This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Terry1944 (talk | contribs) at 05:59, 17 November 2005 (+ Wikilink). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 05:59, 17 November 2005 by Terry1944 (talk | contribs) (+ Wikilink)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Carolyn Cassady, American writer and Beat Generation personality, was born Carolyn Robinson in Lansing, Michigan on April, 28 1923 and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She received a scholarship to Bennington College, an exclusive women's school in Vermont. After she received her degree in theater arts Carolyn went to the University of Denver for a master's degree.
In Denver, in March of 1947, Carolyn met Neal Cassady. Neal he had just returned from his first New York visit where he had met Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Cassady was married to LuAnne Henderson at the time. In August 1947 she discovered LuAnne, Neal and Allen naked, in bed together. She thought her brief romance with Neal was over, departing for Los Angeles to work as a costume designer.
Carolyn moved north to San Francisco to live with her sister when she could find no work in Los Angeles. But five weeks after she left Denver, Neal re-entered her life and resumed the romance. His marriage to LuAnne was annulled and on April 1, 1948 Carolyn and Neal were married. On September 6, 1948 Carolyn gave birth to a daughter, Cathleen Joanne. Carolyn fully expected life to settle down, but was shocked when, in December, Neal bought a new Hudson and declared he was going to be taking a short trip to New York to pick up his friend Jack Kerouac.
Neal drove to Denver to pick up ex-wife LuAnne, and then picked up Kerouac in North Carolina. The story was immortalized in Kerouac's On The Road. Believing the marriage was finished Carolyn moved with her infant daughter to an apartment near Mission Dolores in San Francisco. At the end of January of 1949, Neal dropped, Jack and LuAnne off on a San Francisco street corner and was back.
In July Jack Kerouac arrived in San Francisco at the Cassady home. Kerouac would visit them in San Jose and Los Gatos, California where Jack and Carolyn would begin an affair that had Neal’s tacit approval.
Neal would continue his infidelities and road trips for the rest of his life. On February 4, 1968, Carolyn got a call informing her that Neal had died in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Neal was 43, Carolyn 46. Carolyn moved to London, England where she now lives.
Resources
- Off the Road: My Years With Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg, Carolyn Cassady Penguin Books; Rep edition (August, 1991) ISBN: 014015390X