Tying the Broken Strand: The Connection With Dee

Tying the Broken Strand.

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Remember the picture of Pete at the electric tower last week? We’ll get to that story, I promise. I mentioned early on in this project that I would not be the sole contributor to the blog.

The next few posts will be the recollections of one of Pete’s close friends, Dee Gayer. Dee’s story ties together some eerie and amazing strands in the web of coincidence that has run through this whole endeavor. Before I turn the blog over to Mr. Gayer, I will ask my readers to take a quick look back to:

This Post From December 10, 2018

 arc3P152 matboard, 9 X 19"

And now, Dee Gayer writes:

Pete Hampton was one of a kind. He was funny, odd in a good way, intelligent, a wonderful artist, and a good friend. Being a very close friend of Pete Hampton during the 60’s was definitely a fun and interesting experience.  He used to kind of live in his own unique world. He knew things that were impossible to know, and did things that nobody else did.

 

  For some crazy reason with what happened to me recently I do believe Pete has been trying to get back in touch from the great beyond. I have thought of Pete many times over the years and have especially remembered the things he used to teach me about the weather, which was one of his loves. Back in the 60’s Pete used to always tell me that when I saw a ring around the moon at night that meant we were going to have rain.

 I have seen the ring many times over the years, and thought of him. But about 2 months ago [ July, 2018, ed.] I was driving home from a friend’s. I was the only one in the car when I saw the most beautiful example of Pete’s legendary ring around the moon. I have always been a weather nut like Pete, and I remember saying out loud in my car, “You’re wrong this time, Pete”. 

Now I had not said Pete’s name out loud since the mid 90’s when I last saw him. But being a weather nut, like I am, I always follow the weather, and knew there was no chance of rain in the near future. It did not rain and I thought no further about it.

Some days later I awakened in the middle of the night thinking to myself that I needed to call Richard Hampton, who was Peter’s brother and my ex-roommate. I had no idea why, but I even got out of bed and wrote it down because I didn't want to forget. I seemed to feel it was important. 

 arc3P155 matboard, 15 X 18 1/2", 1982

Now the last time I had seen or heard from Richard was over 30 years ago, and I didn’t even have any idea where he lived. I did know, for some reason, that I had to find him, so I spent hours researching it on the internet until I found who I thought was him in South Carolina.

 The thought that anything had happened to Peter never crossed my mind. I called the number I had found, and from the answering phone message I knew I had found Richard. I left a message for him to call me back and he did a couple of days later.

When Richard called, he instantly asked me if Jeff  Goslowsky had gotten in touch with me.

 I said, “No”.

So Richard asked, “So, was it Bob Diaz?”

 I said, “No, nobody had gotten in touch with me, why?”

 Richard proceeded to tell me that they had been trying to get in touch with me because Peter had passed away, and they had just been in California for his funeral.

 Now comes the odd part. The night I awoke in the middle of the night was the same day they had Peter’s Celebration of Life, and scattered his ashes. After further discussion I realized the night I saw the ring around the moon was the same day Peter had passed away.

Perhaps Peter was not wrong after all but instead just letting me know he had passed. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it, because things like that just don’t happen. But then again, we are talking about Peter, someone who never did things in a normal manner.  

More from Mr. Gayer next week....

Next: The lightning Tower revisited>