Jane Lucas:  

Wow, it's a bit difficult to know where to begin when you are writing your story so I will begin at the beginning. Growimg up in Lancaster in the late 60's, I knew there was alot going in the world I felt strongly about and wanted to get involved. The music scene was exploding, the Viet Nam war was in full swing and there where these long-haried hippies who believed in peace, lived off the land and worked at their causes rather than a job. Two weeks or so after we graduated I moved to Redondo Beach and in with my boyfriend who was in the Air Force and was stationed at LAX. With no barracks at LAX he was able to rent a place and the Air Force paid the rent. So he chose a small apartment in Redond Beach and and we became part of the beach scene. We would lay in bed on the weekends and either KLOS or KMET would announce where the free beach concert would be and off we would go. I can't tell you how many bands we saw free on the beach that later were major players in the LA sound at the time. So free to listen to thoughts being expressed about our government and their war, people taking to the streets to protest a war we knew was wrong, and I remember thinking "how cool is this. " I watched history in the making up close and personal. Living with my friend in 1970 was not accepted by many adults and I loved it. Jane, the little rebel who would have thought. Nelson got out of the service in late 1970 and made plans to head home to Florida,where his family was. Well he left inthe summer of 1971 and the plan was I would come out after Christmas. I left on December 27th to begin our new life and where ever it took us. I must say I did not enjoy Florida one bit. The bugs were in abundance, the humidity enough to kill you and the people our age were so into themselves, kinda like yuppies, which I never had any use for. Nelson's plan was to go to school and that is when we decided to come back to California where he had established residency and scholl fees would be alot less. So there was a 1959 Rambler stationwagon on the property so the two of us thought that would be the perfect vecihcle to make the trip. Nelson was a brake mechanic for jets and knew how to fix anything to do with cars and so we began. The paint job was interesting, a beige car yet two toned from the sun. Nothing to look at for sure and we hoped it wouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves either. Lots of red-necked states to drive through and in those days the last thing a town wanted was to see the likes of our car andthe two hippies inside. We rebuid the engine togetherand when we got th thing actually runniing smoothly it was time to fix the interior. After a quick look inside, I decided we needed curtins on the windows and one curtin to block off the front as we were planning to stop at camgrounds and rest stops to sleep. So I made tied-tyed curtins all the way around, hung them and started packing. I couldn't get out of that state quick enough. I could write a book on our trip across country, but will only say it was a trip I have always treasured. My views and opinion on our goverment and our leaders had changed so much since leaving Lancaster, I felt like I was really doing something to make a difference but what would my folks think when they saw their little girl come home, dressed in wild colors, patched jeans and opps, I no longer wore a bra, I burned mine. A very liberating experience. My parents weren't too surprised as my older sister had been seeing her boyfriend who very long hair but came from one of the pioneer families of Lancaster who were well respected so they had loosened up a bit. Good news. We were in love and Nelson asked me to marry him shortly after we got home. We settled into a nice little life. I worked and Nelson went to school on the GI Bill, he was studing to become a Physical Theripist. 5 weeks before the wedding I came home from work and Nelson was home, weird because he had a class at that time.and he asked me to sit down after I reminded him we had an appointment with the minister that evening at 6:00pm. Much to my horror and surprise he than told me" Jane, I can't marry you." Can't marry me not doesn't want to , doesn't love me,, simply " I can't" Never told me the reason really and moved out of our house two days later. I was 22, had been going out with him off and on since I was 16. Needless to say I was devastated. The higlight of that summer was when I broke my jaw at a bacholers party for one of my sisters husbands friend. I wish I could say I was totally wasted at the party but that was not the case. It was hot, their were lots of people and while I was trying to make my way over to the keg, one of the guys I knew grabbed my arm and lead me to the room where the joints were going around. So I smoked maybe two hits of the joint when I started to feel unusual, and began heading to the backdoor to get some air, but apparently that didn't matter I passed out and feel face first on to a brick planter and knocked myself out and was their for about 45 minutes till someone found me and got my sis. AV hospital decided I was drunk and put 3 stitches in my chin and send me home. Thank God my sister was the kind of person who trusted her judgement and wasn't intiminated by the quack doctor I saw. Off to Panarama City we went. It took over 4 hours to co...Expand for more