Holly told me she was interviewed by investigators in the late '70s or early '80s about the possibility that we had encountered them. A cold-case investigator contacted her through her parents because a police report had been filed. Her parents gave them her contact info and they asked her about the two men who had given us a ride. Holly then tried to find me to add to the story as "the New York kind of guy" but did not know how.
Holly also told me she moved from "living to run", to "running to live", as Bob Seger sang. She got three degrees, two of them in social work and journalism. She has worked as a social worker and herbalist. She has started a cooperative and worked to set up independent media in the Pacific Northwest. From viewing her Facebook page, I have to stay she is a terrific watercolorist.
In a private Facebook message to Holly a few days ago, I revealed the conversation I had with John over that roaring fire 50 years ago. I told her that I thought it was the temporary camaraderie of two self-educated intellectuals about the books we were reading that saved us more than it was because I was from New York. We are both flabbergasted that the same person who can be moved to their depths by Karl Marx, Mark Twain and Fredrich Nietzsche could do some of the most horrendous acts that you read about in the Oregonian without having a psychotic break.
Reading books independently from any college or work requirement has been a foundation for me for the last 50 years. It's helped me to write my own books, articles, teach courses and develop documents and vision for our website. It has made me a better, deeper person. But I never would have dreamt that discussing books could have been an activity that might have saved Holly's and my lives.
Author: Bruce Lerro, Co-Founder and Organizer, Socialist Planning Beyond Capitalism
Image from The Oregonian
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