Timothy Leary's Wife Drops Out - Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Psychedelic Pioneer, Dies at 66

The Village Voice ^ | Feb. 8, 2002 | Friend of Rosemary Woodruff

[summer]

Timothy Leary's Wife Drops Out

Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Psychedelic Pioneer, Dies at 66

Friends of Rosemary Woodruff Leary have put together this remembrance of the psychedelic pioneer and wife, confidante, and executrix of the late philosopher Timothy Leary:

Rosemary Woodruff Leary died on February 7 at her home in Aptos, California. The cause of death was congestive heart failure. She was 66 years old.

Rosemary Sarah Woodruff was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 26, 1935 into a conservative Baptist environment from which she removed herself at the earliest opportunity. She moved to New York City where her intellect, penetrating sense of humor, and extraordinary beauty made her a popular figure in the city’s most progressive music and literary circles. In 1965 Timothy Leary invited her to visit him at the Millbrook Estate in Dutchess County, New York, which members of the Mellon family had made available to Leary as a center for his psychedelic research. That visit began an association between Woodruff and Leary that continued in various forms until Leary’s death in 1996. They married in 1967, and Woodruff Leary participated in his work to change LSD from an instrument of the intellectual elite to a catalyst for wide change in the American psyche.

The Learys and their circle became targets for criminal prosecutions for their work with LSD, and a series of arrests had a serious effect on Woodruff Leary’s life. The Learys were first arrested in Laredo, Texas, in 1965 for possession of a half-ounce marijuana. In 1966 local District Attorney G. Gordon Liddy raided the Millbrook Estate, arresting the Learys for alleged improprieties. The Learys were arrested again for possession of two half-smoked marijuana cigarettes in Laguna Beach, California in 1968. Woodruff Leary was sentenced to six months for the Laguna Beach arrest, but Leary was sentenced to a total of twenty-eight years. In 1970 Woodruff Leary enlisted the Weather Underground to help Leary escape from prison. She later quipped that this should have qualified her for a "Stand By Your Man" award. With forged passports, the Learys fled the country. They sought refuge with Eldridge Cleaver at his Black Panther Embassy in Algiers, but Cleaver placed them under house arrest and the Learys fled to Switzerland.

The pressures on the exiles placed a strain on their marriage, and they separated in 1971 and later divorced. Woodruff Leary, a fugitive for her role in assisting Leary’s escape, lived underground for 23 years in Afghanistan, in Sicily, and in South and Central America, often traveling under a Gary Davis One World passport which local immigration officials solemnly stamped with visas. After her secret return to the United States she lived in relative seclusion on Cape Cod, in San Francisco, and in Half Moon Bay, California, using the name Sarah Woodruff. She remained a fugitive many years longer than Leary, and the charges against her were not cleared until 1994.

In the last years of her life, Woodruff Leary concentrated on managing the trust that administered Leary’s copyrights and archives. She also lectured college students for whom the psychedelic revolution was a historical event that had taken place before they were born. Her natural gifts as a raconteur made her lectures extremely popular. She read with a breadth, speed, and energy (aided by insomnia) which awed her more conventionally educated friends, who learned to lend her stacks of books at a time rather than individual volumes. Woodruff Leary was known for her remarkable and distinctive sense of style. She designed and made much of the clothing she and Leary wore in the late 1960s and her creations inspired the fashion of the era.

Woodruff Leary was in the process of completing the final draft of her memoir at the time of her death. Despite a difficult illness, her keen and original wit continued to amuse an extraordinary number of devoted friends until she died. In addition to her many friends, she is survived by her brother Gary Woodruff of Long Beach, California, and his daughter Katy.

Tell us what you think. editor@villagevoice.com

[summer]

News like this makes me think we are truly at the end of an era here...

[summer]

FYI.

[summer]

FYI.

[norraad]

...the end of an era,

... so , aah, are we over the rainbow?

.. I don't feel tardy.

[A CA Guy]

I wonder how many people died do to their exuberance of drugs? That family helped people worship drugs instead of God! Meaning they helped give birth to humanism. IMO

[A CA Guy]

do = due

[Kennard]

participated in his work to change LSD from an instrument of the intellectual elite to a catalyst for wide change in the American psyche

Thankfully, they failed.

[VOA]

Thankfully, they failed.

Not totally.
Just look at all the hallucinations and addled thinking that the mainstream media
calls "the news".

[summer]

She was quite the traveler:

"With forged passports, the Learys fled the country. They sought refuge with Eldridge Cleaver at his Black Panther Embassy in Algiers, but Cleaver placed them under house arrest and the Learys fled to Switzerland.

The pressures on the exiles placed a strain on their marriage, and they separated in 1971 and later divorced. Woodruff Leary, a fugitive for her role in assisting Leary’s escape, lived underground for 23 years in Afghanistan..."

[summer]

continued:

"... Afghanistan, in Sicily, and in South and Central America, often traveling under a Gary Davis One World passport which local immigration officials solemnly stamped with visas. After her secret return to the United States she lived in relative seclusion on Cape Cod, in San Francisco, and in Half Moon Bay, California, using the name Sarah Woodruff. She remained a fugitive many years longer than Leary, and the charges against her were not cleared until 1994.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

I saw that too. What kind of passport is that?!

Didn't they have an Open Relationship, because IIRC Leary was involved with loads of other women. Wonder if he was involved with Wino-na Ryder's mother since he was her godfather.

[MeekOneGOP]

Just look at all the hallucinations and addled thinking that the mainstream media calls "the news".

There's nothin'
wrong with me. . .
with me, with me,
with me!. . .
CBS: Gunga Dan Rather's Home Site
http://www.RatherBiased.com/

[VOA]

There's nothin' wrong with me. . .
(photo of Dan Rather)

My brain cells may be old and worn...but I think I remember that Dan Rather,
as part of an "investigative report" did try LSD just to see what it was all about.

If I'm incorrect in my recollection, I apologize to Mr. Rather, in advance.

[DoctorMichael]

Rosemary Woodruff Leary, Psychedelic Pioneer, Dies at 66

Good.

[summer]

BTW -- did they also have a Money Tree? I mean what kind of job did she have in AFGHANISTAN? What do people like the Learys use as MONEY? Are they just printing it up as they go? Or what? I'm dead serious about this. Other people have this thing called a JOB. What kind of JOB did she have all those years?

[summer]

LOL...you may be right... perhaps that's when he started asking "What's the frequency, Kenneth?"

[Bogie]

Well, I went to the Millbrook estate with a few friends in 1966. All I saw were a few dopers hanging around. Not much, really.It was kind of quiet.

Sorry to hear about her death though.I think that they all really believed that the chemical would answer all of the world's problems.

[ppaul]

Rosemary Sarah Woodruff was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 26, 1935 into a conservative Baptist environment from which she removed herself at the earliest opportunity.

I'll bet right now she wishes she could reverse her decision.

[summer]

I think that they all really believed that the chemical would answer all of the world's problems.

Unfortumately, I think they arrived at that conclusion while they were stoned out of their minds. In a more sober state, I think it is possible they might have arrived at a different conclusion.

[VOA]

I'm dead serious about this. Other people have this thing called a JOB.
What kind of JOB did she have all those years?

I don't know about the Learys, but I have gotten some insight into this during
some years in academia.
I won't go into specifics, but it appears to me that many of the more liberal/leftist
type academics I've know usually have a sugar-daddy of some sort, e.g., a family trust
fund or parents/relatives/friends that seem to almost enjoy funding someone else's
"life of dissipation".

[MeekOneGOP]

My brain cells may be old and worn...but I think I remember that Dan Rather, as part of an "investigative report" did try LSD just to see what it was all about.

If I'm incorrect in my recollection, I apologize to Mr. Rather, in advance.

Apology not necessary. . .

From that link I posted, under "Bizarre". . .

Rather and Drugs

"I had someone at the Houston police station shoot me with
heroin so I could do a story about it. The experience was a
special kind of hell. I came out understanding full well
how one could be addicted to 'smack,' and quickly."

"I've tried everything. I can say to you with confidence, I
know a fair amount about LSD. I've never been a social user
of any of these things, but my curiosity has carried me
into a lot of interesting areas."
--Dan Rather in Ladies' Home Journal, July 1980 edition.

[sugar_puddin]

so , aah, are we over the rainbow? .. I don't feel tardy.

LOL!! I just spewed coke on my keyboard. That was good!!

[Slyfox]

I wonder which idiotic Hollywood directer will come out with the 'definitive' movie about the Leary's and their famous era?

Next question. Who will play a 'naked-in-the-tree-and-defecating' Bill Clinton with long hair and a beard?

[WriteOn]

Man that brings back some memories. Glad I pulled it together better than she did.

[ThinkLikeWaterAndReeds]

Taking acid is supposed to distort reality. How can a person on acid make any kind of rational, real world conclusion? Many years ago i took acid more than once and saw a multitude of utopias.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Unfortumately, I think they arrived at that conclusion while they were stoned out of their minds.

A lot of people have that same problem.

[Cicero]

I know several people, old family friends, who died from drug overdoses or permanently fried their brains with LSD. These people have a lot to answer for. Lives destroyed, families broken, hopes blighted. And just what brilliant intellectual discoveries, lasting artistic accomplishments, or insights into the nature of reality came about through these "altered states of consciousness"? Just what did these brilliant pioneers contribute to the good of humanity or to human achievements?

[summer]

I wonder which idiotic Hollywood directer will come out with the 'definitive' movie about the Leary's and their famous era?

I would guess: Robert Altman.

[summer]

Many years ago i took acid more than once and saw a multitude of utopias.

Welcome back to Planet Earth. BTW, I like your screen name. :)

[summer]

Good questions. I think the answer is: (1) None. (2) None.

[summer]

Write on. :)

[summer]

Re your post #20. Thanks. Yes, I forgot about that. The modern day philanthropist...

[Don Joe]

"Next question. Who will play a 'naked-in-the-tree-and-defecating' Bill Clinton with long hair and a beard?"

Is J. Fred Muggs still around?

[summer]

I think the guy on Saturday Night Live does a great Clinton!

[summer]

FYI.

[Slyfox]

Is J. Fred Muggs still around? Who is he?

I'm thinking Michael Moore would look good in a tree defecating. Well, that is if we could bear to watch.

[NC_Libertarian]

participated in his work to change LSD from an instrument of the intellectual elite to a catalyst for wide change in the American psyche.

Here is where Timothy Leary helped to relegate one of the most profound substances known to man to teenagers looking for kicks. LSD is a very personal experience, not a broad tool for cultural and social change.

Before the 1960s LSD, mescaline, and most other psychedelic drugs were legal. Now it is illegal but widely available to those who shouldn't be using it - children.

[A CA Guy]

Children also adults - NC_Libertarian.

[NC_Libertarian]

I wonder how many people died do to their exuberance of drugs? That family helped people worship drugs instead of God! Meaning they helped give birth to humanism. IMO

First of all, the Leary's promoted psychedelic drugs not pleasure drugs (I'm not defending what he did, just clearing that up).

Secondly the left - humanists, socialists, communists, athiests, whatever you want to include - was alive and kicking long before the "drug culture" of the 1960s.

The media created the meme of: drugs = political left. It is merely through socialization that many drug users become lefties.

Drugs are simply chemicals and not encoded with any political information.

[Phillbert_Desanex]

#18...One never knows if she repented at the 11th hour. I think a lot of people will be surprised in the end.

[NC_Libertarian]

"Children also adults - NC_Libertarian."

I don't folow, could you rephrase that in a complete sentence?

It is available pretty much to anybody who wants it, but high schools in particular are absolutely awash in LSD. It's easy to conceal and transport. An eye drop bottle can hold two or three hundred hits or more depending on strength. These kids have no comprehension of what they are doing, they use it merely for kicks.

[ijcr]

Tie-dyed T Shirts,Dude,I mean,Man, kinda like Lava lamps what?. How about them lamps that make your dandruff glow, Man.You are so square.

[NC_Libertarian]

BTW -- did they also have a Money Tree? I mean what kind of job did she have in AFGHANISTAN? What do people like the Learys use as MONEY? Are they just printing it up as they go? Or what? I'm dead serious about this. Other people have this thing called a JOB. What kind of JOB did she have all those years?

Lots of rich friends. Also Timothy Leary published many books.

[A CA Guy]

They blossomed a level of acceptance and made it cooler to do what was taboo. They helped make it attractive.

This brought in all the ignorant and young and was a great leap downward for our culture. They are totally culpable in what became a lack of shame in this bad behavior. They helped facilitate illegal drug use in popular cuture.

[gumbo]

Ken Kesey and Rosemary Woodruff Leary, 1970

[DBrow]

Leary, Woodruff, Kesey, Garcia, Lehman-Haupt, and many other merry prankster types all died well before the average age for Americans.

[NC_Libertarian]

Taking acid is supposed to distort reality.

It doesn't distort reality, it alters your perceptions of reality. Normal, sober perception is itself an abstraction of true reality, designed for survival.

[Jonathon Spectre]

LOL at all the religious fundamentalists and the a**hole who said it was "GOOD" she is DEAD.

Her and her husband were true pioneers. Godspeed them to wherever it is they've ended up, and hope to see them again soon.

[Ditter]

Just what I was thinking, she has gone to her reward.