I didn’t want family mesmerism to get hold of
me if I went home so I opted to not skip a beat between SU and my staff service.
I came on staff the morning after SU ended.
Mrs. Prophet left immediately for the New Years
conference in LA along with most of the staff. I stayed behind at La
Tourelle.
My staff assignment was to work in the graphics
department learning how to input on the compugraphic machine and proof
galleys of the books and Pearls.
As most of the staff were gone to the
conference and it was close to Christmas, things were slow in graphics when I
started. After the intense busyness of SU and the high I was on at the end
of third level, it was a big letdown to enter staff life at the time I did.
I should have gone home for Christmas. My
mom was bummed I didn’t come home and so was I as things turned out.
There was no reason for me to be at La Tourelle over Christmas.
On Christmas day I was so lonely and I think most
of the staff were also. The few staff who stayed behind at La Tourelle had
a service that morning. Then we took a trip to the Air Force Academy just
outside of Colorado Springs.
The trip took away some of my loneliness. I
always loved the Air Force Academy. I used to go there on New Years day
for Mass. The chapel is especially beautiful and, of course, I loved the
military atmosphere. It is one of my favorite places.
Anyway, on Christmas day us staff went there to
see the show at the planetarium. I remember W.H. was one of the
staff. He was very kind to me and I always remembered his kindness of that
day. It helped to ease my loneliness. I was glad when
Christmas was over and daily life settled into a normal routine.
Being in graphics gave me a close look at parts
of La Tourelle I had not seen before when I had spent all my time on phone duty
at the front desk and in the kitchen.
For those of you who are interested, I will
describe the basement production area. I remember it very clearly:
At the far end of the building under the chapel, there was an AV area where
tapes were stored. (There was also AV space in the Gatehouse out back.)
The tapes that were played for SU were operated out of the basement AV area.
A nice guy named Daniel (?) did most of the AV
for SU. I think Harry Spielberg did some as well.
Next to AV was an SU office that TA’s worked
out of.
The SU office was at the bottom of a stairway
that went up to the chapel or on up to the second floor.
Opposite the SU office on the basement level
there was a door to graphics. All of the graphics work areas were set
apart by office dividers like the cubicles in large offices.
Right inside the door was the proofing and
compugraphic area. I worked with Jean Jackson, J. J. and K.S. on proofing and
J,J. also taught me how to use the
compugraphic there. I also learned how to make corrections, wax and apply
them to galley proofs.
Next to proofing was strip up and the prepress
camera where J. W. and L.S. worked. L.S. and J.W. gave me
some training on cleaning up galley negatives on the light tables.
Further down the hall was design where K.S. was also assigned. Next to design was Tom and Florence
Miller’s office.
Continuing down the hallway, there was a storage
area. To the right a stairway led up to the back hallway. Straight
ahead was a door that led into a kitchen storage area and The Tunnel that I
wrote about before. T.C. had a desk either outside the door or
right inside it.
I don’t remember much of those first few weeks
on staff. I do remember proofing Pearls and the Great White Brotherhood
book that were in production. I was thrilled to be part of publishing the
work of the ascended masters. I considered it a supreme privilege to work
on the publications.
Another privilege I had was helping to prepare
communion. Gautama Buddha had given a dictation which called for us to
take communion daily. I had been sacristan in college and I considered
working with communion a very sacred duty. It was a comfort to my Catholic
soul to do so.
Mrs. Prophet and her family did not reside at La
Tourelle at that time. They lived in a rented home about a ten-minute
drive up the hill above La Tourelle. It was a bi-level house in a nice
wooded neighborhood. The house was nice but not extravagant.
The upstairs had two bedrooms and two baths, a
kitchen, family room, dining room and a nice large living room that had a fabulous
view of Colorado Springs and the eastern plains of Colorado at night. The
downstairs had two bedrooms, one bath, a large rec room and smaller kitchenette.
At that time Mrs. Prophet’s personal staff did
not have all of the specialized departments that eventually evolved in later
years. M.K. was Mrs. Prophet’s only full-time personal
staff. E.M. worked part time and D.D.A. also worked from time to time on a part-time basis.
Soon after Mrs. Prophet returned from the New
Years conference, I was assigned to go to her private home a couple of evenings
to do dishes after dinner. I was truly delighted to serve the messenger
and her family personally.
A few days later I was called to Florence
Miller’s office. On Mrs. Prophet’s behalf she offered me a job to work
in Mrs. Prophet’s household on a part-time basis.
Florence explained that I would spend one third
of my day at Mrs. Prophet’s home. I was to report first thing in the
morning to help get the children ready and off to school. Then I
would go to La Tourelle and spend the day in graphics. After school I
would take the kids home and help with dinner and do dishes.
I was a bit leery of agreeing to do it because I
did not want to be a nanny. I like kids a lot but I don’t care for
baby-sitting. In my mind the job of nanny seemed like full-time
baby-sitting. I also felt that being responsible for the Prophet
children was a huge responsibility.
I expressed these concerns to Florence and she
assured me it was not a nanny position, just a part-time helper. M.K. staffed the nanny position. With that assurance from Florence, I
gratefully agreed to take the job.
Well, within 24 hours, M.K. was out
of that job and I was assigned full time to Mrs. Prophet’s personal staff!
I don’t remember why M.K. left. She did stay on long enough to give
me some training. E. M. and I took over her job. D.D.A.
continued to help on occasion.
To my way of thinking at that time, I felt that
El Morya had conned me into taking on what subconsciously I was reluctant to
face. And my feeling would prove to be correct. I was about to begin
one of the most memorable chapters of my life on staff.
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