PART 4 – MY LIFE WITH LRH – 1977
1977 Started off really great with my marriage to Gary.
Gary Reisdorf and I started going together from the time we arrived in La Quinta in 1976 and planned to get married as soon as we could, but due to my age I needed parental approval. We had to wait for quite a few months for that approval from my parents due to the slow lines between the US and South Africa. In the letters to my Mom I constantly asked for them to send the approval papers. I was also describing the wedding, my dress etc. I even drew pictures of what the dress was going to look like. I sewed my own dress on the sewing machine LRH had bought for us messengers. It was quite beautiful and was pretty good sewing for a 16 year old! I still have it.
In addition to asking my parents for approval to marry me, Gary also had to ask LRH and obviously he got it. I also asked LRH to give me away, but he and Mary Sue decided to stay at home alone and send the evening watch instead. This was the first wedding held in La Quinta. There were only about 50 people at that time, everyone was there. It was a great wedding but I missed having my whole family there. Due to the fact that we were in a secret location they could not come. If I had been at Flag in Clearwater, they would have come without a doubt. I was lucky to have Kima Douglas looking after me as she was able to write to my Mom before and afterwards describing how well it went. These 2 letters from Kima were included in the package of letters my Mom kept. From Kima’s letters I was able to discern that my Mom was distraught at not being able to be at the wedding, especially since I was her eldest daughter.
“Mom, you made me cry when you said you went into grief, you can never not contribute to the wedding. Your beingness and love is very valuable to have. I love you so much, it can’t be said in mere words, and I know you will be here in spirit. I just love you terribly.”
From Kima Douglas to my Mom:
“I fully understand how your feelings are, not being able to be here, I have a 15 year old daughter of my very own and I would hate not to be able to do her wedding when the time comes so please believe I understand but also know that I will do all I can to do your job as much like you as I can.” further she wrote ” I am the CO HU (household unit) and am busy but when one of my children get married I make the time. You may not not know it but I am basically house mother for all CMO as I handle all of their medical, make sure they are wearing their woollies on cold days and yell at them for not cleaning behind their ears, all kidding aside the CMO guys are really my special kids and it is very important to me that they are well and happy. I am a reasonable listener and my own growing up was not that far away so I can do and help whenever.”
Kima was exactly that for us messengers. Many times there were situations with LRH being so mad that we could not handle him and we would call her to come and calm him down, she was always good at that.
On the morning of my wedding, Kima had put my hair in curlers and we were getting the Palms home ready for the wedding. A messenger came to the house and told me I had to go and see LRH immediately, I was frantic as I had curlers in my hair, but she told me to just come. When I got to LRH’s house, he took me for a walk around his property of the Rifle house. It was very sweet and he said that first off he cannot give me too much advice as he himself did not have a good success with the 2D. That shook me a bit at the time as I thought he was perfect at everything! But overall his talk was sweet and he told me that he thought Gary was a great, handsome young man and he was happy for us. It was a special time for me.
Arthur Hubbard was one of Gary’s best friends and he was Gary’s best man. Gale and Dede Reisdorf were my 2 bridesmaids.
My letter soon after the wedding:
“We had the most beautiful wedding, my dress came out so well, and it really is very pretty. Gary was in a dinner suit so was Arthur. My two bridesmaids were in the same dress, and made them, themselves. LRH was not able to make it to the wedding, but he and Marysue gave us $100 and a pure silver tray, with two silver goblets, they are so gorgeous and are sure treasures……..”
We were madly in love and still are today – Gary and I are soon to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.
The early part of 1977 was quite smooth and LRH seemed quite content and happy even though Quentin had died just a few months before. There were a couple of incidents that I remember:
The messenger duties were expanded to now include dictation by LRH for all his telexes, dispatches and whatever else. We would carry with us a yellow legal size pad and pens and a small recorder. So even if he went for a walk we had to have these items with us. But mostly he dictated to us in his office. We developed, between us messengers and LRH, a sort of crude form of shorthand, which all of us understood. Even if we had learned shorthand, he would not have understood it. So when he started dictating we would start writing but you also had to remember to turn on the small recorder or else you would be in big shit if you could not keep up. It could be stressful at times. One also had to be fast as he would speak very fast. When we started doing this I was very slow with my handwriting and after a while he just got so mad at me that he took me off watch for a few weeks and had another messenger who had great handwriting teach me and change my handwriting — Clarisse Barnett (Shelly Miscavige’s older sister). Clarisse had beautiful handwriting and was very fast. For weeks I had to start over learning how to write as though I was in kindergarten. My handwriting changed completely, from perfect cursive and small, to very large and a mixture of print and cursive, which is how my handwriting is today. As soon as I was good enough I was back on watch. But honestly it was a very stressful time as LRH would dictate and then when he wanted to see what he had just said, he would grab the pad from me and then read and boy was there hell to pay if he could not read what I had written or had not completed it. Once you had finished taking the dictation we would then go into the messenger office which adjoined LRH’s and we would sit and type, listening to the tape to ensure it was perfect. That was also hard as sometimes you could not even hear what word he used. When you were finished your watch, you could not leave until your dictation had been typed. This included PL’s and HCOB’s as well as dispatches and telexes. We started off with non-electric typewriters but eventually got IBM electrics. Of course carbon copies had to be made. How life has changed with technology. We got good with whiteout too…..
In 1977 the Asian Flu hit the US with a vengeance and it did not spare us at La Quinta. I remember being in “isolation” with a bunch of other messengers with this horrible flu and we would all have high fevers and were hallucinating. It was terrible and we were in “iso” for almost a week. It was bad. I wrote to my Mom about this and said how I had not been sick for so long, “but I found out the SP on my lines and got it handled”. I have no idea what SP I had found. I also wrote about how I was doing a car mechanic course and learning about every part of the car and all of its systems. All I can say is that I still do not know how all parts of a car work. I was about to get my drivers license in La Quinta at 16 years old. I learned how to drive in a Buick station-wagon, which we called “Beauty” at La Quinta. I finally got the license and one day I remember driving LRH in Beauty around the property and he got so mad at me that he kicked me out of the drivers seat and took over, I was never able to drive him again. I must say that I am a very good driver now, and in later years learnt how to drive a shift stick.
David Miscavige arrived at La Quinta in early 77. He started learning how to be a messenger and was soon “ghosting” senior messengers on watch. However he was soon assigned to be a Traffic Messenger and that involved sitting in the messenger office adjacent to LRH’s office and screening any and all traffic to LRH which mainly included telexes. The traffic messengers would put the traffic in order and take out anything that was not really appropriate. He occasionally stood an actual watch but these were few and far between. He was not a great messenger and would frequently irritate LRH. When he first arrived we all called him “Kid” or “The Kid” and this included LRH. After a period of time of not doing too well as a messenger LRH determined that we all had to stop calling him “Kid” and rather Dave or DM. LRH determined that he was dramatizing the name Kid and acting too much like a kid. As I mentioned before most of the male messengers did not do well as watch messengers, but DM was actually worse and in fact, Pat Broeker who also sometimes stood watch, would irritate LRH quite frequently. At one point, both DM and Pat ended up digging ditches together at a time when we did not have the RPF going. They soon became firm friends.
During early 77, LRH had bad stomach problems (ulcers ) and due to this, we organized for a drafting table to be installed in his office and that way he could work standing up and it could tilt. When he was done working/writing he could then sit in his comfortable chair and read but most of the time he stood up.
In July of 1977 the FBI raid occurred and I cannot recall exactly how we heard about it. I am presuming frantic phone calls and telexes were coming into Marysue from the GO. This would have happened on the day of the raids. MSH immediately told LRH and he decided to leave La Quinta.
Here is a brief description from Diana Reisdorf (Dede) who went with LRH along with Claire Rossouw and Pat Broeker. Pat was specifically picked to go due to his prior time in the normal world.
“We left La Quinta when it turned dark in the station wagon Beauty. LRH, Pat, Claire and I. We left La Quinta and headed to San Bernardino to spend the first night. He immediately had Pat go and buy hair color. I don’t recall what Pat and Claire did… I know I went black, and LRH went dark brown. Claire helped him dye his hair and eyebrows and he touched up his chest hair and whatever else in the shower. Claire, I think, also literally put a towel around his head like a bowl and cut his hair. The next morning we loaded up and took off.
So, one of the first priorities when we got to Reno, before instituting the rule of only 2 together at any one time, was to get him in to see a doctor. Pat was off looking for an apartment to rent and Claire and I found an internist in the yellow pages close by. The three of us went directly to the doctor’s office. While Claire and I were speaking with the nurse receptionist, LRH sat in the waiting room holding his stomach and moaning (purposefully dramatizing). We explained that our uncle was in a lot of pain. He had been recently traveling and his wallet had been stolen so he didn’t have any ID. But of course, we had cash. His moaning convinced the nurse to bump him into rotation and he was fairly quickly taken into a waiting room. Claire and I were keeping up the story of the worried nieces when we shortly heard him telling the Doc stories and lots of chortling and laughter. We joked (just us with Pat later) about how stupid we felt with the dramatic entrance and all, and then minutes later he is in there laughing away.
I recall that they did an endoscope into his stomach and found out that he has ulcers. He got a prescription for antibiotics (I think) and felt better shortly thereafter.
During this time, Pat found a place in Sparks, Nevada. I was told that he and Claire went so far as to get “married” with their fake names and they rented the place as newlyweds. They rented it for the two of them – if asked about seeing others in the unit, they were to say that Claire’s uncle (or sister if that was mentioned) was visiting.
We quickly got into a routine. He woke in the very early morning (4-5 am or so) and had a session, and ate a snack we had prepared the night before. Then back to bed. We weren’t woken for this usually or that I recall. So we’d be up before he was finally up for the day. Claire did most of the cooking, Pat ran all the errands and purchased supplies, etc., and I was his companion for any trips outside the apartment and helped with cleaning, laundry, etc. The place was directly down the line of the air force base. I don’t recall him complaining and we all just got in the habit of stopping conversation whenever jets were overhead…continuing where we had left off when they passed.
There was never any question that without the drama and noise of the Sea Org and Scientology orgs on his lines, he was a different person. Claire and I dusted the place like normal people do; we washed the clothes in the laundry machines with normal soap. Never a smell complaint or problem with dust. Claire even almost burned down the place! She was making French fries and the oil caught fire. Rather than covering it, she tried to carry it out to the balcony while in flames. But when they got to the balcony (we were on the second floor) a bit of flaming oil spilled over the edge and caught the umbrella of the neighbors below on fire. Pat smoothed things over with them but wow…that could have been bad!
The days were spent with him writing right up to dinner. After dinner in the early evening he and I would go for a long walk. Often down to K-Mart to just wander around. But on these walks he often made up songs and would sing. He was actually happy most of the time. Once, on a walk into K-Mart or the grocery store, he was goofing around with me. This was Nevada. Every store had a carpeted, roped area where there were one-armed bandits to entice people to put in a quarter and pull the handle! All these areas had big signs warning that you had to be 21 to play; I was not quite 20. So he decided he’d push me into the carpeted area and then start yelling (jokingly) that I was gambling! Then he’d laugh and laugh hysterically. I actually had many good times during our walks.
After our return, we’d usually watch movies. Since we watched late into the evening, and the neighbors complained about the noise, Pat got us headphones and we’d all plug in to watch. I recall watching a Mel Brooks movie – High Anxiety (or maybe Young Frankenstein) and the 4 of us were laughing so hard and loud…but with the headphones there was no other noise. We were trying to be quiet but just couldn’t.
After the movies we’d do the “retiring” routine. Normally he would sit at the end of the bed, talking and smoking. Pat and Claire at his feet and I was behind giving him a shoulder- and backrub. In the early months, the talk was all about what the hell had gone wrong to get us there. He would always end the conversation that it was all MSH and the GO’s doing…that he didn’t know what they were up to. “Right?” The three of us would often nod but look at each other kind of in surprise. Was he saying this to convince us? To convince himself? Or did he suddenly have no memory of conversations with MSH? Over time I think he worked himself into a belief that he was the innocent victim of all this. But that was usually the case – not his fault.
By October or November (?) he was starting to think about how to get back…he had been writing the Tech films, and had completed RTS (Revolt In The Stars). He needed to communicate again with the GO to find out what was happening post-FBI raid. And he needed to be sure we had enough cash. He was anxious to get RTS being shopped in NY/LA. He also wanted to get word back that the tech films were to be shot upon his return…so by January when we did come back, he wanted a base ready to be able to build sets and shoot the tech films.
He spent a number of dinners teaching Pat about the tricks of traveling incognito. How to change his look at every airport in the restrooms, including cotton in his cheeks. Pat then started the trips back to California to do the drops with the other messengers. Pat was perfect for this – he loved the cloak and dagger stuff.
I remember Christmas…we were all getting a little homesick and probably a little stir crazy by then in our little 2-bedroom place. Pat went out and got us presents from LRH and put them under the tree. Besides useful things (I recall getting luggage and a warm coat), he had two rings made for Claire and I. Gold bands with a little baby diamond, ruby and sapphire stone set. He said that we needed to have our first gems ☺
I think by then he had pretty much figured out that he’d only be safe at W if Mary Sue wasn’t there because of the trial, etc. Knowing that we would be going home soon, I feel, he started getting cranky again and got himself sick. I recall he was going [to a doctor’s appointment??] and Pat had gone out to get Beauty out of storage (we never had the car at the apartment the whole time). He was supposed to return, pick up LRH and take him to the appointment. After a half-hour passed, LRH still was standing outside waiting for Pat – he refused to come back in and it was winter! And cold! Pat finally showed up sometime later – the car had flat tires so he came back in a taxi. But in any case, when we did get back to Int, Pat was assigned a condition for almost killing LRH (he said he got pneumonia waiting at the curb) and for not checking on the car frequently enough (if at all??) the 6 months we were there.” Diana Reisdorf
While LRH was gone from La Quinta, MSH took over the running of the place and to be honest, she lightened our schedules for all crew and we had a relatively stress free 6 months.
One of the first projects we had to do once LRH had left, was to immediately do an all-hands project to go through all LRH documents and redact names etc. So it showed nothing from LRH. We used black markers and even blades (like box cutters) to cut out his name. This project went on for months and after we were done, one night we drove out to another property we owned (but no one was there) – to bury all these documents among the lemon groves. This property was called Silver and I have no idea if it is still owned by CofS. But we did this burying at night.
After a few months, we started receiving packages from LRH and this was the start of the movie script Revolt In The Stars. We got instructions on how to type a script and then parts of the script came every now and again. Some of us messengers were put on the project to type and proofread the script. I enjoyed this time period as obviously the story was good and exciting and science fiction. Earlier in the year we had all seen the great movie Star Wars which as everyone knows, was the greatest movie ever made up until that point. I had not done my OT levels so had no idea that RTS was the OT III story (minus the BT’s). It was extremely detailed and way more detailed than the OT III materials, with real characters. Each time we were done, we could not wait for the next package. Later when LRH came back he worked with his son Arthur on all the renderings of the costumes and everything else. He would describe it all to Arthur who would then do the drawings in color and LRH would make changes or approve them. Again, very detailed. BTW- The loyal officers were in sea org uniforms. He told us that this movie was a “clearing the planet movie as it would key people out”.
LRH had not only written the RTS script but had also been writing Tech Film scripts and he started sending instructions to get ready for filming, this involved a lot of recruitment to La Quinta for this purpose – people who could build sets/do lighting/camera work etc. But to tell you the honest truth, most of these people were Sea Org members and when we started filming pretty much no one knew what to do. Our staff at La Quinta soon swelled to well over a hundred people.
In November of 1977 Gale Reisdorf married Steve Irwin and here is a photo from their wedding. And they too will be celebrating their 40th in 2017.
By December 1977 we received word that LRH was coming back but MSH had to be off the property due to her upcoming court case. It was decided to move her to Beverly Hills. Gary and I were given the project of getting her house ready. So off we went, not having a clue how to set up a house with furniture and everything else. But with lots of cash we managed to buy everything for the house and then set it up for her. We were up straight for 4-5 days cleaning/setting up furniture etc. It was grueling and I remember having to clean each piece of glass on a big chandelier. We spent NY eve at this house and returned to La Quinta by January 2nd.
Everyone at LQ was excited to have LRH back and the fact that we were now going to start filming the tech films. So we now go into 1978 which was another tumultuous year of the forming of Gold and LRH getting very sick and going into a coma…………..
Lois, I have finally had time to read all the installments. Interesting that I was called a liar on ESMB when I said LRH told me David Miscavige was “just a punk kid”, yet you say for quite a while his nickname was kid.
I was also called a liar and delusional when I said documents regarding me were destroyed yet you talk of destroying documents. I think people refuse to admit that there was that much cloak and dagger going on back then. The most important documents in the history of scientology were probably all destroyed IMHO as they were too incriminating.
There was a dark underbelly, but there have been very few people willing to say anything about what went on back then. We were all sworn to secrecy and believed we were being honorable by keeping our mouths shut. It wasn’t exposed like it is these days, so people think pre-Miscavige was all sweetness and light.
Thank you for relating your memories.
So interesting!
………had I known it was all bullshit from the start…I would not have wasted near on 40 years of my life. *sigh. What kills me sometimes…is to read how it was bullshit even before I got in. All those early years in the late 70’s and early 80’s when I was raw and enthusiastic and OH SO dedicated and excited… all those thoughts and lies and wrong ideas of what the rat-bastard was doing and how I idolized him and wished to help him and thank him…
to think …that at one time I yearned to be in the household unit
that I cherished the “lrh” letters I got back
that I
believed.
I value these articles by this gal. All that I thought and yearned for, she lived. It’s fascinating to read what was going on while I toiled away gulping the party line and cup of lies. I used to dream and imagine where he was and what he was doing..and wish for him to come to town and lecture..to see him….
I’m so glad i’m out. Better late than never. (a trite phrase I don’t mind in this instance)
……..
I would rather admit to being wrong about everything for the entirety of those 40 years, than grant one iota of false truth to that lying sack of shit charlatan.
Nothing in my life matters except from here on out.
I can not believe that I wasted this life believing insane know-it-all-crazy-space-opera-bullshit.
One man with all the answers?
How the f*ck did ever fall for it?
secretfornow, most of us wasted some portion of our life on scamology. We can only move forward and upward, away from Hubtard & scamology. Also, let everyone know that we can to steer clear of that insane scam.
We all did, secret, we all did. However, for all of us here, that’s old news! Nothing the cult does impinges on us anymore. We are observers of a dying movement. And…it’s just so much fun laughing at them!
Here, here…almost everyone here feels as if they wasted some portion of their lives supporting a cult that, in reality. deserved to be destroyed. But living in the past, and staying stuck in regret and “coulda, shoulda, woulda” thought patterns only serves to waste more of one’s precious remaining time on earth.
Celebrate your freedom and help others to regain theirs! Not only can something be done about it, but lots IS being done about it right now!
“Celebrate your freedom and help others to regain their!” Truer words were never spoken, Harpoona!
thank you all. It’s still so raw at times. It’s still new and I’m still so closely connected. In some ways I’d like to just shuck all of my life and walk away so that I never have to hear of it again. I’m just learning how to deal and walk the line and grab some sanity back and figure out how to think and talk …. and how to forgive myself and not worry, how to move on….
When you still have to listen to family yammer on about it as if it’s all real and true.
I feel like a ghost hiding under a sheet.
the sheet has a smiley face painted on and I nod the head … all the while furiously wishing I could scream “FOOL!” and run away.
still learning how to … deal.
Lrh made up Kim Jong-il type stories about himself which sea org sycophants then embellished.Hip hip hurrah!
Reporters delight in amplying every screwup.
This is an evenhanded narrative of a scifi writer with a chip on his shoulder who always conviced himself he had found the next big thing.
A good ghost writer could help you make a very readable book out of this.
Not sure if it should be written from your viewpoint.You are nice,loyal,positieve.You could not make enemies if you wanted to.
Lrh on the other hand is a highly complex person.Your even handed accounts have helped and could probably help more to figure out what went wrong.
“Kima was exactly that for us messengers. Many times there were situations with LRH being so mad that we could not handle him and we would call her to come and calm him down, she was always good at that.”
Can you give us some examples of what LRH so mad about?
Coming up in 1978 when things went crazy……….
Can’t wait! I hope that you’ll continue to include first-hand accounts from others who were in Elrons daily company; multiple perspectives on the same events serve both to corroborate and to elaborate individual accounts.
I’m particularly interested in hearing more about the specific details of Elron’s series of strokes and major health complaints, which may very well have marked a long steady decline in his cognitive abilities and emotional stability, long before his actual demise.
Thanks for your reply, looking forward to the next installments.
Thank you very much , Lois !
Mike congratulations !
Big hello from LRHs Bulgravia.
Lois, thank you so much for the stories. Can’t wait for more.
Dear Lois,
Is that Roger Kernbach in the first photo, he’s far right in the glasses?
And in the second photo, is the guy on the left in the double breasted white blazer, is that Russ Egan?
I really enjoy the photos, seeing people who I briefly saw in Clearwater, on their way to go “over the rainbow” many of them.
I really enjoy all the history details.
Chuck Beatty
ex Sea Org ’75 to ’03
Yes. And one of the ones was David Rossouw. Maybe Russ, cannot remember.
Thank you Lois for this.
Thinking of Sarge…….he would enjoy this.
This series has been eye-opening. Just incredible. Thank you, Lois.
Wow, Lois – thanks so much. I love the way you just tell it “like it was” with no embellishments, no histrionics or unnecessary drama. This is what makes it so real and believable. It’s awesome having this inside view of what was going on at the time. 1977 was the year I met Andrew at the Polly Street org in Johannesburg for the first time. Funnily enough, Andrew and Arthur were childhood friends at Saint Hill and then later when they were both on the Apollo in the late 60’s.
Loved the cliff-hangar & eagerly await the next installment 🙂
What an enthralling journey. Thank you so much for sharing your memories.
“It was very sweet and he said that first off he cannot give me too much advice as he himself did not have a good success with the 2D.” Should have used the teck!
He did. 😯
Whoa!!! That means the tech didn’t work!!! Horrors beyond horrors! Maybe a vibrator would have livened things up a bit…
Maybe one with a Johnson outboard motor powering it OSD. A LOT of seriousness to overcome…
I’m not a fan of seriousness. But, as a former stand up comic, I’m a HUGE fan of laughter!
“Life is too important to take seriously.” Oscar Wilde
Thank you Lois.
Wonderful again. Looking forward to the next installment.
This is absolutely fascinating stuff, Lois. Thank-you for sharing it with us.
Lois, You were not the only one having to cut Hubbard’s name from documents after the raid. The GO was given the same order and many all nighters were devoted to this. I found some VERY interesting shit in the process!!!
@glenn: Do tell! 🙂
I am sure the GO also had to do this. Must have been interesting for you. Crazy times.
Dear Lois, may I ask your permission to translate your articles into Russian and send them to my fellow scientologist? There are surprisingly little of us here who can read texts in english
Yes, my pleasure.
If he is able, and you are willing, maybe also send them to Mike Rinder, so he can link to them, so they are always available here as well.
Is Dede’s narrative part of a larger write up/book?
Also, Lois, do you think we’ll ever hear from Pat Broeker and his stories?
There could be a book coming out by another messenger……wait and see.
Thanks! Nervous anticipation!!! (smokes 2 packs in 5 minutes)
I hope that your experiences will be included – or that you incorporate the parts you are posting on Mike’s into your own book. It’s always good to have the different “takes.”
You probably know this already, but all you would need to publish a book is perhaps a copy editor (which even the best-selling authors have) to fix such things as errors in punctuation or grammar. And you could publish for free on Amazon.
In any case, thanks again for all these parts of the story.
Encore Mephisto!
Thanks Mike. I will deliver my next opus whenever the Muse strikes. ?
I ate opus once. Didn’t really like it. So i mused about it. But, that gave me a headache.
Loved this quote from the Diana Reisdorf section that you included, concerning the FBI raid and who was responsible for that massive screw up: ” He would always end the conversation that it was all MSH and the GO’s doing…that he didn’t know what they were up to. “Right?” The three of us would often nod but look at each other kind of in surprise. Was he saying this to convince us? To convince himself? Or did he suddenly have no memory of conversations with MSH?”
Classic Elron move, repeated over and over again throughout his life: Screw up massively, flee the scene of the crime, blame everyone and their pets for what was very clearly his fault, then mastermind the cover up and promote some revisionist history account of the whole mess that either portrays him as the victim of others ineptitude or suppression (in cases like the Snow White debacle) or as the hero who saved the day and beat back the Evil Psych Marcabian conspiracy.
What a clown! Only young, naive and completely gullible folks can be brain washed well enough to swallow such whoppers and continue to think that he was God’s gift to mankind!
Congratulations on your long and happy marriage. I bet that there are very few other people who were that deeply involved with $cn for that long of a time whose marriages and families remained intact. In a rare moment of honesty, Elron admitted that he really wasn’t to be giving marital advice, based on his earlier failed relationships. Too bad that never stopped him and the cult from promoting themselves as experts in that field, while simultaneously failing at their own marriages multiple times.
Harpoona, where do you think the Soltan Gris character came from?
There’s a lot of remarkable memories in there and many thanks for sharing. One of the biggest problems one can have trying to reconcile someone else’s life narrative is to mistakenly refer it to your own circumstances without due process and draw conclusions too quickly. Time, place and circumstances are always unique. Your first hand account of Hubbard is, to be honest, quite remarkable in many ways, some domestically quaint while others are disturbingly bad but they are your memories and now they sit in the open for others to consider. Their historical value cannot be underestimated, but it must feel kind of weird having strangers privy to the innocence and memories of your youth.
My goodness, but the turmoil that Scientology wallows in is strewn with broken promises and shattered lives. The lack of any observable benefit for all this negative experience is daunting. It will take a little time to digest this angle. To me your loving marriage is the real gem in all of this… good luck to you and yours.
Thank you for sharing your story 🙂 I loved viewing the photos too. I’m so impressed that you made your own wedding dress, and your bridesmaids sewed their own dresses also, you are right, it was gorgeous. Congrats on your 40-year anniversary too. – T.J.
Thank you so much for your invaluable firsthand account of this time period. Your plain spoken and direct style is much appreciated. Your stories are helping me better understand my SO experience and the source of Scientology. Can’t wait for the next installment!
Keep the stories coming. I love them.
Off topic, but for anyone needing to do their A&E steps, you can start by watching the following: https://youtu.be/DgJKIvVWOaQ
Your only terminal is IJC (Internal Judgment Capability) ☺️
It sound like the Kid:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3977050/100-million-bed-hopping-hypocrite-claimed-lived-20-month-Fidel-Castro-20-luxury-homes-private-island-88ft-yacht-mistresses-galore.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline
Castro had Cuba and mistresses and Dave’s got Gold Base and his pooch. He needs to up his game.
With his size, I don’t think that’s going to happen…
Thank you Lois for sharing all these absolutely captivating
memories.
Thank you for the next installment! You’re a good writer, Lois. You even left it as a cliff hanger so we’ll be clamoring for more. (The part about LRH going into a coma, and the nothing…) So we’ll have to stay tuned for the next part to get the details…
My favorite part is, LRH pushing Lois into the gaming area ,and then laughing hysterically.
That was Diana Reisdorf who experienced that with LRH.
The Kid is still a Kid.
The Kid is a Punk
Wow! You guys called the Dwarfenfuhrer “The kid”?
Ha ha ha ha! That is too rich!
If he finds out that you told us that, you are so RPFed!
Thanks for sharing your story Lois. It’s great to have your take on things, especially since you were there. More people should learn about what really went on behind the scenes – we were obviously told a ‘shore story’ about Ron’s life. I’ve come to realize he was not quite the man the church has made him out to be.
A lot can be said about LRH but these stories make
him real and not only a fly-off-the-handle tyrant who
made life a living hell for the people around him.
Wow! Amazing data there. Lots of grist for a psychologist’s mill regarding LRH’s behavior.
The conditions for the staff are so similar to other cults I’ve read about over the years. Isolation, paranoia poverty, child marriages, explosive leader who makes all walk on egg shells, etc.
Old L. Ron Hubbard
Went to La Quinta
To find a place he’d call home
But when he got there
The Feds were aware
And thus Mr. Hubbard must roam
Very good poem!
Thank you. ?
The human side. I don’t care who or what you are – I just hate it when reputation becomes more important than people’s welfare. There are many ways to do things. What makes a person special imo is not sacrificing others in the wake of being “the only one” and then instilling some sort of self proclaimed altitude or importance over others. People like Gandhi stand out as special. Hubbard sure talked the talk but the weight of shattered lives surrounding him has grown and grown and has taken over. dragging the subject through the mud. Like most things on this planet, boy you’ve got to fight just to stand up for yourself. There are a number of lessons to be learnt from Scientology in how group behavior responds to gurus and turns it into a cult. There’s no excuse why he failed to practice what he preached. History has proved that beyond doubt. Can life be that much of a conspiracy?
Gandhi had a very dark side that is well documented.
The Dalai Lama seems like a pretty decent kind of guy though. I’ve read a few of his books.
Yes, that is true. With the situations societies find themselves in and the masses of humanity going about their daily business of trying to survive really ugly things occur. Just studying English history for example is a complex mess of some of the most gruesome murder based power struggles and in-family backstabbing imaginable, yet Britannia ruled the waves with one of the most powerful empires of the world, spreading their version of lifestyle & authority (while they lasted). Nelson Mandela is another figure which is viewed both ways depending which side of the fence of Sth Africa you have your loyalties.
I really did think Hubbard had the answers for awhile but as I experience the unfolding of his legacy and behavior I am becoming more and more convinced socially he didn’t have clue what he was doing. But what he did do he did with such confidence it swept his admirers along. Some of his techniques such as the grades I find useful but as a mankind changing organisation no. Its mechanisms have began to do exactly the opposite of what he said it would do. They enslave people’s minds.
I guess all I’m saying is you can’t help all of the people all of the time, no matter who you are. In certain parts of Russia the Nazi’s were welcomed as liberators at the time. Geezers, what sort of regime was occurring where they were seen as relief! Stalin – now, he was a real asshole with an unbelievable amount of blood on his hands!
Off topic,I have to tell Mike what an absorbing interview with Aron,sorry I think I spelled it wrong.Both of you were so good to watch.I love the whole series.Tomorrow will be Epic in so many ways.It makes me very very happy & proud to know all of you ex’s and I will never stop pushing for the truth about this cruel cult.?
Lois,you are helping to fill in gaps for me in my memories of Sea Org Asho F 74-78,from your vantage point at Flag.And by sharing your journey you are weaving your tremendously powerful comments into the linked chain of Truth about this cult we all share.Many congratulations & Love for your 40th.❤️