October 24, 2020
Roger Grandstaff, A Personal Memory
Roger Lloyd Grandstaff, "Papa Dragon"
by Orren Whiddon
Roger Lloyd Grandstaff, lovingly known as "Papa Dragon,"
joined the Ancestors the morning of Friday, October 23rd, 2020. He was 75.
Roger was a tangible link to the early days of Four Quarters, having first come to The Land in the summer of 1997 with his wife Carolyn and daughter Laura to attend one of the very first music festivals. In those days we had but one building, no well, no drum circle and only the barest rudiments of roads. Camping could be quite rough. The first morning of that festival I unbelievingly savored the smell of fresh coffee through the woods, and following my nose came upon the Grandstaff family serving free coffee to every passerby, sweetened with their well-known smiles. Thus was born the Coffee Dragons and a now almost 25 year-long association of the Grandstaff family with Four Quarters.
In the beginning Roger refused any kind of help with The Dragons, but I scrounged water barrels, bigger stoves and coffee pots as the crowds rapidly grew larger. As his participation in the church grew, so did "The Dragons," with new tents, then a deck, water; and in time full power and drains with the Upper Shower House. Out in the woods the only magic stronger than water mysteriously appearing from a spigot is that same water mysteriously disappearing down a drain!
