Re: Frustration




Have you broadened your earlier search from "Daytona 1972" to "anyone from 1972"? If so, I was in COG for the entire year of 1972. I was never in Daytona but for the last 4 months of 1972, I was in Puerto Rico and maintained the personnel box of information. We received a lot of people from Florida at that time. Might I be of some help?

Reply to "Frustration"
Yes, you might be helpful. I never knew anyone's real name, except for the friend who introduced me to the CoG. When I tried to find them a year later even the house was gone... torn down. I discovered this website by accident and I have been stunned by what I have learned. What ever happened to the beautiful people who introduced me to Jesus? At first I couldn't belive it all, I still don't know what to think. I know for a fact that there were good people in the CoG, where have they all gone? My name is Patrick Miller. I live near Tallahassee, Fl. I would appreciate any help in contacting former members I knew. At the time I left they were in the process of applying for passports to Peru. Patrick

Well, the short answer from me would be that I do not know where anyone is that would have been in Daytona in 1972. Sorry that I cannot help you there because I have tried to do the same for many years. I have been able to contact a few from P.R. and Venezuela in the past ten years and even reunited with them in a reunion about 10 years ago, but we have all gone our separate ways since then. We are also talking about 35 years ago. I'm sure some, if not many, may have crossed the bar by now.

Your report that COG's in Daytona in 1972 applying for passports to Peru is news to me. The personnel file that I maintained in P.R. was supposed to track all of the COG in the Caribbean and any points south at that time. In fact, I was among the "vanguard" that supposedly was the first to colonize South America and that was the colony in Caracas and that was not until January 1973. I was not privy to any migration southward from the already established Mexican colony in Cuernavaca in 1972 but I was in contact by mail with a couple of people I had lived with in New Mexico who were there. Back in New York in August or September 1972, Watchman told me about his brief expedition to Central America, but I thought that to be a failure. Still, it would not be surprising to me that some others from Mexico had migrated southerly as well. But for folks to be in Florida and to go to Peru without stopping first in P.R. remains news to me. P.R. was a hub, and again, when I was sent to Venezuela, I was told that I was among the first to colonize that continent, so there should not have been a Peruvian colony, but then, I don't suppose that I knew everything either.

So I don't mean to derail your search, but I am curious to know if you have any other details of that Daytona colony. Do you recall any Bible names? Perhaps some of them did pass through San Juan first and I may have encountered them. I left the COG in Venezuela not long after I got there. Before I left P.R., I had been planning to backslide anyway, but when I was selected to go to Venezuela, I thought whatthehell - why not stretch the adventure a little further. My days were spent mostly sitting at the door, so to relieve the boredom of memorizing verses, I also memorized the entire personnel file. I knew everybody's "system" name, where they were from, and all of the details from the old "revolutionary contracts" all of us old guys had to fill out when we first joined.

Maybe something or some name you may say will jar an old memory in this senior citizen.

Daytona '72
The only name I remember is "Red" (he had red hair), a friend of mine who had left the CoG after a few months. He gave me their address. I don't mean to misrepresent myself. At the time I had been using a lot of drugs and I was at my wits end as to what to do with myself. I found the courage to knock on the door and I haven't been the same since. I'm not sure why I left, the man who had just recieved his passport told me that I couldn't believe what was happening. Anyway, I left and went back to the drug world. It took me a long time to come to my senses. I have been tormented by what I've read on these websites. I'll stay away from them. Thank you for trying to help me. Patrick

I knew an ex-biker and Vietnam vet in Cincy who called himself Sea Red! He was an amazing guy - sort of loosly affiliated with the COG. Big, burly sort. I don't suppose that could have been him? I have no clue whatever became of him anyway!

Red
Thanks for replying, maybe that was his brother. The description fits. I haven't heard from you in a while. Happy Thanksgiving. Patrick