Author: Moonling

Janet Neuhauser and I remember Gregory as generous, curious, and always the peacemaker. There were seven of us in the Artichoke Mode collective in Olympia, Washington from 1973-1975.  John, Greg, Fred, Hobie and Rolf called Jan and I “the girls.” We all cooked, cleaned, shopped, and waited on tables—or most of us did anyway. Gregory kept the books. He periodically pulled the electric buzzer out of his overalls and asked me to cut his hair– he said it cleared his head. The Artichoke became a popular lunch spot. Governor Dan Evan’s wife became a regular, even as Gregory smiled and asked her to please extinguish her cigarette.  One clear night after closing, Gregory invited Jan and I to drive into the Black Hills to see what he called Greg’s Glob—some star formation that he wanted to check out. We rode in the back of the Artichoke truck along with others from Calliope farm, bumping against Gregory’s giant wooden telescope the whole way. In the headlights we saw sorrel growing in the ditch and stopped to pick; at the top we laid on blankets looking at the starry night, dreaming of our next adventures. I wrote my first novel while at Evergreen…about what else? The Artichoke. We should have guessed that Gregory would go on to get a Ph.D. in physics. He must have been a fabulous professor—passionate, caring, inspiring, patient and fair. Jan met Gregory and Betsie a few times in Seattle and I’m sorry our paths never crossed. I live in New York and hoped to meet up with Gregory and Betsie in Boston when they last visited Lee, Kent and Fred. Luckily, from Betsie’s photos, I see that Gregory has a lovely family and he’ll go on living in the souls of all of us who are left behind.

Mo

Ten years ago Gregory wanted kinetic art gifts for his birthday. So I put this together from scraps from a project I had going.  Love you bro!

Bill Dean