t able to attend but wants to be part of the committee. Dale was being his old annoying self. It’s a good thing he’s bright and talented.
At the Youth Group which was also meeting tonight I was asked to speak to the group on August 27th. Bruce Barton agreed to speak at the Historical Society in September.
It’s depressing about William Andrews pending execution.
30 July 1992 Thursday
William Andrews who was convicted of his participation in the Hi-Fi killings in Ogden back in 1972 was killed by lethal injection very early this morning. He was serving the longest time of a person on death row. He had not actually murdered anyone himself. There’s been a great outcry to spare his live and commute his sentence to life in prison but the vengeful people of Utah wanted their pound of flesh.
I’ve been dragging my ass all day. It’s not been as hot as yesterday but having stayed up to see the final outcome about whether Andrews would be spared kept me from going to bed until 2 in the morning.
This morning, after breakfast and reading the paper about Andrews’ execution, I went to the genealogy library from 11 this morning until 5 in the afternoon looking at plat land deeds for Barnwell County, South Carolina. I still haven’t found anything definite on Britton Williams, my fifth great grandfather who was killed during the Revolutionary War. However I am getting a feel for the people of Barnwell.
Anyway Dave Ball came over about 6:30 this evening and he took me to Unconditional Support. It was a nice turn out and we talked a whole range of issues. There were at least three new people, a guy named Ross, and Carl, and someone else.
After the meeting, Dave took me to the grocery store before taking me home to an empty house. I then typed for the rest of the night and also taped the movie Cocoon
Additional Material
- ANDREWS EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION By Marianne Funk, staff writer His last, blinding grin startled reporters. Strapped to a gurney, IV tubes running into both arms and moments from death, William Andrews lifted his head and flashed his toothy grin. But when he saw his sister, niece and friends watching him through a window from a nearby room, his face broke into a radiant smile. He blew them a kiss and mouthed the words, "I love you." Family, reporters and government witnesses were ushered into three separate witness rooms shortly after 1:30 a.m. Thursday to watch the final minutes and the execution of Andrews, sentenced to die for the deaths of three people 18 years ago in the Ogden Hi Fi Shop. At 1:46 a.m., Andrews, 37, was pronounced dead, ending the country's longest stay on death row and a string of appeals to save him. Curtains on the windows of all three rooms swept open at 1:33 a.m., revealing the barefoot Andrews clad in a white prison jumpsuit, his arms spread out. After his first smile, Andrews laid his head back on the gurney for a moment. Then he lifted his head again and mouthed the words, "Hi, Mom," to his sister Audrey Minter Boson. Minter is 14 years older than Andrews and was a mother to him, she told the Deseret News in an earlier interview. Andrews was alone in a whitewashed room with two prison officials. The IV tubes in his arms ran through a small opening in a wall less than a foot away from the gurney. On the other side of the wall, two executioners and Lane McCotter, director of the Utah Department of Corrections, waited for word from the Utah attorney general's office that the execution could proceed. The two officials in the room with Andrews gathered at the gurney and asked him for his final words. "Thank those who tried so hard to keep me alive," Andrews said. "I hope they continue to fight for equal justice after I'm gone. Tell my family goodbye and I love them." While strapped to the gurney and waiting for witnesses to arrive, Andrews had chatted with Kim Thompson, director of the state Division of Institutional Operations. "This has been a long haul for you, hasn't it?" Thompson asked. "Yes," Andrews replied. "I'm actually very tired." Thompson later told reporters, "He was calm. There was no struggle. No anxiety. Just before we gave the signal (for the execution to begin), he took a deep breath. That was, in effect, the close of his life." But first Andrews blew another kiss at his family and once again mouthed the words, "I love you." Thompson and a colleague signaled the unseen executioners to begin the execution at 1:35 a.m. Less than minute later, Andrews' eyes closed and his fists - which had been partially closed - relaxed. A moment later, his chest stopped rising. Family, reporters and government witnesses watched as he lay motionless on the gurney for nearly 10 minutes. Thompson and Bruce Egan, deputy director of the Corrections Department, stood nearby. At 1:46 a.m., prison physician Robert Jones entered the room, examined Andrews and pronounced him dead. Nearly two hours earlier, six prison guards were in the process of strapping Andrews to the gurney when the prison received word that the U.S. Supreme Court had requested a delay in the execution. Guards had strapped Andrews' legs down and had started to strap his arms when McCotter came into the room and told Andrews there would be a delay. McCotter asked the convicted killer if he understood. Andrews said, "Yes." "He didn't express any relief or anything visible," McCotter said. Guards released Andrews from the gurney, and he was led back to the death watch cell some 50 feet away. Andrews' family, reporters and government witnesses were en route to the execution chamber from a training facility across the freeway when the prison learned of the delay. Vans containing the three groups of witnesses were halted at a security checkpoint under the freeway and turned back. When Andrews was led into the execution chamber again nearly 11/2 hours later, after the high court denied his latest request for a stay, he seemed more relaxed than he had the first time, Thompson said. Thompson and Andrews visited for several minutes as he lay on the gurney the second time. Andrews talked with Thompson about the next life. "He told us he thought he had it pretty well figured out and he was ready," Thompson said. Andrews described the next life as "getting on with something better than (life) was now." Andrews did not discuss the three April 1974 murders he was dying for, Thompson said. Andrews did not mention the crime at all. Prison officials watching Andrews during a daylong death watch said his mood swung from cheerful to meditative. At about 8 p.m., alone in his cell, Andrews broke down and wept, Thompson said. But in the moments before he died, Andrews suggested several ways prison officials could make a prisoner's last moments more pleasant. He criticized the ceiling of exposed girders and heating ducts, coated with grimy insulation. The ceiling was a repulsive last view, Andrews said. He talked with Thompson about the movie, "Soy-lent Green," where those who died were surrounded with music and the sounds and sights of nature. Andrews suggested the prison paint a mural on the ceiling and pipe music into the silent death chamber, Thompson recounted. After the execution, Andrews body was turned over to the state medical examiner's office. Andrews has requested that his body be cremated and his ashes given to his sister. Last day in the life of William Andrews 11:20 p.m. Tuesday. Andrews was moved to the death watch cell and given a change of clothing. He slept from midnight to 2:30 a.m., paced his cell until 4:45 a.m. and slept again from 4:45 to 7:56 a.m. 7:56 a.m. Wednesday. He received his mail one piece at a time. He refused breakfast and asked only for some juice to drink. He read his mail and a newspaper. 11:48 a.m. Wednesday. Andrews received information from the Board of Pardons, which he read. He visited with his sister and niece at noon. 12:21 p.m. Wednesday. He was given his last meal, which was a banana split. He shared it with his niece and sister. 1:32 p.m. Wednesday. He continued to visit with his family and was joined by attorneys Steve Hawkins and Ashanti Chimurenga. 4:05 p.m. Wednesday. His attorneys left, but they were expected back later in the evening. He continued to visit with his family and seemed in a jovial, positive mood. 6:17 p.m. Wednesday. His family left to go to a rally at the Governor's Mansion. He visited with Bishop Heber Guertz. He then made his first phone call. 7:01 to 7:46 p.m. Wednesday. Andrews spoke on the phone. At 8:00 p.m. he seemed to be getting depressed and asked to see Bishop Guertz again. Guertz arrived at 8:15 p.m. 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. He spoke with attorneys, and his spirits seemed to be rising. 9:52 p.m. Wednesday. Andrews continued to talk with attorneys about black history and racism. 10:17 p.m. Wednesday. Andrews' attorneys notified him they were waiting for a response from 10th Circuit Court. Andrews responded with a smile, "Win, lose or draw, we did all that we could. We can't win every battle. We haven't lost yet." 11:13 p.m. Wednesday. Andrews' attorneys left. He talked to the warden and then visited with Bishop Guertz again. 11:41 p.m. Wednesday. Andrews and the corrections staff left for the execution chamber. 11:52 p.m. Wednesday. The information center received a call asking for a delay in the execution until faxed information could be received by the U.S. Supreme Court. Moments later, Andrews was escorted back to the death watch cell. 12:20 a.m. Thursday. Andrews waited on his bunk with his eyes closed and breathing deeply. 12:30 a.m. He spoke briefly with Bishop Guertz and then a prison social worker. 12:50 a.m. Bishop Guertz told Andrews the courts had turned him down. Andrews spoke to Guertz until 1 a.m. 1:14 a.m. Andrews was escorted to the execution chamber. He was declared dead at 1:46 a.m. Thursday, July 30, 1992.
31 July 1992 Friday
Since Jeff Workman is gone to Denver I went to see A League of Their Own with Tom Hanks and Madonna in it about a girl’s baseball team during World War II. I really enjoyed it. I think I am taking Jeff for granted as I am not spending enough time with him. I do love him but sometimes the age difference gets between us as he is experiences things that are new to him but old hat for me. We don’t have sex nearly as frequent as we used to. I don’t mind but I think he has needs that I am not fulfilling. Also since my trial last February I have noticed that I don’t have the libido I used to have about sex that its not as magical as it once was.
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