WOODSTOCK ACQUAINTENCES

It is strange how those who went to Woodstock run across one another through out the years.

I was a Federal Prison Chaplain for 22 years after Woodstock. It was in the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island that I ran across a Hell’s Angel. When he saw me his gave me a big hug (I thought I was being attacked at first) and said, “it’s nice to see you again chaplain.”

I had met him and a large group of Hell’s Angels at Woodstock. They pulled me out from under a telephone truck, where I had hid so I could get some sleep, and gave me a lecture about sleeping under trucks. One man was killed by doing the same thing under, or at least near, a sanitation truck. They wanted me to counsel one of their women, which I did.

Later, I think it was on Sunday afternoon when Blood, Sweat and Tears were performing, I was called by radio to the road in back of the stage. The Angels were in confrontation with the State Police. I was able to get in between and solve the problem without bloodshed. I was very thankful, because I did not want to shed my blood.

Evidently my fame among the Hell’s Angels spread, because the man in FCI Terminal Island told me I was the official chaplain for the club and would be welcomed by them at any time.

I never checked to see if this was true or not.

I met several others outside the prison setting and we would share experiences. One I met had worked in the trailer next door to mine. He is now a regional director or Muscular Dystrophy Association. I have a MD disease, Myasthenia Gravis, and it was in connection with this that I ran into him. It was funny because we had not known each other even though we worked next door to one another. Perhaps it is because we were both sleep deprived during the festival.

The full story of my experiences at the festival are in a book about to be published: Between The Devil and the Deep…: Memoirs of a Maverick Priest. ANYONE WHO WAS THERE CAN CONTACT ME THROUGH THIS BLOG. I WOULD BE HAPPY TO RESPOND.