I remember you as a brilliant, sensitive and gifted child. Once at Town Beach by the Oak Bluffs Steamship Authority landing, 8-year old you made a sand sculpture. No boring sand castle for you, you made an anatomically correct man, full length, lying on the beach. Some friends of mine from high school happened by and were amazed -- not horrified or embarrassed, but amazed. I was very proud to claim you as my cousin, because your superchildness added to my own mystique.

--- Lloyd Mendes

I was going to my junior prom. I was suppose to go with a certain guy. Before the prom he asked me to come to where he worked, Panisis in Middleborough, to tell him what color my gown was. I took you there for a walk. I told you not to ask for anything. When we got there he was talking to a lot of high school boys. In front of those boys, you pulled on my jacket and said very clearly, "Momma can I have a candy bar?" The boys all heard and so did he. That evening I got a phone call from him telling me that he had forgotten about some plans that he had made on the same night as the prom. Yes, Garth you were a terror, but I have always loved you unconditionally.

-- Jia

When I first met you, I had just fled employment from Jeff. I was close to tears and trying to scare up money to get back home. I approached you for cash, and instead you offered me a job. I thought "Oh great, another perverted dealer." But you surprised me, you were a perfect gentleman that weekend. You treated me well, paid me well and even drove three hours out your way, to take me home. That meant a lot to me. We only got to work together a handful of times that summer, before I moved back to California. But I'll tell you a secret - by the end I wished you had made a move on me.

Thank you for being you, and restoring some of my faith in humanity.

-- Jessica

-- Dawn

you are the one employer/business partner that i truly miss working for and with ... i think we worked well together business wise ... but as a friend you were much more ... i did enjoy spending time together outside of work as well ... i knew that whatever happened you would always be a help ... you taught me well of how to put work/fun/good times/bad times always together, but always in their place .... we both had areas that we needed work with, but we always got them under control ... i miss doing all the shows, but more i miss our collective way of getting the job done .... most of the time our communication was email, sometimes it was phone .... at least twice a year we would work the show together .... a lot of times there would be things i had to do at home, but it was always something i could pick the time of day to do, as long as it was done on time for what was needed .... i do have to tell you that i wished i was closer to your way of wanting a lover, cause i always thought of how awesome that would be, but i know i was and am too old and too fat also tracy was a great person, and i was glad to see the smile on your face when she was with you ... there were times when we had to do stuff at your house, and you were great at teaching me what was needed to be done .... i think of our friendship often .... the one memory that i always think of is the japanese restaurant in orlando that we went to for dinner at megacon .... i also remember, that you liked a lot of asian foods that i did too ... i guess the most important thing that i think of to remember you by is that you were always kind to me, and always were very easy going when i had messed up, and you taught me how to fix my screw ups .....garth, i have/do/and always will be grateful for the friend and teacher you have been to me .... blessed be

--  Pixie Garcia

I first met you about an hour into my first convention. I was looking for someone to grant me permission to use a door marked "employee's only". No one was around. As you whisked by me and through the doors I called after you asking where to go to get permission. With a smile in your eyes I would come to know so well, you silently reached into your pocket and handed me a small folded card and then hurried on about your business. On it, it read "The Dealer's Creed". Over the years that card has served me well, not only at conventions but in life. Although I have long since memorized it's few short words, I still have the card.

I always enjoyed the few times we went out to dinner, I wish we had done it more. I always thought there would be more time. Another lesson learned from you. You are missed.

-- Daniella

Hey Garth,

Remember the days in Chicago when I would fly out from the Cape Cod to do computer programming with you? What a mess your apartment was! The first time I was out there, I was afraid to take a shower. I remember you having different roommates each time I would visit. I use to visit like every 6 months. I remember one time you had a roommate who was not paying rent. He sort of move in without asking. Or maybe he was already there and you moved in. He had four legs. He was a mouse. I would joke with your roommate how the mouse would snuggle up against my feet when I was in bed.

We have a saying on Cape Cod, maybe it applies to Florida also, but everyone has some sand in there shoes when the leave the Cape and they will be back. Maybe that applies to Florida also, which is also surrounded on three sides by water. Well I hope to visit you again soon. I always enjoyed your intelligent conversations!

-- Fred Golenski
June 2006

Garth's story about our original encounter is pretty accurate. The one about the oyster license I can't recall at all. However, (speaking of oysters) I can recall this little pearls:

About the fifth time Garth came over to my house, when he came in the house, he jumped in surprise exclaiming, "Oh, God," pointing to our dog Gypsy, "I thought this dog was dead. Every time I've come over, the dog has never moved; I thought you had it stuffed and just moved it around the house!"

When Garth was living with his Dad in the "garage" (the one behind the Circuit Avenue house, over the fence from the French people who killed chickens, I believe), the kitchen table was where Garth and I literally spent hours and hours listening to records. Comedy records. I believe that I developed a lot of my sense of humor from Garth and those records: Elaine May and Mike Nichols, Tom Lehrer, Monty Python, more Tom Lehrer...great, GREAT stuff. Over and over and over. Loved it.

The Red Crepe. When Garth was living at the Campgrounds house, one day Garth had decided it was time to make crepes. I guess he had made some the night beforehand, and wanted another go at it. This time, however, I was included, as was a small tube of red food coloring. Little did we know that it was to be "The Night of the Living Red Crepe"! Having made one or two, we ate them, and then he (or I -- the memory gets real fuzzy here) went to make another and some how a red crepe kept showing up all over the place (the bathroom, in a coffee cup, whatever). We played it for laughs, as the Red Crepe kept showing up wherever we were.

In high school, I was (along with Garth, Kris Wade, Andrew Carr and Chris Oliver) a math kid. We would sit in Mr. Mayhew's classes (trigonometry, pre-calculus) and try to figure out what Mr. Mayhew was saying because he always talked facing the board. Great mathematician, average teacher. My PSAT and SAT scores bear this out as my math scores were always 200 points ahead of my language arts scores. I bring this up because my love for language really was developed by Garth and his penchant for word games. Boogle was a favorite, but the ultimate was what we referred to simply as "The Word Game": choose a five-letter word, your opponent then guesses the word by simply stating other five-letter words. In return, the opponent receives only the correct number of letters that are in the word. You move level by level until you discover all five letters and then, hopefully, the correct word. This required a love of language and games. The one word I used with which I remember tripping him up completely was "unzip" (which, because of this incident, has become one of my all-time favorite words). And then we discovered the horror words like "spear" because they can be rearranged to create other words like "rapes," "pares," "pears," et cetera. You might discover the five letters relatively quickly, but you'd lose because the other had chosen one of the arrangements that you simply hadn't gotten to yet. The real kicker here -- I am now a Language Arts teacher (though I am certified in Math and Drama, as well).

I moved to Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1976, and the late '70s introduced THE MEMORY BOOK (or some other obvious title) by Jerry Lucas and Harry Lorraine (if memory serves me correctly; if not, I guess the book publisher ripped me off) that helped one discover the secrets to memorization -- I also remember seeing the two on "The Mike Douglas Show" and was truly impressed. The whole idea was that to remember a list of things, you connected them through exaggeration and visualization. We tried this and found it to be quite successful. [I actually use this with my students when I teach them how their brains work.] Well, we thought a simple list of "Items you can buy in a grocery store" is rather limiting (all found in the same place, all nouns). So, we set off to create the ultimate list of completely unrelated items including Dee's of Falmouth, codfish balls, Vaseline, Cape Cod Candles and a surprise midnight clambake! Years later, we would quiz each other on how many we could remember.

The Sex poll. In the senior year of high school, Garth (post-Jennifer Dunham, or even perhaps when they were still going out) decided to conduct a sex poll among the students at school. This illicit poll asked for relatively simple superlatives: "Fill in the name: Best Chest ____, Best Butt ____, Best Face ____, Best in bed ____, Best post-sex ____..." If you were male, you were asked to choose the females that did it for you, and vice versa. He had gotten around to close to two dozen people to respond before he was asked to stop by Chucky (Charles Davis, principal). He did. But they didn't tell him he couldn't post the results, so he did! On the bulletin board right outside the front office.

Garth, despite what he wrote about not being sure about this, really did change my life significantly soon after we met. He approached me during probably the second week of school of tenth grade (my first year at MVRHS) after school and asked, "What are you doing after lunch?" "Study hall," I replied. "You ought to join this class with me; there's only one other student (Mary Oliver, Chris's sister) in the class. It's called 'History of the Theatre'." Now, I has never had any type of theatre class before, but I had gone through the phases of Magic, Ventriloquism (I actually had my own plastic dummy) and Television (I used to know the TV schedules back-and-forth). Theatre? Why not? I joined the class, and I realized after the second test we had that I didn't have to study and I scored perfectly plus received extra credit. "How did you do so well?" asked Mary one day after results were announced. I thought about it and it hit me [this is quite literally one of the most important moments of my life] -- I did well without studying because I was REALLY INTERESTED in the subject; I found it so fascinating, it sunk right in, etched on my brain. It was at that moment that I realized what I wanted to do in college; I knew what I wanted to pursue...and I did! As a matter of fact, until three years ago, EVERY job I had had post-college (we're talking 25 years here, folks!) was in the entertainment field. All because Garth asked me what I was doing after lunch.

As the high school's resident drama king (or drama queen, take your pick), I was so into the field trips Drama teacher Duncan Ross would organize to see a show in Boston, I organized mini-field trips for friends for us to skip a day from school and go see a show. Usually Kris Wade would drive in his family station wagon [side note: he would barrel down the highway from Boston at 83 mph so we wouldn't miss the boat back to the island. Scary, scary times!]. Now, on Duncan's field trips, usually a group of thirty or so would go (on my trips, it was usually four to six). Once we got to Boston, everyone split up (no chaperones needed in the '70s, man!) and we would agree to meet back at the theatre half an hour before showtime. Garth and I would always travel to the Prudential Center and head for the Sheraton's buffet restaurant that was pseudo-Polynesian, I guess. He would always choose the large wicker chair with the enormous back and would refer to himself as "the Ambassador's son." We loved this place! It is also here that Garth described his tipping philosophy: the more the waiter refilled his water glass, the higher the tip would be. This restaurant would be a mainstay for our trips, whether it was just the two of us or as part of a slightly larger group. And Garth always got the chair for "the Ambassador's son."

Quite honestly, I haven't looked at my high school yearbook in fifteen years. I tell my students this every year, to make a point: the only two students I know for sure are on the superlatives page are Garth and Lisa Volz (the Queen/Freddy Mercury-fanatic). As I explain to my classes, "It is your job to reach the goal of being 'Most Unforgettable.' Everyone else in your class may end up simply being forgotten because they never stood out as being an individual; they were too interested in being like everyone else that they forgot to be themselves, and in some case, never figured out who they really were. Your objective is to be yourself and not anyone else because only then can you be like Garth and Lisa, and 'Unforgettable.'"

-- Bob Dutton
July 2007

from my 1976 red book:
WHILE WORKING AT THE BRIDGEWATER STATE PRISON IN 1968 AND SPENDING ALL MY OFF-TIME IN THE COTTAGE ON THE METHODIST CAMPGROUND IN OAK BLUFFS
ON OUR BELOVED ISLAND , MY ENTHUSIASM WAS NOTED BY EMIL . AND ONE DAY HE SAID TO ME : " JEANNETTE , IF I LOVED THE ISLAND AS MUCH AS YOU DO , I'D MOVE THERE."
IT STUNNED ME . ' I SAID : " YOU WOULD?"
HE SAID "YES" AND REPEATED IT.
IT HAD NEVER OCCURRED TO ME. AND IF IT HAD I WOULD NEVER HAVE VOICED IT . IT WOULD HAVE SEEMED LIKE A FOOLISH , SILLY IMMATURE DREAM.
AND TO HAVE EMIL SAY IT GAVE CREDENCE TO THE THOUGH .
IN MY MIND EMIL WAS THE SMARTEST , MOST SENSIBLE MAN I PERSONALLY KNEW . AND TO HAVE HIM THINK THAT IT WASN'T A CRAZY IDEA WAS HEAVEN-SENT .
SO---------

WITH-IN ONE HOUR:

#1-I RUSHED TO THE PRISON AND GAVE THREE WEEKS NOTICE
#2-I CALLED THE SCHOOL AND TOLD THEM THAT YOU AND I WERE MOVING TO THE VINEYARD AND PLEASE GET YOUR PAPERS READY.
#3-CALLED BOB CRAFTS WHO WAS RENTING THE COTTAGE WHILE WORKING IN THE HOSPITAL AND TOLD HIM TO FIND A PLACE TO LIVE BECAUSE WE WERE COMING
#4-CALLED MRS. LALLEY, THE DIRECTOR OF NURSES AT THE HOSPITAL AND ASKED HER TO SEND ME AN APPLICATION . SHE HAD BEEN ASKING ME FOR OVER A YEAR TO COME TO WORK THERE.
HER ANSWER WAS "FORGET ABOUT AN APPLICATION . WHEN CAN YOU START ?"
SO WE MOVED TO THE ISLAND ON APRIL 26,1968 AND I STARTED WORK THE FOLLOWING NIGHT .

SO PLEASE CORRECT YOUR BLOG . THE WAY IT IS WRITTEN , IT SOUNDS AS THOUGH YOU AND I RAN OUT OF TOWN IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT JUST AHEAD OF THE SHERRIFF AND THE TAR AND FEATHER GANG . SINCE THIS BLOG IS DESIGNED TO OUTLAST EVERYONE PRESENTLY BREATHING , I DON'T WISH TO REMEMBERED IN SUCH A BAD LIGHT.
DIDN'T YOU EVER WONDER HOW I , WHILE WORKING FULL TIME AT THE PRISON , MANAGED TO GET RID OF A WHOLE HOUSE FULL OF FURNITURE IF WE HAD INDEED LEFT MIDDLEBORO "OVER NIGHT"?

MORE DATES:

COTTAGE WAS PAID FOR IN AUGUST 1969 , $1000

186 STATE RD. V.H. HOUSE WAS BOUGHT IN JUNE 1972 , $30,00-- MOVED IN THE FALL OF 1971 WHILE WAITING FOR ATTORNEY HENRY COREY ( REMINDS ME OF " FIRST WE KILL THE LAWYERS " ) TO DO THE PAPER WORK . I HAD TO SELL THE COTTAGE TO PAY MY SHARE OF THE COST OF THE DOWN PAYMENT FOR THE STATE RD. HOUSE.

MOVED TO RICHMOND AVE , O.B. IN 1974

AT ONE POINT WE WERE LIVING BETWEEN THE COTTAGE , CIRCUIT AVE AND RICHMOND AVE . WHEN EVERY THING WAS SOLD OR CONSOLIDATED , I HAD THREE COMPLETE SETS OF EVERYTHING FOR THREE HOMES . AND WHEN WE MOVED TO STATE RD., I HAD TO SQUEEZE WHAT I COULD INTO THOSE ELEVEN ROOMS ,PLUS ALL THAT I HAD INHERITED WHEN MOM DIED , INCLUDING HER LIBRARY .AND WE STILL HAVE STATE RD . PLUS MY PRESENT FOUR ROOM APARTMENT.

ENOUGH FOR NOW . IT IS BEDTIME .
WHEN I HAVE A CHANCE I WILL COMB MY RED BOOKS FOR MORE INFO FOR YOU.

PLEASE CHECK THE WORDS IN GREEN . I DON'T HAVE A SPELL CHECKER.

-- Mom
July 2007

Here is a few short ones I can recall.

You were going to build a magnetic Universe ripper. Basically, I think this is what the tv show "Stargate" is based on and you should sue them for copyright infringement.

My calculator that you took apart, put some connectors on the back to plug into a project box that you had some clock or calculator chip inside that would rework the calculator to do different odd functions based on what button you pushed. I think you used that in your yearbook picture but I cant recall since my yearbook seems to have never come back from Chicago when you brought all my stuff back from there.

We were riding our bikes on the Edgartown expressway (bike path) and when people would ride past us we would scream "There's mercury in the swordfish."
I can't recall why we did that but it is an odd memory I have.

You inspired me to read these authors: Larry Niven, Roger Zelazny, Fredrick Pohl,
and a few others. Thank you.

The poor guy (can't recall his name) that was staying with us on Raymond road.
He had something to do with my Dunkin Donuts job and was breaking up with his wife. He would spend hours on the phone yelling at her at all times of the day. I remember wiring up the phone so only the earpiece in the phone would work unless you stepped on a switch I hid on the floor. When he called her up the next time he could hear her but she couldn't hear him. Then the repetitivety started:
"Charlotte, can you hear me?" "CHARLOTTE, CAN YOU HEAR ME???...." and on he went for at least an hour calling her and doing that. When he complained about the phone we would step on the switch and he could yell normally at her but never knew we were controlling that. I think he finally moved out shortly after he thought we were building a remote controlled rocket to launch at his house for him. Poor guy, that wasn't such a nice thing I think.

IMOS V at the town hall in Yarmouth.

Visiting you at Nasson for my vacation inspired me to go to college. I don't think I would have ever done that had I not visited you. Then of course that poor guy wouldn't have experienced our phone prank et al. nor the IMOS V computer you worked on. I suppose you could say that you may never have met Fred either, nor John I guess also.

Times at the Waursthause (sp) at the mall, I think you wouldn't have met John either if we hadn't gone there for drinking beer and the good food then you worked at Tiffany's there. I think I remember you paying the accordian girl to go play at some other table. Then, there was the poor waitresses' I pestered with sarcasm, and Natalie.

I don't think I will get into the Chicago/Manhattan cycle since it bugs me deeply, however, I did teach myself Unix and programming in C honing my skills via that and that is what helped me get through it. I was shocked to see that you learned C when we met again after that. Then came Ultimate Universe, which I can't even imagine the depths of thought I was on after reading what I wrote back then on how to play the game effectively.

I miss the Saturday night Star Trek thing also.

I still haven't framed the Sci-fi lithographs I bought at the Magnus Opus con in Charlotte, but the one lithograph they gave of the voyager space ship autographed by Patrick Stewart hangs on my wall over the entertainment center.

I enjoyed the trips to: Alanis Morrisette, (though don't care for her music much), and then on to the Natural Bridge, and Chimney Rock - though not on the same trip. I had not really ever done much sightseeing before.

Did I say this was going to be short? I guess that's it for now, though I could expand on any one of these and more I suppose.

--Andrue

January 2008