Cyd and the Barrington Gang

Cyd and the Barrington Gang

Martha - Valerie - Cyd

As a teenager my comfort level with the opposite sex decreased as the level of my interest and/or attraction to a girl increased. The more attractive and desirable I found her the more cautious and withdrawn I became. In general I got along with girls rather well but when I met a girl I was attracted to my ability to function normally, be myself, engage in conversation, etc., went on break. That changed once I met my first wife Donna. Once I got together with her there really was no one else for me and as a result my attraction to another woman, no matter how great, no longer had that kind of effect on me. I suppose because I was only interested in Donna. After our marriage ended, the combination of all the events and experiences I'd been through in a relatively short amount of time left me on the mature side for my age. Even though I was no longer with Donna I was confident and at ease with all women. I felt women found me interesting and I was comfortable engaging with any woman attractive or not. I am sad to report that this would come undone during my time in Eugene. But for the time being, the “new” me, was self assured, confident, and at ease with women, including those I found myself attracted to. This was the “state of Dave” in the fall of 1974 when I arrived in Eugene. I was about to meet my next girlfriend Cyd who at that time was going by the name of Cyndi. Cyd would be someone I would fall in love with.

I met Cyndi and her two roommates, Martha and Valerie, in the fall of '74. Oddly enough they were sharing a quad apartment in the same Patterson Street building I had lived in the first time I came to Eugene. I was immediately taken by Cyndi. She had big blue eyes and an easy manner. She had transferred to the University of Oregon from Seattle University. I had recently moved to Eugene from the Albany area of New York to attend the U of O, transferring from Hudson Valley C.C. I began going over to Martha, Valerie, and Cyndi's place often. I found myself liking Cyndi more and more. Cyndi is a great listener. She gives you her 100% undivided attention which makes you feel like whatever you are saying is not only important to her but of great value. Cyndi had a gentle way about her and, being a good listener, she never criticized. She would listen to what you had to say, take it in, and then share her thoughts and opinions. There was no malice or judgment. Cyndi might strike you as someone you could convince to change her views, but she was very strong in her beliefs and was not swayed easily. Cyndi was sensitive and empathetic (a quality I greatly admire). She cared deeply about what was going on in the world. She was also very pretty. She had the kind of looks that wherever we went she would draw attention from all the guys in the room, although she seemed to not realize it. Her trait of giving 100% attention to the person who was talking with her gave many guys the wrong idea. They would think they were getting somewhere with her. But for Cyndi, it was just a normal conversation, she spoke that way with everyone. She was, like most the women I knew and was friends with in Eugene in the 70's, a back to the earth, counter-culture type person. She did not shave, did not wear makeup, and dressed comfortably in mostly loose clothing. These were all traits I admired and related to. In short, she was just my type. Our relationship took a little time to develop and we spent a bit of time together before we became romantically involved. I found reasons to frequently visit her and her roommates Valerie and Martha. I did not try to force things, I just tried to get to know her better. We did a lot of talking and everything took its course naturally. Before long we were romantically involved.

Cyndi and her roommates had been looking to move out of their quad apartment and into a house. Houses to rent near the university were scarce and when one came up to rent you had to pretty much be there immediately to grab it. Cyndi and her roommates were motivated and they were tenacious. They got a heads-up about a house that was going to be coming up for rent in the Hendricks Park neighborhood. The Hendricks Park neighborhood sat on a hill that was on the southeast side of the University. (It's the neighborhood where Steve Prefontaine, popular track star of the '70's, died in a traffic accident.) Before the house actually went up for rent they decided to camp out on the doorstep waiting for the owner or property manager to show up. It paid off as they were able to rent it before it ever got advertised. The house was on Fairmount Blvd up the hill. The Fairmount house was huge and it had three stories. The house was tucked into the side of the hill and sat back a bit on the lot. The front of the house faced the downhill side. From the street level (Fairmount) you needed to walk up two flights of stairs just to get to the front door.  Hence, we generally entered the property from a road (might have been an alley) that was behind the house in order to avoid having to climb the stairs in the front with our bikes. The front door opened to the main level of the house which was on the second floor. On that level was a huge living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. I think it was Valerie who had purchased a rug for the living room. The rug was at least 8 X 10 but the living room was so large it looked like a small little accent rug in front of the fireplace. Due to its size, the cost to fully heat the place was largely prohibitive since everyone was living on typical limited student funds. After the first month the realization of just how costly it was to run the heat resulted in everyone using the heat very sparingly. There were five bedrooms not including the bottom floor which had a couple more. 

Louanne (I ended up calling her Louie), a friend of Cyndi's from the University of Seattle, was going to move into the house with the three of them, thus making it four women living in the house. Soon Cindi's roommates approached me and asked if I would like to move in as well since by that point Cindi and I were always together and consequently I was always at the house. Their pitch was I might was well pay rent since I was always there. So I did. I moved out of the house on Hilyard Street and moved in with Cyndi, Valerie, Martha, and Louanne. A couple of months later Maria joined the household. Maria, like Cyndi, Valerie, and Martha, was from Barrington. Louie and I were the only two not from Illinois, We were from the coasts – West and East.     

We hardly used the living-room in the Fairmount House as it was so huge. We never used the bottom floor. We didn't need it and besides we did not want to have to heat it. I owned a truck; it was the only vehicle in the household. We all rode bikes everywhere we went. We only used the truck to haul things to or from the house or for trips out of town, like to the coast or up to the Cascades. The road leading up to the house was a fairly steep multi block climb on a bike. Consequently, we all soon fell into the habit of organizing our day in a way to minimize the number of times we would need to bike up that darn hill. Once leaving I tried to stay out until I was done for the day. The “hill” also tended to keep us home once we got there. It unfortunately could also serve as an inducement to cut classes, especially an afternoon one if you returned to the house mid-day. However, since I was now paying my own way, I did tend to make most of my classes, something I did not do so well at Valparaiso.

We were all vegetarians and we were a communal household, meaning that we shared all the food, chores, and expenses. We all ate dinner together. We shared the cooking, taking turns cooking for each other. We all joined a co-op from which we purchased all our food. Eugene had multiple co-ops. Veggies from the co-op we belonged to were of course organic and they were cheaper than the veggies from the local Safeway. There was no actual store. The co-op had warehouse space and once a week they took food orders and once a week everyone picked up and paid for their orders. All members were expected to work one hour a week.

We were all friends and got along well with each other. We were all connected to the same social circle and hence would frequently go to social functions together. That's right, I was the lone male living in a house with 5 women and showing up at social functions with them, frequently all five. We were referred to as “The Barrington Gang” although we would sometimes be referred to as “Dave and his Harem”. Remember this was 1974 and we were a bunch of college kids. A number of guys thought I had it made. I did enjoy sharing a house with “The Barrington Gang” and I have fond memories of all of them. I learned a lot, especially about myself, but I also learned some things I wish I hadn't.