My Sister's Keeper

It's been 44 years since the murders and younger siblings of each victim have grown older than the brothers and sisters they have outlived. 

 Debra Tate was 17 when her 26 year old sister, Sharon died, and since the death of their mother, Doris, she has provided the Tate family presence at various parole hearings.
 Due to this, she has also put herself under the microscope of the media where she is often targeted for ridicule. Her desire to see justice served has many times been lost under the constant reminders of her own past personal mistakes. (Yes, we are referring to the Oui spread *shudder*). 

 Elizabeth Folger was 8 when her 25 year old sister, Abigail died. Too young to be told how Gibbie's life had come to an end, but old enough to know she was never coming back.
 Nothing is known of the relationship the two Folger sisters had, given the 17 year age gap, but a tragedy such as this would surely define a moment of the younger girl's childhood.
 Elizabeth has never attended a parole hearing, never publicly spoke of Abigail and as a result is only known through extensive research on Abigail's life. 

On one hand, we have one sister, who time has not been kind to as she continues to fight for justice, and whose past mistakes often overshadow her crusade. But on the other hand, we have the rarely spoke of sister, who has remained silent and nearly anonymous, whose only public contribution to her sister's legacy is funding a book endowment (The Abigail Folger Library Fund).

 Debra Tate might stretch the truth now and again but she has given Sharon what Abigail's family never gave her in death: A voice.

 Elizabeth Folger, classy she may be, will one day be the only surviving immediate family member of Abigail Folger and if by some divine miracle, you happen to read this little blog... It's never too late to give your sister a voice.

Wojciech - Voytek - Wojek.... fuck it... Frykowski.

Some say it was December, 1967, others say January, 1968, either way at some point during this period, Abigail Folger met Wojciech Frykowski. It was to be a love-affair that would come under the microscope for the next forty years. No one really knows just how deep their relationship went or whether they had grown weary each other and wanted out. That's the fact, everything else is pure speculation.  

Here's what we do know: 

Gibbie and Wojciech were introduced by their mutual friend, author Jerzy Kozinsky, in New York. 

At the time, neither of them was familiar with the other person's native tongue; Wojciech's English wasn't exactly littered with a variety of expressions, instead just a courteous greeting. It was left to Jerzy to act as the go between. 

Pictured in NY, 1968

  Wojciech had brought from Poland only a small suitcase and little money. Gibbie, on the other hand was roaming around New York with an unlimited supply of cash courtesy of her Daddy dearest and his credit card, although she was working to support herself, while living in the ground floor apartment on W 69^th Street. Wojciech's home was whichever sofa he landed up on of a night. Usually Jerzy's, his friend from childhood.

  Jerzy and Gibbie had met through his ex-wife, Mary Hayward Weir, an heiress to an American steel company. When Gibbie made her way to New York in the summer of ‘67, it was Mary, 28 years her senior, who was there to greet her and who chaperoned her round the city. She was a pleasant distraction for the older woman, who would have usually been emptying the contents of a liquor bottle before lunch.

 From very early 1968, Gibbie and Wojciech lived together in New York at her apartment. There is no official record of him ever having a paid job to support himself and so the twice-divorced father of one, who could barely speak English, was being supported by his 24 year old lover. 

More to follow, as Gibbie and Wojciech make their way to California... 

The Folger Family - Scandals in high society

Although it is commonly assumed that the last few months of Abigail's life caused her family embarrassment , it is a 'fact' based on assumption. The truth is, none of us know how the family viewed Abigail, not truly anyway. We have various snippets we will be posting, that will hopefully dispel the theory within the community, that the family were ashamed of her. 
 But let's say there is some truth to it. It brings us very nicely to the scandals that rocked one of California's pioneering families. If the death of Abigail Folger bore a striking resemblance to some kind of twisted horror film, then the shenanigans of her family could have been lifted from a soap opera desperate for ratings, introducing one outlandish plotline after another.
 Money, sex and scandal, three primary adjectives- associated with one of San Francisco’s oldest families- purposely overlooked and cast aside in favor of the more heroic tales of James Athern Folger I, striking it rich in the gold fields of California.
 Let's dig a little deeper into the family that molded our heroine.

Home Invasion 

June 20th, 1923. It was still dark at 4:00 in the morning and a wisp of fog was resting on the acres of field surrounding Hazelwood Hills. The fog would later roll away leaving the radiant clarity of a beautiful sunny day in it's wake, as nearby residents woke up to the events of what occurred over the next few minutes. Peter Folger, 18, Abigail's father, was fast asleep when he was woken by the sound of a gun shot. Not one, but two. Rushing from his room into the pathway of his mother, Clara, the Folger matriarch, the two found themselves at the top of the staircase looking down on Peter's brother, James, who had just emptied his gun on would-be thief, William Lee. A petty crook, who eventually met his demise in the bushes on the grounds of the Folger estate. Mortally wounded, he fled from the house and was dead before the police arrived. He died with a loaded gun in one pocket and $15,000 dollars’ worth of jewellery in the other, which he had stolen from the Folger mansion. $15,000 dollars was pennies to the family but the sacred comfort zone of their home was priceless. As far as James Folger was concerned, he was simply protecting his family and his home, and anyone who violated either was deserving of a bullet or two. 46 years later, James' niece, who he outlived by just three years when he died in 1972, would become an unwitting victim during one of the most prolific home invasions in history. And by a cruel twist of fate, there was a gun on the grounds of Cielo Drive that night, to protect the residents from potential intruders.

Love Hurts 

October, 1948. The daughter of James A Folger III, Clair Dean Folger, (Abigail's first cousin) found herself on the receiving end of physical violence when a former boyfriend took her rejection harder than she expected. Just 17, Clair had briefly dated a young man by the name of James Gallagher and quickly moved on to a new suitor, Paul Andrew, two years her senior. Believing Clair to have mixed feelings about the courtship and breakup, James decided to do the only thing which made sense to him at the time and proposed. The proposal was met with a resounding no. This rejection led James taking matters into his own hands, and when we say hands, we mean literally. He blackened the eyes of the new suitor and slapped Clair round the face, resulting in his arrest, conviction and sentencing to community service, where he was ordered by a judge to pack lettuces in a garbage dump for ten days. His arrest was demanded by Clair's father, who 25 years earlier, had been lauded by society for killing a petty thief in the grounds of the family estate.

The Young Bride

Love never runs smoothly for many folk, which brings us to the last chapter in a series of scandals which had potential to damage the good Folger name; The one where Big Daddy Folger brought home a 23-year-old

tennis enthusiast and introduced her to his teenage children as his bride to be. She was just seven years older than his daughter. Beverly Mater wasn’t a name one would find in the social registers of San Francisco. She had no place in high society and her only connections to its members was when they sat on the sidelines of center court, ogling her as she ran back and forth during a volley. It was what led her to Peter Folger, who ended up employing her as his personal secretary. Despite an ocean sized age gap of 30 years, Beverly Mater very quickly became the second Mrs. Folger and the lady of the house at Hazelwood Hills in Woodside. Little known at the time of the private wedding was that the new Mrs. F was already knocked up with a little Folger baby of her own. Which is how Abigail Folger came to have a sister seventeen years younger than her. More on this little gem to follow...

The Debutante Ball - 1961

Abigail's family didn't always try to hide her away from public view. In 1961, she was one of 22 young women, of San Francisco's high society, presented as a debutante at the Hotel St. Francis.
 Her escort was William S McKenzie of San Francisco.
  A year earlier, Abigail purchased a bright yellow Dior dress in Paris during the summer. It was designed with an Empire bodice, three-quarter-length sleeves and a long skirt.
 Here is a photograph of her, taken at the ball. In the middle is her stepmother, Beverly Folger and Abigail's father, Peter Folger.

PICTURE CREDIT: PATTY @ EVILLIZ.COM

PICTURE TOUCH UP: LADYNOEL

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