APRIL
1 April 1971 Thursday
I made $85 on my paycheck. April Fools, Lt.
Calley was convicted for life in Prison at Hard Labor, but President Nixon has
released him pending an investigation by the presidency. This is such a farce.
100 to 1 telegrams sent in favor of Calley. If Calley goes unpunished, the
country is morally corrupt. Even though he wasn’t the main person responsible,
he did indeed shoot 22 persons with his own free will, orders or not. Did not
Susan Atkins get the death penalty although it was Manson that ordered it?
Today was a bright sunny day. In fact, it got quite warm. 85 degrees. I went to
Speech and gave my presentation, but I
didn’t g o to Creative Writing because I
messed around with Debbie and Kent Larsen at the Bernstein House most of the time. I also helped put up the
tent for the Bernstein House’s Mardi Gras exhibit . I did go to P.E., but it
was really hot by then. I saw Gary Manshardt
for a while. Sometimes he seems friendly towards me then sometimes he
seems indifferent. I went into work at 4:30 and worked until 10:30 with my
cousin Larry Fagen. It was a fairly busy night. My back still aches from
working last Tuesday . My sister Charline and Dennis moved into their new trailer home today off of Beach Boulevard.
2 April 1971 Friday
I got up early and went to Cypress today. I
went to both of my classes even though nothing much happened in them. I didn’t
see Kent Larsen all day. Later I found out he went to Utah for his uncle’s
funeral after all. I saw Gary Manshardt after his class, and we exchanged telephone
numbers so we could keep in touch over Spring vacation. I have a million thigs
to do in the coming week. After school I went shopping but couldn’t a cassette
tape recorder that I wanted and could
afford. I bought two albums and a record though. I bought one of the most
beautiful albums ever, a rock opera called Jesus Christ Superstar. At night I
went to the show and saw Julius Cesar at the La Habra Fashion Center, I went to
bed t 1 in the morning. It was quite warm today. 85 degrees. Today is Arnold
“Buddy” Huskey’s 22nd birthday. He almost became my brother-in-law.
3 April 1971 Saturday
I got up at 8 and went to work at Taco Bell at
9. I worked with Jim Gramsted until 4:30. It was pretty busy today but nothing
to get excited about. After work I went home and listened to my Jesus Christ
Superstar album over and over. Charline then called and wanted me to come over
to their new trailer home which they are installing on blocks. It cost Dennis
$6000 for it and it’s very nice and roomy. Over there working helping Dennis
were my uncle and aunt Milton, Marie and their kids Stephanie and Gregory,
Dennis’ mother and step father Janet Peavy and Walt Peavy and their two sons,
plus Mom and Dad. I took all the kids up to Taco Bell to get something to eat
and after everyone went home, Tom Peavy and I stayed and helped lay down the
carpet. The trailer was not furnished yet, so Charline and Dennis came back to Mom’s
and slept in my bed, so I went and spent the night with the Peavy’s in Huntington Beach. I shared Tom
Peavy’s room, and we watched TV some before going to bed about 2:30 in the
morning. It was very warm today. 89 degrees. Dennis sure was frustrated about
the whole affair of setting up the trailer coach.
4 April 1971 Sunday
I got up at 8:30 at the Peavy’s house and went
home before going into work at Taco Bell. I worked for 10 to 4:30 today with
Jim Gramsted. It wasn’t especially a
busy day, but it was a hot one at 95 degrees. At work Steve Gonzales an ex-employee
came up again to visit. I used to work with him a lot and he was a good guy.
Even taught me how to fold a burrito when I was so inept at it. After work I
went over to Charline and Dennis new trailer and then went home. There Jerry
Smith called and wanted to do something tomorrow,
so we made plans to go to San Diego. I watched a W.C. Field’s movie called “The
old Fashion Way” before going to bed. In the news, President Nixon said he will
decide Lt. Calley’s punishment. I called Gary Manshardt today, but he wasn’t home.
I sure am tired . I hope I sleep well tonight.
5 April 1971 Monday
I got up at 7 and cleaned up the house some
before Jerry Smith came over at 8. We took Jerry’s Volkswagen Bug and drove
down the Pacific Coast Highway to San Clemente then got on the freeway until
San Onofre where the nuclear power plant is. The we got back on the freeway
until we stopped in Oceanside to visit the Mission San Luis Rey. We finally reached
San Diego around 11 and had lunch in Old Town. In Old Town we visited a lot of
the historical landmarks there and at Mission Hill. We then went to see the San
Diego Mission before leaving San Diego,
We then took the freeway to the San Pasqual battlefield. We reached Escondido
around 1 and had a snack before hitting the road again. We traveled the freeway
the rest of the way into Riverside , then through Chino coming back into Orange
County through Carbon Canyon. We were home at 6:30. After Jerry dropped me off,
I watched some TV before going to bed at 10. It was hot out again today 91 degrees,
but it was beautiful with clear blue skies. It sure was a wonderful trip. Very scenic.
6 April 1971 Tuesday
I got up at 7:30 to get ready to interview the
mayor of Garden Grove. I couldn’t find my car keys, so I used Donna’s car. The
interview didn’t last long and tomorrow I have to go over there again to pick
up his scrapbook on the police department. Later in the morning m from 10 to 11
o’clock when it was hot out, I laid out in the sun in the back yard. I went
inside after I began to burn and wrote a shot story for my Creative Writing
Class. It’s a mystery story. I went into work at 3:30 and it was busy all night
long. When I come home at 10:30, I called Kent Larsen up. He said he got back
from Utah this morning. I also called Jerry Smith up. I guess we ‘ll do
something tomorrow. The began hot and clear at 89 degrees but it turned cold and
windy during the night. I sure hope I can find my car keys. I must be getting
senile.
7 April 1971 Wednesday
Jerry Smith took me over to the Mayor’s office
to pick up his scrap book in the morning. In the afternoon found my car keys so I took my nephew James
to the Magnolia City park to play on the swings and slide. I sure think James
is the grandest thing there is. In the late afternoon I went over to Kent Larsen
and played my Jesus Christ Superstar album for him. This rock Opera had got to be
the most moving piece of music in the religious vein. I left Kent’s around 6:30
and when I got home, Karen Gramsted called from work and asked if I would buy
her a bottle of wine for her. She’s going to a party and is too scared to buy
it herself. I said I would. At night I just listened to music I had taped on my
Cassette recorder off the radio and did some homework before going to bed. I
got a letter and a birthday card from Grandma Johnson today. She said they’re still
at Haskell, fishing and having fun. In the news the prosecutor against Lt.
Calley said that President Nixon is destroying faith in the judicial system by
taking the law into his own hands. It was a cooler day at 83 degrees with blue
skies.
The
letter and Card Grandma Johnson sent from Haskell was post marked April 5th.
I added punctuation and correct spelling to make it readable. Ha! “Dear Jr.
Will write a few lines with my birthday cheer. Was so great to get your newsy
letter & the write up was good. We are still having windy & dry
weather. Wheat all dead & don’t know where they will ever get to plant
cotton and feed, if it don’t rain know they won’t.
We
went to the lake Woodson about 40 miles east of here yesterday. Spent the day;
fried bacon & eggs and boiled coffee
on a camp fire, was it good. Things just
taste better that way & did we
catch the fish. Big old crappies, sure
enjoyed it. We will go home next weekend
.
Pauline wrote John was flying up for one day only. As he is working at his old job back.
Glad he was called back to work as he likes the work & pay good don’t
suppose he will ever be happy
anymore away from his family. I know he
gets so lonesome for them boys, he could go out of his mind.
Got a card from some
one at Littlefield wanting us to donate to Arnold and Joanne as they lost all
their clothes and everything when their
house burned. Guess they had their saddles
and bridles in the house as there was
where they kept everything. Don’t look for any down here anyway soon as Pam will graduate this year
& Judy and Johnny goes to New Mexico.
Lots of people coming
and going but not much fishing. Lake is
surely low & the boat docks are. Cant get the boat out. Will try it after
we get back from up home.
What are you doing for
Easter? I am glad Charline & Dennis got them a trailer house & moved
closer to Knotts Berry Farm. James will be going there by his self. Wish I
could see the little wart. May be the only great grandson I’ll ever get to see
anymore.
Oh yes tell June we got
the fruit she sent . She shouldn’t of sent it. I know it cost a fortune but oh
how proud we were to get it. I baked
granddad a date cake the first thing. There
nothing of news . Just trust you have a
nice birthday. And write me again some time . We love you from grandparents.”
KHJ’s top ten sings are Three Dog Night’s Joy
to the World, Just My Imagination, Paul McCarthy’s Another Day, What’s Going
On, Ocean’s Put Your Hand in the Hand, Ray Charles’ Don’t Change me, Richie
Haven’s Here Comes the Sun, Smokey Robinson’s I Don’t Blame You At All, The
Fuzz’ I Love You for All Seasons, Sammi Smith’s Help Me Make It Through the
Night. I like Helen Reddy’s I Don’t Know How To Love Him and Me and You and a
Dog Named Boo by Lobo.
8 April 1971 Thursday
I got up at 8 and went over to Kent Larsen’s house
to go to Laguna Beach with him and Arthur Johansson. We wanted to look at an
art supply store down there. I showed them where the Mystic Art Galley used to
be that John and Carol Griggs owned, We came back to Garden Grove at noon. I lost my glasses somewhere and I’m
going to have to wear my prescription sunglasses until U can get another pair.
I slept in the afternoon until it was time to go to work at Taco bell. I worked with my cousin Larry
Fagan from 4:30 to 10:30. Karen Gramsted
came up to visit and was disappointed that she couldn’t to the party because they were no one to work in her
place. So, I said I would. It was such a super busy night, and I was really
tired at the end of it. But I went over to Kent Larsen’s after work, and we
watched TV until 12:30.Then I went home to bed. I sure am mad at myself for
losing those stupid glasses. I sure have been losing things a lot lately. It
was a cooler day than yesterday but still pretty out at 80 degrees. It was beautiful
in Laguna.
9 April 1971 Friday
I got up at 7 to put the trash cans out but
then went back to bed until 10. At 11 I went over to Kent Larsen on St. Mark’s Way,
and we went to some Thrift stores in
Santa Ana. At one place I found a pair of old round wire glasses frame
that I bought for $1. When I went to my
eye doctor’s appointment at 2 I had them fit new lenses into the old frames. He
asked me where I got the frames and I just lied and said they were in the family. He said he knew
they were old because they are gold plated. I found out that my eyes have grown
worse since my last visit to the eye doctor. Before they were 20/250 which was
bad enough but now, they are 20/400. The
doctor said my eyes are constantly failing. I went into work at 4:30 and worked
until 12:30. Carrie Pottsburg has fallen and broken her arm that afternoon, so Larry Fagan and I had to do
the cheese, beans, and lettuce all in one night. I closed up early at 11 and Karen Gramsted comes tripping in
with her friend from her party, all drunk. Steve Gonzales and his friend came
by tonight to visit and also the high school kids Greg Troyer and Marshall Burns
who helped us close up. They were fun and silly. It was cool but clear today 75
degrees.
10 April 1971 Saturday
Today Jerry Smith and I turned 20 years old,
and Wendy Warner turned 19 years old all sharing the same birthday. I got up at
8 and got ready for work. I had to open at 9 and I worked until 4:30 with Jim
Gramsted until his sister Karen came in. Rod Drier nor my cousin Larry Fagan
could work tonight so I don’t know who Karen got to work with her. After work I
drove over to Milton and Marie’s because Dad and Mom were over there. Marie
made enchiladas. It was kind of tiring being there so after dinner I went back
home to Garden Grove and went to bed at 10. I got a book in the mail from my Time-Life
book club and a letter from Grandma Johnson. She said about the just the same
thing as she did in her last letter. I am so tired. I wish school would start
again so I can get some rest. At least I don’t have to work tomorrow either.
The weather was the same as yesterday at 70 degrees.
11April 1971 Sunday
I got up at 10. It was the first day I’ve slept
in all week long. Well today is Easter Sunday, the day the Lord Jesus Christ
conquered death. Hosanna. I laid out in the backyard with my sister Donna
soaking up the sun while Mom and Dad took my nephew James to Knotts Berry Farm.
This is the first Easter that the whole
family did not get together for an Easter dinner. Charline and Dennis were over
at the Peavy’s. They live at 15841 Aulnay Lane in Huntington Beach. Donna and I
went with Mom and Dad out to dinner at Sir George’s Smorgasbord in the afternoon. Milton and Marie had dinner over
at Bonnie and Bill Fagan’s. Grandma and Grandpa Williams were having revival
meetings up in Yucaipa. I don’t know what everyone else did. In the evening I typed
up the short story I wrote last week and watched TV some. I went to bed at
10:30. It was a nice warm day for Easter at 75 Degrees Glory to God I the
Highest. May I find Grace with the Lord.
12 April 1971 Monday
I got up at 8 although I don’t have a class
until 10. I went in early and saw Kent Larsen and my sister Donna in the
Bernstein House. I went to both my Philosophy and Psychology classes but not to
Revolutions. I saw Gary Manshardt today
and we visited some of what we did over easter Vacation. We made plans to go to
the show this Friday. I went home after school and finished typing up my short
story. Donna bought a Richie Haven and a Three Dog Night Album today. I went to
buy my leather for crafts, but the store was closed. I went to my Craft
Class although Kent Larsen didn’t go. I
visited with Charlene Felos for a while.
It was a nice day but I’m tired right now. May God give me strength to face another
day. The weather was pretty out but cool 70 degrees. I got my Girl Scout
Cookies from Karen Gramsted today that I bought last month. There’s nothing in
the news that I can think of. Donna gave me $5 today for my birthday.
13 April 1971 Tuesday
I got up at 7 today to get ready for school. I
went to Speech 1A and gave my talk which was horrible and in Creative Writing I
turned my two stories in. After class I saw Ralph Ludders and we visited for
about a half hour catching up. He talked about moving to Texas around Houston. That
was surprising. After that I went to the library and there, I saw Gary
Manshardt. We talked for a while, but I
had to leave for work at 3:30. At Taco Bell I told Leo Waldman that I couldn’t
work 4 days anymore as it was too much with being in college full time. He said
he already got another girl to come in to help out. I don’t know her name yet. Hopefully,
I’ll only work two days from now on, Saturday and Sundays. I feel so relieved
now like burden has been lifted off of
me. Now maybe I ca catch up with my rets and my school work. I worked with Rod
Drier for 7 hours until 10:30. Greg Troyer and Marshall Burns came up to visit
for a while. They didn’t stay long. It was clear this morning, but a cloud came
up from the west and cooled things off . 70 degrees today.
14 April 1971 Wednesday
I slept
in until 10 this morning. It was a cold rainy day. All the streets were flooded,
and many cars were stalled in intersections. It was very cool out but not cold
at 65 degrees. It did clear up around 12:30. I went to Philosophy and
Psychology classes . Afterwards I waited until Gary Manshardt got out of class where then we went to the library to study until 4:30. Then I went up to Taco
Bell and got something to eat but then came back to Cypress. I left Gary at 6 so he could study for his test tomorrow.
At home I had some Chop suey take out and watched Jacques Cousteau TV special all about salmons. The rest of the night I did some
homework. In the news Red China and the United States are slowly beginning to
have a relationship between each other after 22years of cold war conflict. I
didn’t go to my craft class because I wanted to study, and it was just as well
as Donna said they canceled her class and sent everybody home from Cypress
because of a bomb threat. I wish my glasses would hurry up and get fixed. I
hate wearing these sunglasses.
15 April 1971 Thursday
The rain cleared up today and although it was
windy and cool, it was a pretty day at 65 degrees. In the news “Patton” wone
the Oscar for Best Picture, along with George C Scott as Best Actor, Glenda
Jackson as Best Actress, Helen Hayes as Best Supporting Actress and John Mills
as best support actor. George C Scott refused to have anything to do with the Awards,
however. Red China and the United States ae starting to become friendlier as
the U.S. began limited trade with China. To think that a Ping Pong match
started all this. At Cypress in my Creative Writing Class I loaned Miss Redyday
or whatever her name is, my booklet that has the lyrics to Tim Rice’s Judas
Toom Much Heaven On Their Minds from Jesus
Christ Superstar. “My Mind Is Clearer now. At last, all too well I can see
where we all soon will be. If you strip away, the myth from the man, you too
will see where we all soon will be. Jesus you’ve started to believe the things
they say of you, You really do believe all this talk of God is true. And all
the good you’ve done will soon get swept away. You’ve began to matter more than
the things you say. Jesus, I don’t like what I see, All I ask is that you
listen to me, And remember I’ve been your right-hand man all along. You have
set them all on fire. They think they’ve
found the new Messiah. And they will hurt you when they find they’re wrong. I
remember when this whole think began. No talk of God then, we called you a man.
And believe me my admiration for you hasn’t died. But every word you say today,
Gets turned around some other way and they’ll hurt you if they think you lied.
Nazareth your famous son should have stayed
great unknown. Like his father carving wood, He’d of made good. Wooden
chairs and oaken chest would have
suited Jesus best. He would have caused
no body harm. No one’s alarm. Listen Jesus to the warning I give. Please
remember that I want you to live. But it’s sad to see our chance weakening with
every hour. All your followers are blind. Too much heaven on their minds. It
was beautiful but now it’s sour. Yes, it’s all gone sour. ” I didn’t see
anybody at school today, so I went into work at Taco Nell at $;30 and worked
with my cousin Larry Fagan until 10:30.
Greg Toyer and Marsh Burns came up for a while to hang out but before that for
3 hours straight we were waiting on customers. Jim Gramsted came up for a
little while to show off his new contact lenses he got today to replace his glasses.
I am so tired!
16 April 1971 Friday
I slept in until 9:30 then I got up to get
ready for school. I went to my Philosophy call and turned in a small paper we were supposed to do. I didn’t go to
Psychology because it was cloudy, windy, and cold and I didn’t want to stay at
Cypress. So, I just drove home and cleaned the kitchen and listed to my album
Jesus Christ Superstar for a while. Later Ralph Ludders came over to the house
unexpectantly. He wanted to borrow my Psychology notes as he doesn’t attend class any more than I do.
He took me over to his and Brenda’s new apartment on Holder because I had never seen it before.
The apartments are just behind Cypress near Lincoln Avenue. From there we went
to Taco Bell to pick up my paycheck and to get a look at the new girl Leo
Waldman had hired. Her name is Diana, and I haven’t made up my mind about her
yet. I cleared $83 and then put $73 of it into checking account. Ralph took me
back to Garden Grove and there I waited
for Gary Manshardt to call me about going out to a show. I even called him but
found that he wasn’t home. I was very disappointed feeling stood up. The rest
of the night I just read from the Bible and went to bed at 10:30. The weather
was 60 degrees.
17 April 1971 Saturday
I slept in until 11:30 today. This morning Dad
put new points and spark plugs in the Ford Galaxy and it sure runs better. Grandma and Grandpa
Williams came by the house for little while this afternoon to visit but they
left at 12:30 to over to my Aunt and
Uncle Bonnie and Bill Fagin. At 1, Jerry Smith and I went to the open house for
the Agnes Ware Stanley’s museum put on by the Garden Grove Historical Society.
It is one of the oldest homes in Garden Grove built in 1891 and located near
Euclid. The kitchen was the largest room in the house. Agnes Ware was the first
American child born in Garden Grove and donated the land to the Garden Grove
Historical Society in 1970 and her son donated the house in 1971 which has been
restored. The tour was very interesting, and Dick Elliott even let me go upstairs
to look around although the downstairs
was the only part of the house opened to the public. Afterwards, jerry and I
went to get something to eat at Bob’s Big Boy and then Jerry took me home.
There I finished outlining a chapter in The Bible from St. Luke that I started last night. I did that until I
had to go into work at 4:30. I worked with Rod Drier until 12:30. It was an
average night. Ralph Ludders came up to visit
and to bring me back my psychology notes that I had loaned him yesterday.
I’m tired right now while writing in this diary. I wish I didn’t have to go into
work tomorrow because I have a big psychology test, I need to study for. Mom and Dad went over to Frank and Barb Weltes
with my Uncle and Aunt Milton and Marie Williams to play poker. I filled my car
up today which takes 18gallons. I want
to see what kind of milage I get now. It was cold and windy today at 60 degrees.
I had a letter from
Pamela Huskey who likes to call me “Fred.” She wrote, Dear Fred Just the other day I realized I didn’t send anything to you for your
birthday. I was thinking of you but you know how I am. I have the worst memory of anyone I know. Do hope
you forgive me. I hope you like this little gift. It isn’t much but I think it
says a lot. A lot that I feel. Tell
everyone hi! Be good if you can. I’ll write again when I can. God Bless and
keep you . Love Pam PS Write me when you
can.” She enclosed a funny post card.
18 April 1971 Sunday
I went into work at 10 this morning. I worked
until 4 with I’m Gramsted. It wasn’t too bad of a day, just a little busy.
Steven Gonzales came up to visit and say hello. Mom and Dad went back over to
Fran =k and Barb Weltes this afternoon but were back home by the time I came
home from work. I drove over to Cal State Fullerton today because they were
supposed to have a major Peace Rally there, but I couldn’t see anything happening,
so I just went over to Frank and Barbs since I was in the neighborhood to what they
were up to. I hadn’t seen them since last October when I was campaigning for
Jesse Unruh for Governor. I only stayed until 6:30 then came back to the house to study in my room
for the psychology test tomorrow, I hear it’s going to be as hard as the last
one. The weather was the same as yesterday only as windy. 63 degrees by car
used ¼ of a tank going 40 miles so I am getting about 8 miles to a gallon. Not
bad but not good either
19 April 1971 Monday
I was up early this morning so I could study
some more for psychology test. I didn’t go to Philosophy so I could use that
time to study. Even then I don’t think I did well at all on the test. . After that I came back
to Garden Grove to see if my eyeglasses have come in yet, but they still
hadn’t. So, IU went back up to the college library where I saw Gary Manshardt. We talked for a while,
and he said he was sorry about last Friday that he had forgotten we had made
plans. When went to Taco bell to get
some lunch. There Karen Gramsted asked me to come to work around 9 tonight to
help the new girl close up. Also, she wants me to work for her this Friday o
she can go to Cypress’ Mardi Gras . After Gary left to go back to Cypress, I went home and
watched some TV some before going to bed. In the news some Viet Nam veterans in
Washington DC are protesting the war. They are compiling a list of atrocities
that have been committed by us over there. The weather was cool and slightly
windy, 65 degrees.
20 April 1971 Tuesday
I slept in until 8:30 then got up to get ready
for school. The class is still giving their group presentation in Speech1A so
there is nothing much happening there that involves me. Afterwards I went to
the library where I saw Gary Manshardt plying ping pong on the bottom floor. We
talked for a while before he went over to his new girlfriend’s house. I studied
the rest of the time until I went to Creative Writing and then to PE. Next Thursday, PE will be
canceled for the Cypress Swimming Meet
for some reason. After school, I went over to the eye doctor’s office
and picked up my glasses. They are really nice and look good on me. The wire
round gold frames have a delicate design around the rim and the doctor said
they must be old because of that. Mom
had my sister Charline and Dennis over for dinner and we had a roasted
Turkey with all the trimmings. Charline is pregnant for sure now she said.
After dinner I went back to Cypress where I stayed until 9 when then I went over
to Taco bell and showed Diane how to close up by draining all the steamers,
putting away the unused food into the walk in, how to turn the outdoor fire pit
off, and wash and squeegee the floor with bleach water. The weather is
cloudy like it might rain and cold. 60
degrees. I read Psalms 144:3 from the
Bible before going to bed. Very inspiring.
21 April 1971 Wednesday
I went to Cypress today but didn’t attend any
of my day classes. I met with Gary Manshardt in the library where we had this
intense philosophical discussion about us
and how I felt about life. e I said that everything man knows, can learn, and
teach each other, is foolishness compared to the Wisdom of God. Gary then asked
“Why go to your classes if it’s all foolishness? Why are you then even in school since it’s all
nonsense? And he was right; for I could noy give an answer to that dilemma. So,
I left Cypress and wet home, prepared to quit school for my mind was in such turmoil about life. I
knew not what to do. So, I went to the Bible and read the first passage that I
saw hen I opened it, and it was Proverb 27:1 “Boast not thyself of tomorrow;
for thou knows not what a day may bring forth.” It seem to say that I was to
continue in school and walk the path of righteousness and in good time all
things regarding my life will be revealed. When I prayed for guidance, I was
impressed that I am to become a teacher
for that was always my mission, but a teacher of what? History? I don’t
know yet. Kent Larsen called later and asked me to come by and take him to our
craft class this evening which I did. The weather is still pretty cool at 60
degrees
22 April 1971 Thursday
In the news, the Russians have launched the
first part s that will eventually become a man space station. The Viet Nam Veterans are still marching in Washington defying a
court order to leave the park where they
had been assembling. The Democratic Party wasn’t a deadline for the withdrawal
of all American troops from Viet Nam. My favorite songs out right now are “Red Eye Blues,” “It’s Too Late” , “I
don’t Know How to Love Him” “Woodstock” “Superstar” and Three Dog Night’s “Joy
to the World which is the number 1 song
this week . I went to my Speech1A and Creative Writing Classes and stayed at
the Library until 3:30. When I came home, Mom fixed corned beef and cabbage
for dinner. I worked on my sister
Donna’s leather purse for the rest of
the night. I think it’s going to nice. I went to bed at 11. The weather has
changed , but still cool and slightly breezy. 60 degrees.
23 April 1971 Friday
I slept until 9:30 the I got up to get ready
for school. I went to my Philosophy class where we got our over book tests to
do. It’s due next Friday. I was going to go to my Psychology class but at the
last minute I just went over to the campus knoll and laid on the grass and lead
“Caesar and Christ.” While there I saw Gary Manshardt but he neither said hi or anything to me. I guess he is mad or
something. I wouldn’t know why. I think our friendship may be over. I went then to the library and read until it was time for me to leave
and go into work at Taco Bell. While at
the library I saw Jill Penney and
visited with her a little. I sure would have
liked to have gone to the Mardi Gras at Cypress
but if I didn’t work then Karen Gramsted wouldn’t be able to go, It was
supper busy at work until 9 then it slowed down. I was disgusted with the other
kids down there especially my cousin Larry Fagan for they were constantly nagging Diana when they really don’t even know her. The
weather sure has been clear and cool lately . I hope it will warm up soon. 65 degrees.
“Ichthys Iesvs- Soter ACX”
24 April 1971 Saturday
I was up at 8 to get ready to go into work as I
had to open Taco Bell up at 9. I worked until 4 with Jim Gramsted and it was
busy all day with little time to rest or do any prep work.
When I came home, Mom and Dad were getting ready to drive over to my Uncle and
aunt Milton and Marie Williams . My sister Donna has a date with a guy she met
at work named Larry Johnson. He’s from Ft. Worth Texas and he even brought her a dozen orange roses.
I didn’t do anything this evening but
tape songs off the radio with my cassette player and finished writing a poem I titled “Ecco Homo.”
I went to bed at midnight though it was really
only 11 because I turned my clock an hour ahead for Day Light Savings Time
which starts tomorrow. In the news 250,000 people demonstrate against the Viet
Nam War in Washington DC and 150,000 in
San Francisco. Someday the Messiah will carry the faithful off to their reward.
25 April 1971 Sunday
I got up at 8:30 and read the Sunday Newspaper
some before going into work at Taco Bell at 10 to open up. Then I worked with
Jim Gramsted until 4. Then I went to Kent Larsen’s house on St. Marks just see
what everyone one was up to. Jill Penney was there with another girl named Cathy. I left around 6 and I
decided I want to go to a show, so I
went to the Stanton Theater and saw
“Paint Your Wagon and Monte Walsh. The former being the better of the two. My
sister Donna was out on a date again and I went to bed after midnight, really
beat. The weather is the same as it had been
all week but now it’s cloudier and was 60 degrees. Love is the only way
to salvation. Whoever shall believe without seeing will receive glory forever.
26 April 1971 Monday
I woke up this morning so tired, but it turned
int a really nice day. I went to Cypress at 10
so I could study a little bit before going to Philosophy at 11.
Then I went to Psychology at noon. Mr. Canova
seems to be over his moodiness that he
was in last week. During my break, before Revolutions, I went to the Bernstein
House to have lunch and study. My History of Revolutions class has turned out
to be such a drag and I wish I could drop it, but I like Mr. Reeve too much. After
school I went back to Garden Grove for a little while and there, I had a letter from Grandma Johnson saying
they were back down at the lake at Haskell. I went to Taco Bell
before going to my Craft Class to give Karen Gramsted the store key and
she said that Leo Waldman wanted me to work this Thursday. Up at Cypress I went to the college library and there I saw Gary Manshardt again. We visited
for a while then we went back to Taco
Bell to get something to eat. We talked about the Prophet a book by Kahlil Gibran
mostly. Because of that, I was late going
to Craft Class. There I just visited with Kent Larsen, Jill Penney and our
instructor Charlene Felos while working
on projects. After class I took Kent
home and I dragged raced Felos
from Orange Street to Chapman. I won. The weather was cloudy and cool.
27 April 1971 Tuesday
I went to the free Everlasting Living
Water concert at 3 held at the Cypress College track. There was
about 500 people attending and several
musical bands played gospel songs to spread the “good news” to the crowd of
college kids. Karen Gramsted came with me, and we sat together on the grass all
through the concert that lasted until 6, many people , including myself,
professed love for the lord at the revival. It was nice to be with other Christians , loving one
another embraced by the holy spirit. Hosanna Sweet Lord. I think Karen however
was skeptical and not impressed. My sister Donna received some pink carnations from Larry
Johnson, this boy she’s been dating. I like him and hope something comes to fruition
for this relationship. The weather is clear blue skies and cool days at 65
degrees. Dear Sweet Jesus , I don’t know how to love you although you have told
me that by doing your works and profession you
before men these are proofs of my
love but there must be more that I can do. Will I be among the blessed few or
damned for all time?
28 April 1971 Wednesday
I got up around 10 and sent to Cypress but I
didn’t go to either Philosophy or psychology. Instead, I went to the college
library and wrote my philosophy term
paper. After that I came home to Garden Grove and took a nap until 4:30.Then my
sister Donna and I went back to the college library again to study before our
classes start at 7. Donna said she has another
date with Larry Johnson. Yesterday he sent her some more flowers, this time
pink carnations. In my craft class we turned in our leather projects and I got
a B on the leather and beaded purse I
made for Donna. At the last part of the break, Kent Larsen and I walked over to
the bookstore. On the way over, Leda Hadrych, a girl I know, said she needed
our help as she had left her keys in her locked car, So I drove her home where she could get her other set of keys but
by the time, I came back up to school,
my Craft Class was over, and my notebook was locked up in the room. So, I will
have to retrieve it tomorrow. I waited for Donna’s class to get over to make sure she had a ride in case Larry
couldn’t make it. He did and while waiting I saw Andy Cunningham on campus. We
talked for a while and I kind of asked how John was doing. It was cool and
cloudy 65 degrees.
29 April 1971 Thursday
I was so tired from some reason that I slept in
until 10. I missed my Speech1A class. When I went to Cypress, I looked all over
for my note book, but it was gone. Later I found out that Kent Larsen took it for me. Since I
didn’t have my notebook, I went back home to Garden Grove to write my philosophy paper all over again. I finished
it about 3 where then I had to get ready
to go into work. I worked 7 hours from 3:30 to 10:30 with my cousin Larry
Fagan. Karen Gramsted came up to the
joint and asked me to buy her a ticket this Friday at Cypress for the Red Eye Concert. I’d like
to go myself, but I got to work this
Saturday. I haven’t been feeling
well lately. My back and chest seems to
ache quite a bit and I’ve got back up to 170 pounds. I’m not going to bed
tonight until I finish typing my philosophy per which is due tomorrow, In the
news they seem to have a suspect for the
person who bombed the capitol, last month. I got Samuel Eliot Morison’s book
yesterday from my Book of the Month Club. It’s about the European Exploration
of North America from 500 A.D until 1600. The weather was clear at 69 degrees.
30 April 1971 Friday
I slept in until 10 so I didn’t get up in time to help Kent Larsen pain those
signs for the Bernstein House’s art show. I went to class and turned in my
Philosophy Term Paper . We talked about the differences between the Golden Rule
and Kant’s Categorical Imperative. I didn’t go to Psychology . I just bought a ticket
to the Red eye Concert for Karen Gramsted and then went back to Garden Grove.
There I cleaned up the kitchen, then decided to go over to Cal State Fullerton
to pick up some forms for the financial
loans I will need. Since I as over there I dropped by Frank and Bar Welte
for a little while then I went back home. My sister Donna has a date with Larry
Johnson to go out for dinner and then they will go over to my sister Charline
and Dennis to play cards. I went to the show and saw Tor! Tora! Tora! At the
Harbor Fox Cinema.it was pretty god and historical about Pearl Harbor although
the ticket price was expensive at $3.50. While driving home I drove by Johns Cunningham’s
house on Capri Street behind the Orange County Plaza. Just as I was hoping to see John and his brother Andy walking
their German Shepherd Schulz, I saw them. It was a strange coincidence and it
made me miss him all the more. The weather is finally starting to warm up at 75
degrees.
MAY
1 May 1971 Saturday
Well today is May the first . A year ago today,
I had a double date with Ralph and Brenda Ludders. I took this girl named Judy
Stacy who was in my &B History class. Yesterday a year ago she asked me
over for a dinner to study with her and she lived clear out in Chino. Then I
didn’t know how far away it was. The show we went to was “A Man Named Horse”
and “The Rievers’ at the HWY 39 Drive-In. She was a nice girl but kind of dingy.
She was even 3 years older than me. Today though, I slept in until noon then taped
songs on my cassette player before going into work. I got paid today $62.00. I worked
with Rod Drier from 4:30 to 12:30. It was an average night. Mom and Dad went
over to Frank and Barb Welte’s today to work on my motorcycle. The weather was
clear and warmer than it has been . 75 degrees. In the news, the peace protest program
in Washington plans to halt the working of the government next week.
2 May 1971 Sunday
I got up
at 9 then went down to Taco Bell to open up. I worked with Jim Gramsted from 10
until 4:30. It was an average day; kind
of slow. After work I went home to rest
some then I went to Alpha Beta at the
Stanton Plaza to buy some groceries with my pay check. Donna has to work
tonight. Dad spent all say out with Frank Welte and my uncle Milton Williams
riding my motorcycle. I went by Jerry Smith’s house at 11591 Poes Street and picked up my Jesus Christ Superstar album
before going to the show. I went to the Edwards Harbor Theater and saw “Five
Easy Pieces” and “I Never Sang for my Father.” In the news Washington DC has
become a city of two camps. The police
and national guard are on alert
to dispel the 45,000 anti-war peace protestors that have vowed to cause
havoc and mayhem in the functioning of the government. Their cause is just, and
God will reward all the truly nonviolent peace makers in His due time. Capitalism
and Christianity are incompatible, Man
is not innately greedy. It’s the economic system that makes him that way. It
was a nice blue-sky day . 75 degrees. A year ago, Ken Grant, the high school
boy who worked with me at Taco Bell gave me my first marijuana cigarette. I
wanted to try it because John Cunningham said his brother Andy and he were
smoking pot and I was jealous I suppose.
3 May 1971 Monday
I went to Cypress but didn’t go to any of my
classes. In the afternoon Kent Larsen and I went over to Cal State Fullerton to
pick up some information on student loans and grants. When Mom came home from
work, she sewed up the tie-dyed shirt I had batiked for me. I am going to have
her make me some shirts from the India print bed spreads I bought at Pier One .
It’s cheaper than buying them. Donna’s boyfriend Larry Johnson is back from
Fort Worth, Texas. The weather was cloudy with a few sprinkles between blue skies. 60 degrees. In the news
there is so much antiwar protests going on and if we don’t repent, we will be
consumed in the destruction of the United States. Consumerism has made us the
Whore of Babylon and if we don’t give up our worldly treasures we may well be swallowed
up . I hope it is not too late for the saving of the country. The righteous who
love the Lord must leave Babylon and have no regrets. Somewhere there must be
sanctuary but where?
4 May 1971 Tuesday
Today is the first anniversary of the Kent State
Massacre. This is Peter Davies poem for
Allison Krause , one of the four slain in the massacre. “You out there, you
patriots of silence. What do you know of me? I who lie in this lonely place
beneath the soil, cold as the death I died for no reason nor cause except your
hatred. If I could come to you whole, And let you see me, Touch me, know me.
Would you then weep for me, you silent patriots? Do you hear the mournful song of a distant bird, the soft
gentle flutter r of her wounded wings?
Or are you so made of stone and steel no dart of love could pierce the armor pf
your frozen hearts? Then go, go wave your pretty flags to marching muscle and
leave me with those that love me. Go preach
your hate; but mark me well, the day will surely come when I in others, shall arise and bring to all of you
Love and Peace.” I didn’t go to school today. I didn’t do anything.
5 May 1971 Wednesday
I didn’t go to class today. I slept until 1:30
in the afternoon. When I got up, I cleaned up the kitchen and the front room
and made a cake. I mailed my letter to Grandma Johnson and sent her a mother’s
day card from Donna and me. When Mom was home from work, she said she got
another job because she couldn’t stand working for Dee Dees anymore. I have
been thinking lately about moving to Brazil to get away from America’s war
machine. Donna is kind of interested in the idea too. I took Kent Larsen to our
crafts class, and I worked on our wood project some. Charlene Felos our teacher
was in a good mood. We all were. After class, Jill Penney, Kent, and I went to
Taco Bell and got something to drink from there. Karen Gramsted was working,
and she said we are going to be closed for Mother’s Day of all days! The
weather was warm in the day time and cool at night. It was 70 degrees. In the
news , Governor Reagan has paid no state income taxes and has gotten a rebate
from his Federal Taxes. He’s a monster. I hope he burns in hell for all the
suffering he has caused while his cohorts grow rich and fat.
The top ten songs on
KHJ are The Jackson 5’s Never Say Goodbye, I love Your For All Seasons, Joy to
the World, The Doors Love Her Madly, Daddy Dewdrop’s Chick-a-Boom, The Bell’s
Stay Awhile, Bread’s If, Donny Osmond, Sweet and Innocent, the Rolling Stone’s Brown
Sugar, and Matthews Southern Comfort’s Woodstock. I really like Carole King’s
It’s Too Late and Murray Head’s Superstar
6 May 1971 Thursday
I got up at 7 to get ready to take Kent Larsen to school. On the way over to I was pulled over by a cop. He was all
excited that I had license tags on the front and rear of my car for some
reason. At school I gave my talk in speech class. It was on the aggressive
roles we play at times. After that I played cards some at the Bernstein House before
going to Creative Writing. I turned two stories in and got one back that I had
turned in a long time ago. I didn’t have PE because of the rain we had. At
home, Larry Johnson called Donna and said he’d be back today, and I guess he
and Donna will go out to dinner. I went
to the Stanton Plaza Theater to see really dumb horror movies. They were really
inept. Back at home I didn’t do much else but go to bed at 11. It rained all day,
and it was 75 degrees out. In the news 70,000 people have been arrested in
Washington DC so far in the spring offensive against the war. Most of the attempts
to halt the government has failed. In Europe, their monetary crisis has to do
with the American dollar.
7 May 1971 Friday
I went to Cypress at 10 and was at the Bernstein
House for most of the day. I helped Kent Larsen put up posters for the House’s
Art Fair and I talked with Sally Johnson, the house president some. I went to Philosophy
and found that I got a B on my last test. I was going to go to psychology but
for some reason I didn’t. I don’t like that class at all anymore. It rained
pretty hard from 3 to 6 but before that and afterwards it was kind of
pretty out. Donna and I bought some long stem red roses for Mom or Mother’s
Day. In the evening, I took a nap then out
lined two chapters pf the Gospel of St. Mark. I found out I made the President
Honor Roll. Only 10 percent of the students made it. I know John Cunningham
made it also. I saw him today. He acted at one point like he wanted to talk to
me but like a fool, I turned away. It was always like that between us. When he
wanted to be with me, I didn’t want him. When I wanted to be with him, he wouldn’t
want me. It was always so sad.
8 May 1971 Saturday
I slept until 9:30 then I got up. I went to
Pierpoint One Imports where I bought some Indian Print bed covering material to
make me a pull over shirt for $5. At 4:30 I had to go into work, and it was an
average day. I worked with Jim Gramsted
and Rod Drier. It wasn’t hardly busy at all. We played Monopoly a little when
it was really slow after doing food prep and when there was no customers. I
worked 8 hours until 12:30. It was a cool and cloudy day at 65 degrees. I’m
kind of melancholy for John Cunningham right now. I hope he is well. When you
are weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all. I’m
on your side when times get rough and friends can’t be found, Like a Bridge
over troubled waters, I will lay e down. When you’re down and out, when you
you’re on the street, when evening falls so hard, I will comfort you. I’ll take
your part when darkness comes, and pain is all around. Like a Bridge over
troubled water, I will lay me down. Sail on Silver child, sail on by, your time
has come to shine, all your dreams are on their way. See how they shine Oh if
you need a friend, I’m sailing right behind. Like a Bridge over trouble waters,
I will ease your mind, Paul Simons
9 May 1971 Sunday
I slept until 10 then got up to read the Sunday
paper. I didn’t have to work today because Leo Waldman closed Taco Bell for
Mother’s Day. Dad fixed my car door that was sticking this morning then he and Mom
went up to Yucaipa to visit Grandma and Grandpa. In the afternoon I was going
to ride my bike when I discovered that it had been stone off of the front
porch. It must have happened last night. I called the police to report it
stolen and Mom said the house insurance probably will cover it. I hope so. I
didn’t do anything today ‘but watch Clark Gable and Jeanette McDonald in San
Francisco on TV. I’ve always liked that
movie. In the news yesterday Rev. McIntyre had a march in Washington for
victory in Vietnam. They say only 14,000 march ha! Compare that to those
wanting peace. My sister Donna said she got a 10 cent raise at Mr. Donut and she’s ,making $1.75 an hour now. I am
only making $1.65. The weather was clear and pretty out at 75 degrees.
10 May 1971 Monday
I went to Cypress today but didn’t go to any of
my classes. I just played cards in the Bernstein House. In the evening I went
over to St. Mark’s Street to Kent Larsen’s house to take him to our Craft
Class. Today seemed strange with everyone acting indifferent to one another. Jill
Penney, Mrs. Felos, Gary Manshardt, everyone I met. I saw John Cunningham’s
yellow Karma Ghia in the Bernstein House’s Parking lot and it made me so sad. I
fasted today to lose some weight. The weather was nice at 75 degrees with blue
skies. I don’t have any idea where I am going or what I am doing. I fell lost.
Where is there love for me? Oh Lord, please help me for I am so lost. “Love
Will abide, take things in stride. Sounds like good advice but there’s no one by
my side. And time washes clean, love’s wounds unseen. That’s what someone told me,
but I didn’t know what it means. Cause I’ve done everything I know to try and
make you mind, and I think I’m going to love you for a long time. Caught in my
fears, blinking back the tears. I can’t say you hurt me when you never let me
near. And I never drew one response from you or the way you felt bout ones you never knew.
11 May 1971 Tuesday
I got up at 8 to get ready for school. In my
Speech class we drew numbers for our positions in giving our final speech. I
drew number 25, but this girl asked me to change so I did. I am now Number 2. I
think I will give my talk on the Donna Party. During the College Hour when no
classes are scheduled, I was at the Bernstein House’s Cabinet Meeting where we were making plans for the faculty
dinner. In Creative writing we read our short stories to one another. In PE we
were put in new volleyball teams. I am on a good team but this one guy on the
team we were playing took the game way too serious and hit me in the face when
spiking the volleyball. It didn’t hurt my new glasses, but it made me dizzy,
and I’ve had eyestrain and a headache for most of the rest of the day. I
figured this isn’t worth it, so I went to Dr. DeLille’s to have me write a note
to excuse me from PE. He’s been my family’s doctor since I was little. At home
Jerry Smith and I went out to eat lunch at Bob’s Big Boy’s and in the evening Mom, Dad and my
nephew James went to the Ice Capades in Long Beach. I still have this headache
from being smacked in the head. The weather was overcast in the morning, but it
burned off later in the day.
12 May 1971 Wednesday
I went to Cypress at 10 and mainly played cards
with Charlotte Smith and Wendy Warner before going to Philosophy and Psychology.
After class I went back to the Bernstein House where Kent Larsen asked me to
drive him out to Black Star Canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains because of a
grave he and Arthur Johansson found and
reported it to the county sheriff. The sheriff need Kent to show them exactly
where it was located. Luckily, it turned out to be a dog although at first, they thought it might have
been a baby because of the cross and all
the hippie signs over the grave. In the evening I watched TV some and worked on
my speech for tomorrow. I didn’t go Craft Class tonight. The weather was cool
and dreary looking out all day. 65
degrees. I got a Bible I ordered from my book club today. I’m going to send it
to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson.
13 May 1971 Thursday
I went to Speech1A today where I gave my talk
on the Donner Party. I think I got a good response on it from the class.
Afterwards I went over to the Bernstein House office to see what Kent Larsen
was up to and I kidded him about the dog’s grave. I played cards some before
going to my Creative Writing class where we divided up into groups to discuss
our poetry and short stories. I sure do like Miss Rederus now who took Mr.
Manis’ place. After class I went to the nurse office with my not from Dr.
DeLille and Mrs. Rafnel wrote me up a withdrawal slip so I could drop PE without having to go
through a medical. After that I went home and dd some homework before going to
bed. It was a cool day though we had clear skies at 5 degrees. I like the song
You Got a friend. “Ain’t it good to know you got a friend. People can be so
bold. They’ll hurt you and desert you. They’ll take your soul if you let them,
oh but don’t you let them. Just call out my name and no matter where I am, I’ll
come running to see you again. Winter Spring Summer or Fall, all you got to do
is call and I’ll be there . You gotta friend- Carol King
14 May 1971 Friday
15 May 1971 Saturday
I got up at 8
to prepare to go down to Cypress to help the kids make posters for the
Unfaire. There were Sally Johnson, Kent Larsen, Kim Martin, Ernie Sauter, and me
working on the posters. The large banners were drawings of Alice in Wonderland characters drawn by Gary Bassin
and colored in by us. We worked from 9:30
to noon in the Bernstein House
when we all drove over to Taco bell for something to eat. We then went
back to Cypress where I stayed until I had to go into work at Taco bell at 4
where I worked until 12:30. Karen
Gramsted wants me to work for her next Friday. It was a pretty busy day at work,
but I let Rod Drier leave at 11 so he could go to some party. I closed up at
midnight and was out of there by 12:30 after cleaning and mopping. When I
started the Ford to leave for home, my
muffler dropped off the car. So, I had to call Mom to come get me. I didn’t get
to bed until 1 and I was so tired because it was a rather active day. The
weather was crummy, cloudy, and overcast
with Stratus clouds in the morning. Kent will probably win the Bernstein
House election for president. The temperature was 70 degrees.
16 May 1971 Sunday
I woke up at 7 and was up by 8. I read the Sunday Orange
County Register until 9:30 then Dad and I went to Taco Bell to fix the Ford before I had to go into work at 10.
I worked from 10 until 4:30 with Jim Gramsted. We had a pretty steady day with
customers. Karen Gramsted and my cousin Larry Fagan in a bit early so I left to drive home to get ready to go over to Kent Larsen’s house. There,
Sally Johnson, he and I discussed the future of the Bernstein House Plan for next yar with Kent as its president. After
I left them at 7:30 , Ralph Ludders called me at 8 and wanted to know if I
wanted to go out with him. So, we went to the Brookhurst Theater and saw “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth which
was corny and “TBX-1138” which was super
good. It showed the dehumanization of the future. I didn’t get home to bed
until 1 in the morning and I was so tired. I didn’t do any of my homework like
I had intended. The weather was nice as it was a pretty day. 75 degrees. In the
news, President Nixon has LBJ’s support
against troop reduction in Europe. Senate Majority leader Mike Mansfield sure
has them buffaloed. .
17 May 1971 Monday
I over slept and missed my Philosophy and
Psychology classes/ I cleaned up the front room before leaving to go to my
History of Revolutions class. I was asked by Kent Larsen and Sally Johnson to
personally invite Mr. Reeve to the Bernstein House’s faculty dinner.
After class I went and
picked up my check from Taco Bell. I only cleared $47 this time. I heard the new girl Diana quit
Taco Bell today, probably because some of the kids ragged on her too much. I
thought she was okay.
I paid $10 to my Book
of the Month Club, paid back my sister Donna the $10 I owed her and sent Pam Huskey $10 for her graduation
from Monterey High in Lubbock. My sister Donna included $10 also.
I had another
letter from her today. It just said that
her brother Buddy Huskey and his wife Joanne
had bought a new house.
At home I rested until
it was time to leave for my Craft Class. In it I visited with Jill Penney and
Kent Larson mostly while working on our wood project. After class I drove Kent
Larson home and we dragged raced Miss Felos again down Valley View. I won
again. I am sure she let me.
At home I worked on my
Creative Writing short story that is due
tomorrow. I stayed up until 1:30 working on it until I went to bed finally.
The weather today was
strange. It started out cool but by 2 :30 in the afternoon it turned hot with a
Santa Ana wind condition bringing in a lot of hot air from the desert. It was
nice to be warm for a change at 85 degrees.
Pam
Husky’s letter post marked May 12th.
“ Dear Jr., Well Buddy and Joanne are getting a new house. I haven’t
seen it, but I hear its pretty. Guess what we bought a combination trailer.
That is a horse trailer and a stack trailer. The Tech Rodeo is May 15-17 . Wish
you were here to go. This week Mother
and Daddy has gone to Jacksboro to our 120 acres. I’m staying with
different people. I’m a vagabond. Judy and Johnny are moving to Lubbock in
June. Next fall I hope to be going to South Plains. I sure hope you get to come
down for a couple of weeks this summer. Be good and Gold Bless Ya. Love Pam.”
18 May 1971 Tuesday
I went to Cypress today, but I didn’t attend my
Speech1A class. Instead, I went with Sally Johnson and Kent Larsen to shop for some sticker tags for the art sale/
During the College Hour when there’s no classes scheduled I went to the bank and cashed my paycheck. The I
went to Creative Writing to turn in my
story. I saw John Cunningham at Cypress for a little bit and just said hi to
him. What is there more to say? Kent Larson sure is down in the dumps worried
about the election. I voted for him today
and I am sure he will win the election because I don’t think most kids care who is president
of the Bernstein House. I then I went home to Dale Street. I had to go into
work at 3:30 and I worked with Lorraine
Stoffel until 10:30 because Rod Drier
called in sick. Karen and Jim Gramsted came up to see Lorraine as that nobody
had seen her in a long time and wanted to say hi. I went to bed at hoe around
12:30. The weather sure was hot today at 85 degrees. It cost me $4.67 to mail my package back to Grandpa Johnson in Texas
because of the railroad strike and the package had to go by airmail. Outrageous!
19 May 1971 Wednesday
It was a very busy day as I went to both my
Philosophy and Psychology classes and then went to the Bernstein House’s office
to see Kent Larsen and sally Johnson. Sally asked me to go shopping with her in
the afternoon and we went over to the Buena Park Plaza in the afternoon looking for some shoes for
her . We found a pair she liked at May Company . After that I went back to
Cypress where I saw a picture of me in
the school newspaper when I was working on the Unfaire Poster. I took a copy home to show Mom and my sister Donna
read where I received a scholarship from
the Garden Grove Women’s Club which I
didn’t even know about. Cypress didn’t even bother to tell me that I won it.
This evening I went to my Craft Class
where I visited with Jill Penney. She said she wanted to take
photographs of my nephew James either
tomorrow or Friday as an assignment for her photograph class. Kent didn’t
attend as he was freaking out about the election. After class I sat with Sally
while she sat at the poll until 9. After that she and I went over to St. Marks
to see Kent. The three of us they went to Kim Martin’s apartment for a small
party. We didn’t stay long . Then Kent, Sally, and I went to the Huntington
Beach pier where we walked along the beach barefooted. After taking them home I
didn’t get to bed until 12:30. The weather was warm again at 80 degrees.
20 May 1971 Thursday
I got up at 8 to prepare for school. I went to
all my classes at Cypress and also wet to the Administration Office to find out
what the story is behind the scholarship. They simply said it was a mix up and
I’ll be getting a check for $100 pretty soon. It was a literary award from the
Women’s club. After that I went home to Garden Grove who a while where I took a
cat nap before going back up to Cypress to man the polls from 7 to 9 tonight. After that Sally Johnson, Wendy
Warner, Charlotte Smith, Kim Martin. Kent Larsen and I went out for a pizza at
Shakey’s to wait for the election results. Around 11:30 we went back to Cypress,
but the returns were still not in so Sally, Wendy, Kent, and I went to St.
Marks to listen to records. After that
we left and went to Troy’s Restaurant on Lincoln which is n all nightery to
have some coffee and banana splits. Around 1:30 in the morning we went back to
Cypress and the whole Bernstein gang was
there. When the election results came in, they showed that Kent won 351 to 13. Steve
Cifelli won the Associated Student Body President for the entire college. We
all rejoiced and then went hoe I didn’t get to bed until 2:3o and I am just
beat but had loads of fun . The weather was very nice and pleasant today. 75
degrees. Forgive us our blasphemes.
21 May 1971 Friday
Jill Penney
took pictures of my nephew James all this morning. He acted like he
wasn’t feeling well. I went to my Philosophy Class where we discussed situation
ethics. At 11 I went to the Bernstein House Office where I saw Sally Johnson
and Kent Larson. I didn’t do much else before going back home and taking a cat
nap before going into work at 4. I worked until 12:30 with Jim Gramsted and my cousin Larry Fagan. Around 10:30 at
night Wendy Warner, Nelson Sage, Sally Johnson, and Kent Larson came up to Taco
Bell and told me to come over to Kent’s house
after getting off work . I
did and then we all went down to the
Huntington Beach Pier to goof around. They said the faculty dinner tonight came
well except that Cliff and Kim Martin
were slightly bombed. After leaving the pier, we drove around until 2:30
before we all went home. I didn’t get to bed until 3. I heard from Mom
that she was laid off today from her
job. The weather is cool and cloudy
70 degrees. My favorite songs on the radio now are James Taylor’s You
Got A Friend, Matthew Southern Comfort’s Woodstock. And Carole King’s It’s Too
late.
22 May 1971 Saturday
I got up at 7:30 this morning , tired as hell.
I got ready to go into work a 9 to open up Taco bell and worked with Jim
Gramsted until 4 this afternoon/ It was a super busy day, and my cousin Larry
Fagan came up to get more food for his friends and he and I went at it saying
he couldn’t be bumming free food for all his friends. So, he is mad at me. It’s
one thing for a taco and a drink once in a while but this has gotten out of
hand.
After work I came home
to Garden Grove where I had a thank you card from Pam Huskey thanking me for the money I sent, and had a check
from the insurance for $61 for my stolen mike.
My uncle and aunt
Milton and Marie Williams came over for dinner, so I took my cousin Stephanie with
Kent Larsen and Sally Johnson to the Second Season-Spring Performance of the
Dance Theater of Orange County. It was an excellent performance of Modern ballet.
After the performance we all we to Belisle off of Harbor and Chapman to get a
snack before going home.
It was a pleasant evening, but I am so tired. I didn’t get to bed until
12:30. The weather was overcast today at
67 degrees.
In the news 30 soldiers
were killed in Viet Nam when a rocket
hit the bunker, they were in.
Pam wrote; “Dear Jr
& Donna. Thank you for the $20.00. It was too much. I’m doing what you
said. I’m having fun with it. Thanks again . Hope to see ya. God Bless Ya. Love
Pamela Evaughn Husky.”
23 May 1971 Sunday
I got up at 9 to get ready open up Taco Bell at
10> I worked there with Jim Gramsted until 4:30. It was a fairly steady day. Around 3:30 Sally Johnson, Wendy Warner and Kent came up
to see me to tell me to come over to Kent’s house after I get off work. There I
played the board Game Risk until 7 then I went home to Dale Street to do some
reading and homework. I went to bed early for a change at 10. The weather has
been warm and clear today 70 degrees.
Everybody is super tired after all the hustle
and bustle from last week. It seems that
now that Kent has won the presidency of the Bernstein House, Kim Martin is
being pushed out of the vice presidency with Wendy Warner replacing her. Wendy,
I think is better qualified, but this move is sure to raise a division among the Sally’s Bernstein cabinet. If we
are not careful, Kent’s actions is going
to cause a small civil war between supporters of Martin and Warner. . Next
week, the Unfaire begins and that
means more work and probably more frustration.
Love us dear Lord even when we ae low and mean to each other.
24 May 1971 Monday
I was up at 9 and went to Cypress at 10 although I didn’t go to any of my classes
except the History of Revolutions with Mr. Reeve. The new college
catalogue came out today for the Fall Semester.
They are very “mod” looking. I won’t be here but over at Cal State Fullerton.
After class I went to the administration
office to see about my scholarship. They said I should receive it
through the mail. I had to piece back together our “unfaire” sign that the wind
had torn down and then went home to Garden Grove around 3:30. I deposited the
$61 in my bank I received from the insurance
for my stolen bike. My boss Leo Waldman called and said he wants me to come to work
on Tuesdays from now on. In the mail I received a book called “A Crown for
Elizabeth” and a record Handel’s Messiah
through my Book Club. In the evening I went to my Craft Class, but Miss
Felos let us leave early so we could go to a lecture on “arcology” presented by
Paoli Soleri who talked about cities and architecture being combined with
Ecology. I sat with Sally Johnson and Wendy Warner in the Lecture and Assembly
hall outside of the Library. I went home to Garden Grove at 10. The
weather today was again clear and warm
at 75 degrees. Mom was able to start collecting unemployment now that she was
laid off last Friday. In the news former Senator Thomas Dodd of Connecticut who
enacted a gun control act in 1968 and the ban of LSD died of a heart attack.
25 May 1971 Tuesday
I got up at 9 to go to Cypress and attended all
my classes. In Speech1A we were giving an assignment to prepare a presentation
and in Creative Writing we just shared our short stories. I came home at 3:30
to get ready to go into work now that Leo Waldman has changed the schedule and
worked from 4:30 to 10:30. I saw Kent Larson during the college hour, and he
was gossipy about Bob Wimberly and Gary Bassin being homosexual. Sometimes Kent
can be annoying. The weather today was cloudy and foggy this morning but later
sunny at 73 degrees. In the news a grand jury indicted over forty people for
pandering and prostitution in Los Angeles County. The Garden Grove Strawberry
Festival started this week. I haven’t gone to it ever, but I should.
26 May 1971 Wednesday
I went to both Philosophy and Psychology at Cypress,
and I have a paper to write for psychology. I really don’t like this class
anymore. In the Bernstein House I saw Bob Wimberly and we visited some about
Kent Larsen and some of the things he has been saying about me. I told Bob they
weren’t true, but he did tell me that he and Gary Bassin are boyfriends which
shocked me that he would admit that. Gary is so effeminate and tells everyone
he’s Gay so that was no big reveal to me. I told Bob that it didn’t bother me
that he is queer because God tells us to love everyone. It rained slightly this
morning but cleared up by the afternoon. 70 degrees.
27 May 1971 Thursday
I went to all my classes today and it rained
this morning, but it cleared up later into a beautiful cumulus cloudy day. 65
degrees. In the afternoon, I helped Sally Johnson with the Bernstein House
Pottery sale. Afterwards I went home to Garden Grove and slept for a while. I
received another book from my time life book club. I also received a letter
from Pam Huskey.
This evening Sally, Wendy
Warner, Kent Larsen, and I went the drama department’s production of “A Funny
Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” It was extremely good with actors Ron
Leon, Robert Wimberly, Rex Lynch, and Gary Bassin playing the lead parts. I
thought the show was really fantastic. After the show, I had to take Sally home, but Kent, Wendy and I went with Bob Wimberly
and Gary Bassin to the Troy Restaurant coffee shop for an after the play get together with some of the cast.
We all talked and messed around until about 1 in the morning then we all split.
I talked with Bob Wimberly most of the time and I think I have helped him return to his faith. God, I hope so. The
Second Coming is near.
I took Kent home and I
didn’t get to bed until 2.
In the news today a man
named Juan Corona killed 15 people in Yuba City California and buried them in an orchard. Also there
have been strange and mysterious explosive noises that no one seems to know where they are
coming from.
28 May 1971 Friday
I overslept today and missed going to my
morning classes. It also rained all
morning long but, in the afternoon, it cleared up. At Cypress I visited with
the Bernstein House gang. Today was the last day of the Unfaire and everyone is
absolutely glad it is over with. Bob Wimberly gave me a term paper he had
written to use in my Psychology class. I
promised that I’d do a history paper for
him whenever he needs one. I didn’t feel bad taking it for all the term papers
I did for John Cunningham our Freshman year. In the evening Mom and Dad went out for dinner and my sister Donna
babysat my nephew, James. I received his photograph that Jill Penney had taken
back today, and they were quite good. Kent Larson and his Mormon friend Arthur
Johannsen and I went to the La Mirada
Drive-In to see “On A Clear Day You Can
See Forever,” playing with Little Big Man.” We didn’t get out of the show until 1 in the
morning. The ford has been acting up lately. The generator light keeps coming
one. Also, my wisdom teeth on the left side of my jaw are starting to come in. I
had my right side taken out in March
1970 using Dad’s teamster’s insurance. Pulling them sure was painful.
29 May 1971 Saturday
I slept in late today until 1 in the afternoon.
When I finally got up, I had a bite to eat
before I told Dad what was wrong with the Ford. He checked it out and I
had to go buy a new voltage regulator. My nephew James, Charline and Dennis
were over at the house for most of the day. My sister Donna and her new
boyfriend Larry Johnson I guess have
broken up. I guess he pulled some stupid tricks on her too many times. I went
into work at Taco Bell at 4 and worked with Jim Gramsted and Rod Drier. I
worked for 8 and half hours and it was a steady night although not especially
busy. Frank Ruiz who I used to work with when I was first hired by Leo Waldman
last year came up to visit tonight,
Karen Gramsted also came up for a while. She said that Violet had quit. I
didn’t care that much for her as I always thought of her as a fink for Leo. I’ve
had a terrible headache all day and that wisdom tooth is starting to make my
jaw sore. The weather was clear today of
what I saw of it. 70 degrees. In the news that man in Yuba City is now said to
have killed 25 farm workers and buried the in an orchard. Have mercy onus oh
Host of Israel the great leveler.
30 May 1971 Sunday
I got up at 9 to get ready to open up Taco bell.
I worked from 10 until 4:30 and we were fairly busy. At home I read the Sunday
paper until 5:30 and then called up Kent Larsen to see if we all were still going to the movies. We
were so I picked him up along with Wendy Weaver and Sally Johnson and we went to
the Stanton Theater at the Stanton Plaza on Beach Boulevard. We saw a double feature
2001 Space Odyssey and How the West was Won. 2001 was the best of the two
although I’ve seen both before. The
first time I saw 2001 was during Christmas Vacation 1969 with John and Andy
Cunningham at the Orange Cinedome 21 . I saw it several times after that with other friends. Sally is teed off at me
because I don’t want to get romantically inclined with her. Why should I as
she’s leaving for Montana and “I’m going to Cal State Fullerton. I’ve been hurt
enough. Kent Larsen is getting more faggish every day. He’ receive a lot more
compassion if he’d show some to others. Wendy is the only one of the whole
bunch who is sensible. It was a cool and
cloudy day at 65 degrees.
31 May 1971 Monday
Today is Memorial Day so there was no school
today. I woke up around 10 and got out of bed at 11. I didn’t go to the Magnolia
Memorial Cemetery located across from
Hare Junior High on Magnolia down from Chapman., like I wanted to do. I never
got around to it. Mom and Dad took James to Knotts Berry Farm and my sister
Donna is stick sick from a virus. I worked on my Creative Writing short story
assignment for most of the afternoon , typing it up. I am such a slow hunting and
peck typist. Karen Gramsted called me into work at Taco Bell because my cousin
Larry Fagen is sick with something. She had to work the daft shift, so I worked with the new girl Vicky
O’Neil at night. She’s a pretty good
worker. We were pretty busy all night what with everyone returning from the
holiday. I worked from 4:30 until 10:3.
I am sure glad we get paid tomorrow as I am broke. After getting off work, I
came back to Garden Grove and finished typing up my short story. The weather
was cool today at 70 degrees with
sparsely clouded skies. In the news Audie Murphey of WWII fame was killed in a
plane crash. Pam Huskey always had a crush on him.
JUNE
1 June 1971 Tuesday
I didn’t go to my Speech class today. I slept
in until 10:00 then I got up and went to school. My neck is so sore. It must be
from all the typing I did last night. I went to my creative writing class and turned in by short story. We didn’t
do anything else. I saw John Cunningham in the library today and gave him my
“Jesus Christ Superstar Album” to listen to that I had in my car. After class,
I went home and slept some more until 3:30 then I went up to Taco Bell and
picked up my check. I cleared $86. I talked to Karen Gramsted and Rod Drier some
while I was there. After that I put $40 in my checking account and $40 in my
savings account. At 7:00 I went to Honald’s Hut on Garden Grove Boulevard where the Garden Grove Historical Society is
going to be meet from now on. I bought my new membership since I won’t be here
next month as I will be back in Texas. After that was over with, at 9:00, I went home and
watched “All In the Family” before starting to type up the psychology paper Bob
Wimberly gave me. It’s on “homosexuality.” I didn’t go to bed until 2 in the
morning. The weather was cloudy and cool. 68 degrees. Today is Sally Johnson’s
21st birthday.
Added Material
I wrote an article for the Q Salt Lake called “My first gay” that was published February
17, 2011 about Gary Bassin and Bob Wimberly
Forty years ago, this
month I met my first openly gay man. I was just shy of being 20 years old. He
was 18 years old. It probably seems incredulous by today’s openness not to know
a gay person, but forty years ago it was an entirely different world. Yes, I
knew guys who enjoyed sex with other guys, and I had heard of homosexuals, but
I never really met one who was “overt” and “practicing.”
In high school no one
would have ever admitted to being queer. Queer was the word used for boys who
liked boys, not fag, or faggot, or especially even gay. Those words came later.
Queer, pervert, and deviant was the general vernacular of Orange County, California,
where I spent my youth.
I had been in love with
a boy my senior year of high school, but not once did I think of myself as
queer. I had fooled around with the “boy next door” during my teenage years but
neither one of us even remotely considered what we were doing as homosexual. However,
we knew never to talk about it. We also knew never to acknowledge any affection
in our adolescent groping. It’s just stuff guys did with guys because there
weren’t girls available. How many times have I heard that line?
My sophomore year in
college I had befriended a Mormon who as we became friends confided in me that
he was in love with a boy. I also confided in him that I loved a boy. We only
shared confidences with each other and no one else. The social stigma of being
a sexual deviant was so abhorrent that we could not find a label to
appropriately describe our feelings. Forty years ago, there was no word for the
love found between men; only terms to describe an abnormal physical desire that
was termed by professionals as pathological.
But then I met Gary
Bassin. Gary was a flamer. What was politely called being musical or
theatrical. He embarrassed yet fascinated me. At the college I attended, the
Humanities were all housed in a single building comingling Social Science
students with philosophers, artists, and thespians. Gary was a thespian; I was a
Social Science student. In February 1971, my Mormon-artist friend Kent Larsen
hooked up with kids from the theater department and Gary, being young and
vivacious, was the center of attention. Outrageously, he announced to everyone
he met that he was gay! With a capital ‘G.’ Now it really was not a secret to
anyone. How could it be? Not the way he swished, strutted, fawned, and flirted.
Normally we would not have been so droll as to mention it, so we were aghast
that he did!
I was not in the
closet. Not really. I don’t think any of us were back then, for none of us had
the self-realization that there was another reality other than the heterosexual
one that was indoctrinated into us. Even though Gary was only two years younger
than I, he was unshackled by heterosexual conventionality. Somehow, he had
caught the spirit of Liberation and he was not afraid. His fearlessness scared
me. I loved being in any gathering where he dominated. Yet at the same time it
frightened me. I was afraid to be like him, effeminate, and yet I desired his
being unfettered by moribund gender roles.
Gary eventually became
the boyfriend of another theater major, a 26-year-old student named Bob Wimberly.
They called themselves gay — a word I never heard before in that peculiar
context. Bob and Gary, over the course of my awakening to who I was, became my
best friends. Bob taught me about Gay Liberation. He taught me that one could
live as a homosexual in this world. He chipped away at my turgid, middle-class
protestant principles. He taught me that to be gay freed me of pretentious
conformity and opened up a world of possibilities where there was no
presuppositions to what role we had to play.
In 1971 gay
consciousness was just emerging, and so was I. In the fall, I joined a
fledgling Gay Student Union at Cal-State Fullerton, was “released” from my dorm
contract because I was openly gay and could get no one to room with me and
continued to explore this gay identity. I attended a couple of services of Troy
Perry who founded the Metropolitan Community Church, went to a club called Oil
Can Harry where a boy asked me to dance. Imagine a boy asking me to dance in
public!
Sadly, there was no
Yellow Brick Road to follow on my journey of self-discovery. I don’t think
there is one for anybody. Caught up in the carnival of the carnality of
unbridled youthful passion, I could not make a connection between my brain, heart,
and courage. There was a fine line between Liberation and Libertine, and I was
too young to discern the difference.
Also, in 1971 there was
no real support for gay awareness. The institutions had not been established
yet, even within the newly awakened gay identity not yet a community. The
infrastructure was not there. Being in college and being young is an extremely
confusing time for anyone; especially for someone who identified with being
gay. What did gay mean in 1971? No one really knew. We were all grasping at an
ethereal concept which held that we no longer had to hide and be ashamed of who
we were and who we loved.
John Cunningham, the
boy I loved but never physically loved, joined the service at the end of 1971.
I never saw him again. Being gay without being in love did not seem to have any
meaning for me after that. It was simply too hard balancing two worlds. So, I
quietly slipped back into my old dead space. This time I was in a closet. At 20
years old I rejected that I was gay. Homosexuality may have been something I
did but was not who I was. I spent the next 15 years deluded and soul weary.
Waiting.
Gary and Bob drifted
out of my life after I decided to disassociate myself from those who could
tempt me from the straight-and-narrow. Bob had once studied to become a
minister. When I told him that I needed to find a spiritual path, he gave me
his Bible. I still have it today. There was a part of me that kept from
disconnecting from my true self no matter how hard I tried. One was that I kept
the love of John forever in my heart and the other was a Bible. In a locked
secret place of my soul, I knew that if I still loved John my gay spirit lived
on.
2 June 1971 Wednesday
I got up at 10 this morning. My neck is still
achy . It feels like the neck muscles are tinder. I went to my Philosophy Class
and listened to “Notes From the Underground” and afterwards I finally went to Psychology.
In that class we were experimenting with psychic phenomenon’s. Ralph Ludders,
some other kids, and I put our fingers on a card table and commanded the table
to rise and it did! The leg where I had my hands slowly began to rise but then
it dropped guess I didn’t have enough will power to keep it up. It’s a very tiring experience.
After that I went home and paid some of my bills and taped some songs on my
cassette player. I went back up to school at 6:30 and went to my Crafts class.
Jill Penney and Kent Larsen came in late, and I didn’t stay after 8 but came
home. Then I wrote up a speech for
tomorrow. It’s really horrible. The weather was cloudy like it was trying to
rain all day 68 degrees. It seems strange that school is almost over.
KHJ
93’s top ten songs for this week are “It’s Too Late”, the Honey Cone’s “Want
Ads,” the Carpenter’s “Rainy Days and Mondays”, “Brown Sugar”, Cornelius Brother’s
“Treat Her Like a Lady”, Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy”, “Never Can Say
Goodbye”, Brenda and the Tabulation’s “Right On the Tip of My Tongue,” and Wilson
Pickett’s “Don’t Knock My Love.” Songs I
like are “Me and My Arrow by Nilsson, Tommy James “Draggin’ The Line,” the Buoy’s “Timothy”
and Carly Simon’s “That’s The Way, I’ve Always Heard It Should Be.”
3 June 1971 Thursday
I got up at 8 to get ready for school. In
Speech I didn’t have to give my talk yet. Thank God! I wasn’t prepared at all. Afterwards
I went to get something to eat in the Bernstein House during the College hour.
Then I went to my Creative Writing class where they read my poem “Ecce Homo”
and I read my dialog piece. The teacher said I’d probably get an A out of the
class. I went home afterwards and tried to take a nap but every time I laid
down the phone would ring. Grandma Johnson called to wish Mom a happy birthday,
but she was at work still. Mom is 42 years old today and born in Shamrock,
Texas. Wendy Warner called and asked me
to come to a party she is giving for Sally Johnson tomorrow night. Leo Waldman
then called me up to have me go in to work at 8:30 and show Mickey and Vickie O’Neil
how to close up. They are the two new girls and I had to show them how to close
up since my cousin Larry Fagen was still sick. So that’s what I will be doing
this evening. The weather has been nice lately. 70 degrees.
4 June 1971 Friday
I went
up to Cypress today but didn’t go to any of my classes. Since I didn’t see anybody,
I knew there, I went home and went shopping for a birthday present for Sally
Johnson to give at her party tonight. I finally bought her some children toys for a gag. Around 5 Kent Larsen
called me up asking me for a ride to the party. The only time he calls is when
he wants something from me. I went to the party, and I guess Sally was
surprised. Nick Kelsey was there along with Jeff Smith, Wendy Warner, Ernie Sauter
and Kent. The others said they couldn’t make it. It was a nice intimate party
with the 7 of us. It lasted until 11:30 then Sally said she had to split so the rest of us
went to a party that Nick was invited to by Mike Fiore. As it turned out it was
just “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” cast and crew party and
Kim Martin and Mike of all people asked us to leave. We were so insulted we gladly left and when we did half the party
left with us. Afterwards, Wendy Kent, Bob Wimberly and his boyfriend Gary
Bassin went to Manny’s restaurant at 3330
West Lincoln where we stayed until 2:30
in the morning.
5 June 1971 Saturday
I slept in until 1 in the afternoon as I was
just so tired from staying out so late. I didn’t want to go over to Kent Larsen’s
like he wanted me to do and it’s just as well. He can be so egotistical. I went
into work at 4 and worked until 12:30 with Rod Drier. It was his last night .
Rod was a nice kid, kind of slow and dull witted but very friendly. Pam Ludders
and her mother came up to Taco Bell . I haven’t seen them in months. Pam is
still as pretty as ever, Too bad we never could hit it off. Around 11 at night
there was bad accident in front of Taco Bell on Lincoln caused by this old
drunk. I called the police and closed up Taco Bell because I knew the accident
would attract a crowd and I didn’t want to stay later than midnight because I
was invited to another party by Bob Wimberly. I left work and went to Cypress
where I help dismantle the set form the “Forum” play. That took about an hour.
Then I drove Bob and Gary Bassin over to the party. On the way they told me all about Kent and what he was
saying about me being queer like him. I was madder than hell! What I told Kent
about John Cunningham was confidential. The party was in Long Beach, and it was
a bore, so I left and went to bed at 3. I am having nothing to do with Kent
anymore if he is telling stories about me.
6 June 1971 Sunday
I had to get up at 9 to get ready for work and
I was so dead tired. I’m just thankful the morning was slow though at Taco Bell
although in the afternoon it began to get busy. I worked with Jim Gramsted from
10 to 4:30. Nobody came up to see us or visit
or anything It was just a usual
Sunday. At home I was so tired I just wanted to collapse but Mom had me go to
Me and Ed’s to pick up a pizza for her
and Dad. After that I called up Ralph Ludders to see what he was up to and to tell
him I saw his sister and Mom. Then
around 6:30 I decided to go see a show to get out of the house. I went to the United
Artist Theater in Santa Ana and saw “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” and
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kind. I had seen Butch Cassidy before,
but a long time ago. I saw it with John Cunningham on his 19th
birthday. I saw the Planet of the Apes with John in April 1969 and Beneath the Planet
of the Apes in October 1970 by myself after John quit seeing me. None have been
as good at the original one. I came home and went to bed at 11. I have to get
up early tomorrow for my Speech Class that I have to make up. The weather today
was warm at 75 degrees. Blue skies with light cloudiness.
7 June 1971 Monday
I went to Cypress early today because I had to
sit in on one of Mr. Svendson’s Speech Classes so he wouldn’t drop me. I had to
be at school at 8:30. After that I went to the library and read The Stranger by Camute until it was
time to go to my Philosophy class. This
was the last meeting of the class until the final. I enjoyed this class more
than I thought I would, and I did get something out of it. I went to
Psychology and the teacher told us what
to expect on the final. It sounds like a bear. This is the only class I ever
took at Cypress which I really thought
was a waste. I was really disappointed in it. After class Ralph Ludders and I
visited until it was time to go my Revolutions class with Mr. Reeve. I liked
this class, and I am kind of sorry
didn’t attend more often. Mr. Reeve said I got a B out of it. He was
being generous. At home I rested until it was time to go to Crafts, there I
worked on my project until 8 then I left. Jill Penney needed some money, so I
gave her $1.50 which was all I had on me. I don’t know what she needed it for.
I got a letter from Grandma Johnson. She sounded like she was still depressed.
8 June 1971 Tuesday
Today was last day of classes for me at Cypress
College except of course for finals. I gave my final speech in that class today
on the topic of the body snatchers “Burke and Hare” who became serial killers
in Scotland. I really did enjoy this class although I was dreading the thought
of taking it at first. It really wasn’t the terrifying experience I thought it would
be. Mr. Svendsen is a cool head also and a very nice person. After that I had
Creative Writing where Miss Rederus read some of her own poetry. I also liked
this class too as Miss Rederus really is an excellent instructor. I have no complaints
at all with her taking over from Mr., Manis After class I went to the Bernstein House to
work on the wood project for crafts before going into work at Taco Bell. I
didn’t see any of my friends or talk to anyone today. At Taco Bell worked from
4:30 to 10:30 with Vickie O’Neil. It was a fairly slow night although there was
plenty of work to be done. The weather was today cool and overcast all day. The
stratus clouds never lifted, and it was 65 degrees. Tomorrow, I think I’ll buy
another ten-speed bike as I miss riding. My sister Donna wants to buy one also.
9 June 1971 Wednesday
Today is my sister Charline Wach’s 24th
birthday. She was born in Los Angeles. I didn’t get up until 11 . I slept in
because I was so tired, I might as well sleep as much as I can now. It will be
soon enough that I won’t be able to do so. Charline and my nephew James was
over today doing up their wash. My sister Donna and I went to Zody’s department
store across from the Orange County Plaza
in the afternoon and Donna bought herself a ten speed. It’s lime
colored with white handles tapes. She
bought it for only $45 as it was on sale. I bought some clothes that I will
need for back in Texas. I spent $50 on 5 shirts and 2 pairs of blue jeans. I
bought Charline a birthday card with the money I had left over. Mom has a
bladder infection and is going to have to go into the hospital for it. I hope she
doesn’t have it too serious. In the evening I turned in my wood project to Miss.
Felos and visited mainly with Jill Penney and Jennifer Gallagher. Felos wants
the class, next Monday, to all go out
for ice cream or something as a closing activity. The weather was cold and
overcast and it rained this morning. It was 60 degrees.
10 June 1971 Thursday
I slept in until 10 then got up to get moving.
My sister Charline and nephew James were over again . In the afternoon, I took
James to the Magnolia Park on Magnolia and Orangewood to play although it was pretty cool out and still
overcast day 65 degrees. Charline and her husband Dennis Wachs came over for
dinner and we had roast beef and fresh corn on the cob. In the evening I went
up to Cypress to try and study for my Psychology final some that is
tomorrow, I just know I’m going to fail.
I just trust and pray that God will see me through it. Up at Cypress I saw Bob Wimberly
and Gary Bassin. They were in rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz which they will
be doing this summer. I watched them for a while and then came home. Ralph
Ludders called and asked me if I wanted to the beach this Saturday. I said only
if it’s pretty out. Mr. Elbert Bales from Cypress’ Counseling office called today and asked me to drop by tomorrow
to pick up my scholarship check.
11 June 1971 Friday
I got up
early today to go to Cypress to take my Psychology final. I went into school at
9:30 and picked up my scholarship money from Mr. Bales then at 10:30 I went to
take my final. I have absolutely no idea
how I did on it. Mr. Canova did not say that Bob Wimberly’s paper on
homosexuality that I turned in as my own was very good. But I hope it brought
my grade up. After school I deposited my scholarship money and then in the
evening went back to Cypress to see “Psycho” and “Cat Ballou”, but the seats
were all filled up. I did see Ernie Sauter with a friend of his who also
couldn’t get in, so we went over to the Bernstein House to hear the choir
perform. There were a lot of people there I knew, including Bob Wimberly, Gary
Bassin, Charlotte Smith, Michael Fiore, Wendy Warner, and Kent Larsen. I sat
with Craig Pugh, Ernie’s young friend to get to know him better. He’s 18 years
old and graduated from Katella High School. His birthday is in September when
he turns 19. He wants to go to Brigham Young University in the fall. I got to
know him real well tonight. After the
performance, we were invited to a choir party at some body’s house near where
Sally Johnson lives. I took Ernie and Craig with me, and we stayed out until 3
in the morning. There were a lot of people there 35 or more and there was a lot
of booze and plenty of music. I talked mainly with Craig, Wendy Warner, and Bob
Wimberly. Craig doesn’t drink alcohol and I stuck to coke also since I was
driving. It was a very enjoyable party although I was tired after I came home
after dropping Craig and Ernie off. I think Craig and I are going to be friends
this summer.
12 June 1971 Saturday
I slept in until noon and then got up. My
sister Charline, Dennis, and nephew James were over today. Charline thinks her
baby is going to be a girl. She wants to name her Elizabeth. The baby is due in
October. I got a letter from Pam Huskey today. She says that Judy Schroeder her
sister is going to have a baby in October too. In the afternoon I bought a cake
mix so that Mom can make a birthday cake
for me to give to Karen Gramsted at work tomorrow. I went into work at Taco
Bell at 4 and worked with Vickie O’Neil until 12:30. It was a fairly busy night
but not really bad. The weather today was 79 degrees. It started to get warm
finally. Yesterday Larry Johnson called up my sister Donna and she finally told
him off and broke off with him.
13 June 1971 Sunday
Today is Karen Gramsted’s 20th
birthday. I got up to get ready for work, had breakfast and brought the cake
that Mom made for Karen to Taco Bell. I had to work from 10 this morning until
4:30 in the afternoon with Jim Gramsted. Both Nelson Sage and Ralph Ludders
came up to work today to visit with me. Karen came in at 4 and we gave her the
birthday cake and she was surprised and quite pleased. I have worked with Karen
now for over a year and we have gone through a lot together. After I got off
work I came home where my uncle and aunt
Milton and Marie were over as well as my sister Charline and Dennis. They were
over having dinner with Mom and Dad. Mom fixed a turkey with corn bread dressing
and the whole works. I called Craig Pugh up to see if he wanted to go to the movies,
but I couldn’t get a hold of him, so I went by myself. I went to see “Women In
Love” and “the Music Lovers” at the South Coast Fox theater Number 2. By a
strange coincidence I sat in the same aisle next to Bob Wimberly and Gary
Bassin. I didn’t even know they were there until halfway during the movie when
I noticed them at intermission. After the show we all went Denny’s
Restaurant for something to eat and
visit. They told me more about being homosexuals and how they met. Bob is about
eight years older than Gary who seems rather effeminate to me and kind of
blatant. I didn’t get home until midnight. It was a clear day today at 80
degrees. The beaches were all crowded they said on the news. Also, the Senate
is getting ready to vote on the Hatfield- McGovern amendment to withdraw our
troops from Vietnam by December 31st.
Two
years ago, today I graduated from high school. I went Rancho Alamitos High
School from 1965 to 1969. Grandma and Grandpa Williams, my Aunt Minnie
Williams, and my Aunt Bonnie and Bill Fagan
call came to see me graduate being the first boy in Grandpa’s family to
do so. The boys all wore green caps and gowns while the girls all wore gold
colors. After the graduation ceremonies which were from 4:30 to 7:30, I went
home to have some cake with the family and then I went out with John Cunningham
for Grad Night. The Senior Class was supposed to be at Disneyland, but we didn’t want to go and be with a lock
down. John drove his Karma Ghia even
though he didn’t get his real license until about a week later. I had convinced his Mom that he
was allowed to drive with only a permit as long as there was a legal driver in
the car with him. Actually, the legal driver was supposed to be 21 years old. We
went to the Huntington Edwards Theater and saw “Goodbye Columbus” with Ally
McGraw which wasn’t all that good. Afterwards we went out for pizza at Pepe’s
Pizza Parlor. After that we drove around
and talked about life in general before going to Huntington Beach to
walk along the pier at night. It was a magical night just being in the company
of John.
14 June 1971 Monday
I had to get up at 7 this morning and I was so
tired. I had two finals to take today. Philosophy’s final was really a bear. I
am sure it will pull my grade down. In Speech1A we just had to write a small
critique of the class. Svendsen said it wouldn’t be graded. After that I went
to Mr. Canova’s office to pick up my term paper I had turned in on
homosexuality. We talked for a while about it. I think he was concerned I was
queer. I went home after that, and I called Craig Pugh up to see if he wanted
to go to the beach this Wednesday and to the Bernstein’s Cabinet Banquet this
Thursday. He said he did and would. In the late afternoon I went to Huntington
Beach to lay out and start a tan for the summer. I burned a little but not really
bad so that it would peel. I was out in the sun for about a half an hour. I
came home about 4:30 and took a nap before going to my Craft Class at 7 this evening.
After class, several of us including Tim wood, Kent Larsen, Jill Penney, and
Betsy went to the Farrell Ice Cream Parlor in Huntington Beach with Charlene
Felos as a closure. It was a nice gesture,
but I am glad the class is over. I did like Miss Felos even though at times she
was so domineering. Kent thinks she is a Lesbian, but I don’t. I hope I get a B
out of the class as I spent a lot of money buying material for projects in it.
It sure was hot today 85 degrees with clear skies.
15 June 1971 Tuesday
I got up at 7 this morning to get ready to take
my Creative Writing final which was at 8. Today was the last day of the Spring
Term and my official last day at Cypress
College. Strange how I kind of feel sad about it. Afterwards I went back to
Garden Grove and returned to bed. My sister Donna was babysitting my nephew
James who was over for most of the day. I went into work at Taco Bell at 3:30 but
Karen Gramsted didn’t show up until 5 as she said she had to walk to work. Probably
because she was a little tipsy. When I came in, I saw the whole place was a regular
mess as no one on the day shift did any cleaning. It took forever to clean it
and get it ready for the dinner crowd. My cousin Larry Fagan came up to visit
and was bugging Karen some. Greg Troyer and Marshall Burns also came up to hang with us. I really like
those kids. Later in the evening before closing Ken Grant and Dave Young, who
used to work here a year ago with us, came up to see us. Funny how they all
liked to come and hang out with us. Even though we are supposed to close at 10,
because it was slow, I closed at 9:30 to
get all our prep ready for the next day and the cleaning done. After mopping
the place with beach water, I got out of there at 10:30 and I’m so tired and I
also have a headache. I am sunburned too from being at the beach yesterday.
16 June 1971 Wednesday
Today is my Grandma Johnson’s 72 birthday. She
was born in Erick, Indian Territory. I got up at 9 because I had a lot of things to do before going to the beach,
but Ralph Ludders called at 9:30 and asked if I’d come up to Cypress to talk to
him. I couldn’t refuse but I didn’t want
to. He was depressed about life and had a fight with his wife Brenda. I had so
much to do but I went and met him in the Bernstein House. I told him that I had
to leave Cypress at 10:30 to be over at Craig Pugh’s by then to go to the
Beach. Ralph asked if he could come with us, and I said sure, but he couldn’t
go until his last final was over. So, I went to pick up Craig and I have a feeling his Mom
does not approve of me by the way she acts whenever I come over. By the time we
got back to Dale Street, Nelson Sage was already here waiting and then my sister Donna said she
wanted to come also. I told them we had to go to Cypress first to pick up Ralph.
We all then went up to Cypress to wait for Ralph to get out of his last final. After
waiting for him the entire time, we found out that he couldn’t go with us right
then after all, so we left without him.
We went to the State Beach near the end of Brookhurst because it is always less
crowded for parking than down by Beach Boulevard. We were there for about 3 hours.
Ralph finally did manage to find us and spent about an hour with us. We went
into the water some and Craig and I built some sand castles but mostly we laid
out in the sun on our beach towels, slathered with Coco butter, where we all
got sunburned a bit. After everyone went
back home around 4 and I dropped off Craig, I then went to Taco Bell to pick up
my check. I cleared $65 and talked to Leo Waldman about quitting to back to
Texas and transferring to Fullerton. I think he was disappointed as I am so
reliable. In the evening I didn’t want to stay home so I went to the Stanton
Theater and saw “Wait Until Dark” and Vincent Price in the “Abominable Dr.
Phibes” which was very campy. Wait Until Dark was a very good thriller. The
weather was really warm today at 85 degrees.
17 June 1971 Thursday
Today
was a very strange day. I made potato salad for much of the afternoon to take
to the banquet and then deposited $40 into my Savings Account . I have $300
saved now. I also bought another Jesus Christ Superstar album since I gave the
other one to John Cunningham and I probably will never get it back since we
don’t see each other anymore. In the evening I went to the Bernstein House cabinet
banquet at 7:30.The people there I knew
were Craig Pugh, Sally Johnson, Kent Larsen, Nick Kelsey, Michael Fiore, Nelson
Sage, Wendy Warner, Kim Martin, Charlotte Smith, Gary Bassin, and Bob Wimberly.
It was a very strange party, people seemed bitter, cynical, and sarcastic but
no one was really super unpleasant. There was just an air of malice about the
whole affair between the drama kids and the house cabinet kids. After the
banquet, Kent wanted all of us to go to the beach, but I really didn’t want to have
gone yesterday. But Craig went so I went to be with him and spent most of the
time there talking to him about life. We made a date to go to the show this
Monday. I didn’t get home until after 12:30. The weather was 85 degrees again. In the news there is a court
injunction to keep the New York Times
for publishing classified information about the Viet Nam war. Watch out for us
dear Lord in our time of need.
18 June 1971 Friday
I slept in until 11 today because I will have
to get up early tomorrow at 6:30 to see Sally Johnson off to Montana. Ugh! My
sister Charline and nephew James were over again for much of the afternoon. I
took James to the Magnolia Park for a little while. After they left, I cleaned
up the front room and kitchen. My sister Donna had to work for 7 hours this
morning. In the evening I got dressed to attend the Graduation Ceremonies at
Cypress. I graduated tonight with an Associate of Arts degree, but I did not
want to participate in any of the handing out of the certificates affair. I did
that two years ago at Rancho and I think such ceremonies are such a farce. Bob Wimberly
was supposed to have picked me up but never did so I went by myself and sat
with Nick Kelsey, Ernie Sauter, Kim Martin, Charlotte Smith, Wendy Weaver, and
Kent Larson. The ceremony was held in the girl’s gymnasium, and it was funny to
me, watching the faculty walk down the
aisle dressed in their robes and mortar board hats, especially a philosophy
teacher, Mr. Neill Cooney, who must have thought it was a farce also. At graduation,
the orchestra band played “Temas” an experimental composition to represent the Holocaust
that sounded like cats wailing. It was so inappropriate. Michael Fiore and
Sally Johnson both went through the line to receive their diplomas and afterwards
some of us went over to Sally’s for cake and coffee. I was kind of melancholy
thinking how much I missed John Cunningham with whom I started college with and
had such high expectations of us being friends for a long time. I know that he
didn’t graduate this semester as he had dropped being a full-time student and he
plans on being here next fall semester. I left Sally’s party about 9:30 so I
could get to bed early. So ended my
college career at Cypress. The weather was 79 degrees.
19 June 1971 Saturday
I woke up at 5 his morning and got out of bed
at 6 to get dressed. Ernie Sauter, Nick Kelsey, and Craig Pugh came and picked me up at 7 and we drove to the Los
Angeles Airport to see Sally Johnson off. We arrived there around 8 and met Wendy Warner, Kent Larsen,
and Sally where then we went and had breakfast in the Western Terminal. We
waited there for her flight to come in. She boarded at 10 to go to Missoula,
Montana, dry eyed, although Wendy was sobbing. I think Wendy had a girl crush on Sally. It was a sad occasion for all of us
to see Sally leave us behind. We left soon afterwards, and I got home at 11:30.
Grandma and Grandpa Williams were over visiting for a little while but left
later in the afternoon to go stay with my Aunt Bonnie Fagan in Buena Park. I
went back to bed and slept until 3 when
then I had to get up to get ready for work. I worked 8 and half hours today
with Vickie O’Neil. It was a very slow nigh and nothing much happened so
managed to do a lot a prep work for tomorrow. We did drink some of Spanada
Wine I had bought, and we got a little
bit tipsy but that is about all not enough to not do our work. It was tasty
over ice. Vicky sure is a nice girl and fun to work with. She is very pleasant
to be around. The weather was warm but not hot. 79 degrees.
20 June 1971 Sunday
I got up at 9 to get ready for work. Mom was
really in pain this morning and Dad took her to the hospital for a short checkup.
I guess her back I really starting to hurt
her again. I went into work at 10
and worked until 4:30 again with Vickie O’Neil who is taking Jim
Gramsted’s place until he gets back from
his family’s vacation. Today was extremely slow actually the slowest day I’ve
ever worked. I guess everyone is at the beach or out picnicking. It was really
hot today at 90 degrees. When I came back home to Dale Street, I didn’t do much,
just read some more from “A Crown for Elizabeth” about Queen Elizabeth I and watched
some TV. I saw two good movies called “Seven Days In May” and “the Wrong Box.”
I read Seven Days in May, about a military coup against the president, back in
high school. I went to bed by 11:30. In the news the court lifted the
injunction against publishing the Pentagon Papers. A lot of careers will
probably be shattered by the revelations
in these papers that showed all along what the peace makers knew that
the Viet Nam War was an aggressive war and not a defensive one and that the
American Government has been lying to
the people all through the 1960’s. Lyndon B Johnson’s reputation is extremely
tarnished and so is anyone else who
supported his war policies.
21 June 1971 Monday
I got up today at 10 and today is the first day
of summer and the longest day of the year. Dad stayed home from work today to
look after Mom. She has to stay in bed all the time now because of her back. She is pretty much in
pain from it. My sister Charline and nephew James were over, and she cleaned up
the house for Mom while I took James to
the Magnolia park in the afternoon. My sister Donna rode her ten speed to her
Cultural Anthropology class she is taking in summer school at Cypress. This is
the first summer I am not taking any classes. In the evening Craig Pugh and I
went to the Cinedome 20 in Orange to see “Lion In Winter “playing with “West
Side Story.” I had never seen West Side Story
before, and it was very good. I’ve seen Lion in Winter four times. The first
time was with John Cunningham on July 22, 1969. It is an excellent and
marvelous movie. They both were extremely long movies so we didn’t get out of
the theater until 12:30. Craig said he's going to Utah next week and I’m going
back to Texas soon afterwards so this is probably one of the last times we will
spend time together for a while. I really enjoy being with him. He’s so
innocent compared to the worldly Cypress crowd. It was very hot today at 85
degrees. We had an earthquake this
afternoon although it was very slight.
22 June 1971 Tuesday
I got up at 9:30 today to run some errands for Mom.
I went to the bank and then to the doctor’s to pick up a prescription for her.
She still isn’t feeling well and has to stay in bed. In the afternoon I drove
over to Cal State Fullerton to pick up a college catalogue but was disappointed
to find the bookstore just too crowded with long lines to bother with, so I came back home. I then called Marge Swenson up to ask more about the Garden Grove Police
Department report I said I’d do over the summer, and she gave me some more
ideas to think about. We had a conversation over the phone for about an half
hour. I had to go into work to Taco Bell at 3:30 and I brought with me some Boone’s Farm
Apple wine and Vickie O’Neil ordered a pizza at 7. It was another really
slow night, but Karen Gramsted and Jean
Van Der Merghal came up to visit for a
bit and when we closed at 10, Greg Troyer and Marshall Burns came up and helped me clean up, so I sent
Vickie home early. I was home to Garden
Grove by 10:30 so I read some before
going to bed. I think I want to throw a beach party before going back to Texas
for my Cypress friends. The weather was hot again today at 85 degrees.
23 June 1971 Wednesday
I slept in for much of the day. When I did get
up, I helped Mom around the house. She is still not feeling well. In the
afternoon I called Marge Swenson again and talked to her for a while about the Garden
Grove Police department. Then Jerry Smith came over to the house and said he
has already registered at Cal State Fullerton. I haven’t even received any of
my final grades yet from Cypress. In the
evening I took my sister Donna’s
bike out for a ride, and I rode down to
Disneyland then over to Craig Pugh’s
house an then back home to Dale Street again. It was a nice night to be out
riding and there were lots of Marines
walking up and down Katella between Harbor Boulevard and West Street looking
for action I suppose. I was lonesome for Craig that is why I rode by his house
but didn’t stop. 80 degrees was the high today. I need to pray more for the
Lord God commands that I make no graven images of him of whom man is made in
the image. Am I attracted to God or his image? Are they the same?
24 June 1971 Thursday
I didn’t do much this morning or in the
afternoon. But in the evening Craig Pugh and I went to Knott’s Berry Farm to
have something to do before he leaves for Utah. I hadn’t been at Knott’s since
July 10, 1970 when I went with Ralph Ludders, his then girlfriend Brenda Maroney and this girl named Sue that they set me up
with. It was a clear warm night out and
it was pleasant to be outside walking around the park. We went to the new Gypsy
Camp that they just recently opened. I
was kind of disappointed in it . I took Craig on the log ride, and he sat in
front of me where we were bunched in tight. He had never been on the log
ride before, and he was splashed with
water at the end of the ride. Later in the evening we went to the Bird Cage
Theater and watched a Melodrama play. It was very funny with a villain and a
hero who saves the girl. I love walking around the old Ghost Town part of the
park more than the new attractions. We left Knotts at 11 when they started to
close the park. Before going home Craig and I went and got some donuts just like
John Cunningham and I used to do and we sat in the car and talked about many
things, mainly theology. I learned several things about Mormon doctrine I never
knew before. Kent Larsen is a Mormon, but he never talks about it except to
make fun of it. I took Craig home and I didn’t get home myself until 12:30. It
was a pleasant evening, and it is nice to get out and talk to people now that I
am not in school. The weather was overcast for much of the morning . When the
stratus clouds burned off, it got very warm up to 80 degrees.
25 June 1971 Friday
It’s my sister Donna Fay Pierce’s 22nd
birthday. She was born in Amherst, Texas like me.
Mom got me up at 9 today because she wanted
Donna and me to clean up the house really good because my Aunt Marie Williams
is coming over tomorrow to clean the house and Mom doesn’t want Marie to do any
heavy work. In other words, we are letting Marie think she is helping out. I
bought Donna a bike license and some rack ropes for her birthday. Mom is
still sick and is still in bed resting. My sister Charline and my nephew
James were over for a good part of the
day. I called Wendy Weaver and Kent Larson today to tell them about the beach part I want to have before going back to Texas. I
tried to take a nap before going into work at 4:30. I worked with my cousin
Larry Fagan today for 8 and half hours. Karen
Gramsted also came into work for we were really busy, and it was a hectic
night. She worked until 12:30 with us. I was very tired and had a headache, so I was glad that Karen
was here. Greg Troyer and Marshall Burns came up for a little while, although I
wasn’t in the mood to see or visit with anyone. I was so glad when my shift was
over, and I went home to Garden Grove. The weather today was very warm at 80
degrees. It is sad that in this world it is wrong to be different. I don’t want
to be different.
26 June 1971 Saturday
I was up at 10 and finally in the mail came my
registration package form Cal State Fullerton. I have to go and have some
medical forms filed out and get a few shots for small pox and stuff. Also, in
the mail came my book “In the Footsteps of Jesus” a picture book of the Holy
Lands from my Book Club. Otherwise, it was not an exciting day, just watched TV
and then got ready for work. My Aunt Marie Williams came over after I left for
work and had fixed a big turkey dinner for Mom and Dad. I rode Donna’s bike
back and forth to Taco Bell because I needed the exercise. I have to lose
weight! I am back at 175 pounds, and I am supposed to weigh 160. That is what I
weighed all last year. I went into work early
so that Karen Gramsted could leave to go to some party. I worked with my
cousin Larry Fagan until 12:30. It was warm
today but not really hot at 75 degrees.
In the news the government wants to prosecute Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon
Papers. The Supreme Court is going to decide on whether newspapers have the
right to publish them. I’m kind of bored and lonesome not being at Cypress. I
am also kind of upset with Bob Wimberly who I think wants to get into my pants and
thinks I have a crush on Craig Pugh. That is ridiculous. Both Kent Larsen and
Bob are ridiculous. But whose heart is so hard that it cannot forgive?
Certainly not mine as that hate breeds bitterness which is an ugly fruit.
27 June 1971 Sunday
I got up at 9 to get ready for work and I
worked at Taco Bell from 10 until 4:30. Jim Gramsted was back from his vacation,
so I worked with him again. It was a slow day, and I was glad to leave at 4:30 anyway.
At home I rested for a while and decided to drive into Brea to see if our old
Church of Christ was still active and meeting at the Women’s Civic Club House.
It was ,so I went in for the Lord’s Supper and stayed from 6:30 to 7:30.
Brother Jack’s and Brother Mickey’s two boys
were leading the singing and Bro. Mickey boy gave the talk. They are teenagers.
It doesn’t’ seem they could grow up so fast. It just means I am getting older
also. When I came home to Garden Grove, Jerry Smith called and wanted me to go
with him out to the movies. We went to the South Coast Theater on Bristol saw
Woody Allen’s “Bananas” and “Twelve Chairs” which is a Russian comedy that I enjoyed
better. I got home around 1. The weather was pleasant today about 80 degrees
28 June 1971 Monday
I got up early today at 8:30 and read the newspaper before going over
to Cal State Fullerton. There in the bookstore I bought Jerry Smith and me a
class schedule and finally a college catalog. I also found out where the Health
Center was located and then I walked
across the street to the dorms called Othry Hall . I was a little disappointed
in the looks of them but maybe it will all
turn out all right. At home I didn’t do much in the evening just watched George
Putnam’s TV news on Channel 11 and read from Bernard Voto’s 1846 Year of
Decision. The weather is pleasant at 76 degrees. A year ago, today I was made an assistant night manager at Taco bell along
with Karen Gramsted. I went from $1.55 an hour to $1.65 an hour.
29 June 1971 Tuesday
I slept in until 10:30 today. I didn’t do much
in the afternoon because I had to go into work at 3:30. I rode Donna’s ten
speed over to Taco Bell and Leo Waldman
and Mickey were there. I said my goodbye as I gave my notice to them a week ago
and this will be my last official work day. I may try and get a few more hours in
when I return from Texas. I worked with Vickie O’Neil until 10:30 and it was a fairly
slow night. I bought some Boone Farm Apple wine to celebrate my last day.
Marshall Burns came up to see me as did Jean Van der Merghal.
I feel glad and sad at the same time leaving Taco Bell. It was my first real job,
and I had a lot of fun at times working with the gang there here. It’s the only
place that John Cunningham and I worked together back in 1970. Off work and
back home, I read some more from “1846 Year of Decision” before going to bed.
The weather was cool today at 77 degrees. In the news Cassius Clay was cleared
by the Supreme Court , Daniel Ellsberg was arrested in Los Angeles, and Joe Colombo
of the Italian Antidefamation League was
shot at a rally in New York City. The induction of men into the military
service will halt at midnight tomorrow if Congress doesn’t pass the renewal of the Selective
Service Act.
30 June 1971 Wednesday
I got up early today to go over too Craig
Pugh’s house. He lives at 1236 Diana Avenue in Anaheim. We went up to the Cypress
College library where we listened to Jesus Christ Superstar. Afterwards we went
to the Bernstein House’s office where Craig said goodbye to Wendy Warner and
Kent Larsen as he’s leaving for Utah too attend Brigham Young University for
summer school. After saying his goodbyes, I took Craig out to lunch and then
home, I gave him my Jesus Christ Superstar album as a going away gift since he
liked it so well. I am going to really miss him so much. In the later
afternoon, Kent, Wendy, and I went to Chico Bosa Beach Park to find a good spot for the party. We did
and then we went home to start contacting people. I went over to Taco Bell to
tell the kids there about the plans for
the beach party. Karen Gramsted showed off her new Ford Pinto that is really
nice. In the evening I went back to Cypress to see Charlene Felos and Kent. I
asked Felos to my party, and she said she would try to come. When I came back
to Garden Grove at 10 Mom said that my cousin Frances Ann Griess called and
wanted to know if I would go back to Texas with them to help drive and pay for
gas. I said yes and Mom said Frances is living this Friday. The weather was 77
degrees. In the news three Russian Cosmonauts were mysteriously killed in space
on reentry from the Russian Space Station.
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