Gibbie goes to Monterey - 1967

Gibbie was very much a woman of her era who enjoyed the music of some of the now classic bands of the sixties. She had sadly passed away a week before Woodstock. A festival, considered the daddy of music festivals, but the best performances from some of the artists at Woodstock, such as Janis Joplin and Country Joe, had taken place at the lesser celebrated Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967.

 In attendance? Abigail Folger.

Abigail, at the time, was dating rock photographer, Jim Marshall... more on him later... and attended the festival as his date. Sadly Jim died before I could get a chance to speak to him but I did personally speak to several people via email who were all kind enough to share their memories of Abigail with me.

First up, photographer Elaine Mayes:
"I remember her as a pleasant person, friendly, and also that I did not really understand her relationship with Jim. They were very different kinds of people. When the murders happened in Los Angeles, I was shocked and upset. Losing Gibby was a terrible tragedy, and losing the others also a tragedy. What unfathomable circumstances and craziness was going on at the time. How awful for her and the others too"

And her memories from the book she wrote It Happened In Monterey

Dr. John Luce: 
I knew Gibby as a teenager and a young aduly, but not well. She came from a wealthy old SF family (Folger's Coffee) She was very intelligent, hip and artistic. We shared a motel room in Monterey with several other photographers, including Jim Marshall, her date."  

And here is the rest of his memories from Elaine's book It Happened In Monterey:

Gibbie Folger - Aged 7

Gibbie Folger, aged 7, standing around a desk in her new class in 1951. 

PHOTO CREDIT: LADYNOEL

Gibbie gets christened

When a child was born...

Abigail Anne Folger
Born: August 11th, 1943

The reason for this...

It's a story that will never die but one that will live on, flourishing in the minds of generations to come. 

 The brutal murders of seven innocent people by a group of drug using, fame hungry reprobates right in the heart of Hollywood over one hot weekend in August, 1969 will forever be known as The Tate-LaBianca Murders. 

 On August 9th, 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four others were stabbed and shot to death in one of the most well documented and heinous home invasions of the 20th century. The following night, miles away, in an area not as grand, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca encountered the same group of murderous hippies, taking the death toll to seven.

 Much has been written about the victims, maybe not as much as what has been written about their murderers over the last 40 something years, but one victim has until now, remained an enigma to writers, bloggers and commentators. 

 Until now. 

  This blog aims to present Abigail Folger, not as a dead body, bloody and lifeless, lying in the yard of Cielo Drive, but as a human being, a woman born into wealth who tried to make the world a better place while she was in it. Let's not put her in a box in the wall and have only the sad reminders of her death be the only visible knowledge the general public has of her.

MAIN PICTURE CREDIT: LADYNOEL