Carolyn Adams
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Carolyn Elizabeth Garcia (née Adams; born May 7, 1946), also known as Mountain Girl, is an American Merry Prankster and the former wife of
Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
, the lead vocalist and guitar player with the American rock band,
Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...
.


Biography

Carolyn Elizabeth Adams was born on May 6, 1946 in
Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...
, where she also grew up. She attended Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School in
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
. Shortly after she was expelled from high school, she traveled to
Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...
in 1963 with her older brother, Don. She got a job at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, working for
Carl Djerassi Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with Diane Middlebrook, Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is b ...
in the
organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...
lab analyzing
psychiatric drugs A psychiatric or psychotropic medication is a psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the chemical makeup of the brain and nervous system. Thus, these medications are used to treat mental illnesses. These medications are typically made of ...
, and she was eventually fired for "dipping into the experimental psychedelic chemicals she was analyzing." In early 1964, she met
Neal Cassady Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s. He was prominently featured as himself in the "scroll" (first d ...
, who introduced her to
Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...
and his friends, one of whom gave her the name "Mountain Girl." She was called that because she was thought to be a "little bit wild." Journalist
Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
described his first impression of a teenage Adams as "a tall girl, big and beautiful with dark brown hair falling down to her shoulders except that the lower two-thirds of her falling hair looks like a paintbrush dipped in cadmium yellow from where she dyed it blond in Mexico." Cassady took her to
La Honda, California La Honda (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Sling") is a census-designated place (CDP) in southern San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 979 at the 2020 census. It is located in the Santa C ...
, Kesey's base of operations, where she quickly joined the inner circle of Pranksters and became romantically involved with Kesey, having a daughter by him named Sunshine. Kesey was arrested for marijuana possession in La Honda, in 1965 and fled to Mexico. He returned to the United States and, just nights after being sentenced to six months in the San Mateo County Jail, he was arrested again, this time with Adams, while smoking marijuana on the rooftop of
Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer, best known as editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He founded a number of organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the auth ...
's home on
Telegraph Hill, San Francisco Telegraph Hill (elev. ) is a hill and surrounding neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is one of San Francisco's 44 hills, and one of its original "Seven Hills". Location The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' defines the Chinatown, North Bea ...
. She had a relationship with another Prankster named George Walker, who would become her husband in 1966. They separated in December 1966 and were divorced in 1978. After splitting with Walker, she took up with Jerry Garcia, but they did not marry for many years after. While living together over the next decade, they raised Sunshine along with their two daughters. The family had a house in
San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...
, as well as a beach house in
Stinson Beach, California Stinson Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located east-southeast of Bolinas, at an elevation of . The population of the Sti ...
. Garcia and Adams separated in 1975 after he began a relationship with filmmaker Deborah Koons. Although Garcia and Adams reconciled after the dissolution of his relationship with Koons in 1977, they stopped cohabiting a year later (save for occasional holiday reunions) due to the guitarist's
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
and
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
addictions. After marrying "partly for tax purposes and partly out of a fond flickering of a once-bright romance" in late 1981, this arrangement persisted until Garcia entered a diabetic coma in 1986. While that led to a lengthy period of cohabitation in which Carolyn Garcia played an integral role in her husband's recovery, they gradually drifted apart once more when Garcia began an extramarital relationship and fathered a child with Manasha Matheson. Jerry and Carolyn Garcia divorced in 1994 but remained friends until his death. During this period, he rekindled his relationship with Koons, who had been largely out of his life since the late 1970s; they would ultimately marry in February 1994. A month after the Grateful Dead's summer 1995 tour concluded, Garcia died at a rehabilitation facility in August 1995. Following Jerry Garcia's death, Carolyn Garcia was involved in litigation to obtain payments as per their divorce settlement agreement, ultimately agreeing to a $1,250,000 settlement to avoid further legal costs. Carolyn Garcia currently sits on the boards of the Rex Foundation and the Furthur Foundation, and is on the advisory board of the
Marijuana Policy Project The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the largest organization working solely on marijuana policy reform in the United States in terms of its budget, number of members, and staff. Its stated aims are to: (1) increase public support for non-pu ...
. She formerly served on the board of the Women's Visionary Council.Women's Visionary Congress speaker biographies
, accessed December 14, 2010.
Garcia lives near her daughter, Annabelle Garcia, on the Kesey family farm southeast of
Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...
in Pleasant Hill.


Books

* Garcia's early book on marijuana growing. ** A reprint of the 1976 book.


References


Further reading

* A biography of Jerry Garcia, which also has information about Carolyn Garcia. * Wolfe, Tom (1968). ''
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test ''The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'' is a 1968 nonfiction book by Tom Wolfe. The book is a popular example of the New Journalism literary style. Wolfe presents a firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, ...
''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. . Describes the early years of Garcia's relationship with Kesey and adventures with the Merry Pranksters. {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Carolyn 1946 births Jerry Garcia Living people People from Pleasant Hill, Oregon People from Poughkeepsie, New York People from San Rafael, California