Star Lady

There is a story behind last week’s photo of Dad with his pipe. Not long after my family moved to the Golden Bear Mine, a couple, John and Valorie Thompson, approached my parents about including the story of our move from the Suburbs of LA to the woods in a photo essay book that they were working on titled: A Step Back in Time. The subject was the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s.

The Thompsons had recently published their first photo essay book about the hot tub counterculture titled: Cannibal Soup. They arrived at the mine after driving up Galloway Ridge Road with professional photographer George Lepp in tow and were relieved to learn that there were other roads to the house! The three of them spent a few days talking to my parents and taking photographs. I was twelve years old and don’t remember much about their visits (more than one), but the photos are family keepsakes now.

Our home was the kind of place where everyone felt welcome. We had a huge kitchen table that always had room for more chairs, and Mom loved to cook. She usually made a nice dinner with plenty of food for whoever might drop in. If she made too much food, the leftovers became a meal the next day. Dinner always started with holding hands and saying a prayer of thanks. My parents’ spiritual beliefs permeated the atmosphere. Mom’s record collection included several new age singers, and she played them often. Two albums by Christian singer Marge Snyder and an album called “Give Me Wings” come to mind. Dad was prone to exclaiming: “Praise the Lord!” when something pleased him. According to Valorie, exposure to my childhood family home was life-changing for her. She had become jaded living in the city where making money was all that life was about. Little did we know that this red-headed lady who showed up with her husband and a photographer would become a lifetime family friend.

Valorie and Mom became good friends. Over the years, when the road was not blocked by snow, Valorie was a frequent visitor. Her spiritual metamorphosis included discovering an aptitude for astrology. Thus, she became the “Star Lady,” preparing charts and doing readings for the entire family.

On one visit to mine, she went into Alleghany with my parents, where they visited friends named Jadd and Susan at the house across from the Store/Post Office. Valorie remembers that they had a Christmas Card from Robin Williams and his wife Valerie on the fridge. (They’d known Robin since before he became famous). The house was full of sunlight and houseplants, and Valorie remembers thinking to herself: “I would love to live here”. In 1999, she ended up moving to that exact house with her mother Mary. She lived in Alleghany for seven years before moving to Portola, where she still resides.

In a previous article titled “Night Mirror,” I mentioned how Valorie gave me a dream journal when I was in my early teens. That dream journal changed my life, just as exposure to my family changed Valorie’s life. You just never know what might change a person’s life. Sometimes we really are each other’s angels.

The author can be reached at: raebell44@gmail.com