angelgodiva
Aug 24, 2002, 02:37 PM
Just thought you guys would enjoy this:
True story of me and George Aug 22 2002
by Peter Grant, Liverpool Echo
LOUISE Harrison has one of those mid- Atlantic accents that are difficult to place.
But there's no mistaking her roots when she says 'ta ra' and gives a friendly laugh.
And the elder sister of George Harrison, travelling from her home in South Illinois, has been looking forward to returning to the city where she and all the Harrisons - dad Harry, mum Louise, brothers Peter and George and herself were born.
"It's going to be wonderful being part of The Beatle celebrations and opening an exhibition of photographs of George, taken by people who loved him," she says.
But before she was back in the UK, 70-year-old Louise wanted to put the record straight about reports of a rift with her late, much-loved brother.
It was reported in the press that she had opened a Beatle-related B&B and George thought she was cashing in on her Beatle connections.
She insists: "There has been a story that just isn't true that there was this rift between us. Never.
"It was said that I owned a bed and breakfast hotel in that little place called Benton, in South Ilinois.
"I have never owned a B&B in my life.
"There is a B&B called A Hard Day's Nite which was my old home, but not connected to me beyond that.
" In America this story is unheard of but in the UK, it seems to be passed on and passed on. So thanks to the ECHO I can put that straight."
Louise says although she did support the B&B publicity-wise, that was her only connection.
"So when people said after his death that there was a rift - well that was nonsense," she says.
"George always spoke about being positive in life and about being human. And that we were all here on a visit.
"His life was about spirituality and making people feel good."
Louise says she remained in touch with George throughout his life and was with him just two weeks before his death in November last year.
She drove 900 miles from her home in Illinois to Staten Island University Hospital where George was being treated for cancer.
"It was a very, very positive and loving meeting. I felt very much at peace as I drove home after seeing him. I hated seeing him in that shape when he had been such a vital, wonderful man.
She says one of her favourite memories of George, who was a devotee of Hare Krishna, giving her a book about spiritual leader Maharashi Yogi.
"I told him that I had joined the Yogi's organisation and showed him my membership card. George laughed out loud and said, 'so you're my Divine Sister'.
"He still had his humour." Louise was born in 1931 and moved to America in 1954 after marrying Gordon Caldwell. They had two children but divorced in 1982.
During her early years in the US, George and their brother Peter visited her before Beatlemania made such further cosy family reunions impossible.
She smiles at the memory of one such visit to her home in Benton, on September 16, 1963, just months before the Beatles' famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
George loved it in America and it was wonderful to see him. He made a lot of friends," recalls Louise.
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PEACE ON YA!
True story of me and George Aug 22 2002
by Peter Grant, Liverpool Echo
LOUISE Harrison has one of those mid- Atlantic accents that are difficult to place.
But there's no mistaking her roots when she says 'ta ra' and gives a friendly laugh.
And the elder sister of George Harrison, travelling from her home in South Illinois, has been looking forward to returning to the city where she and all the Harrisons - dad Harry, mum Louise, brothers Peter and George and herself were born.
"It's going to be wonderful being part of The Beatle celebrations and opening an exhibition of photographs of George, taken by people who loved him," she says.
But before she was back in the UK, 70-year-old Louise wanted to put the record straight about reports of a rift with her late, much-loved brother.
It was reported in the press that she had opened a Beatle-related B&B and George thought she was cashing in on her Beatle connections.
She insists: "There has been a story that just isn't true that there was this rift between us. Never.
"It was said that I owned a bed and breakfast hotel in that little place called Benton, in South Ilinois.
"I have never owned a B&B in my life.
"There is a B&B called A Hard Day's Nite which was my old home, but not connected to me beyond that.
" In America this story is unheard of but in the UK, it seems to be passed on and passed on. So thanks to the ECHO I can put that straight."
Louise says although she did support the B&B publicity-wise, that was her only connection.
"So when people said after his death that there was a rift - well that was nonsense," she says.
"George always spoke about being positive in life and about being human. And that we were all here on a visit.
"His life was about spirituality and making people feel good."
Louise says she remained in touch with George throughout his life and was with him just two weeks before his death in November last year.
She drove 900 miles from her home in Illinois to Staten Island University Hospital where George was being treated for cancer.
"It was a very, very positive and loving meeting. I felt very much at peace as I drove home after seeing him. I hated seeing him in that shape when he had been such a vital, wonderful man.
She says one of her favourite memories of George, who was a devotee of Hare Krishna, giving her a book about spiritual leader Maharashi Yogi.
"I told him that I had joined the Yogi's organisation and showed him my membership card. George laughed out loud and said, 'so you're my Divine Sister'.
"He still had his humour." Louise was born in 1931 and moved to America in 1954 after marrying Gordon Caldwell. They had two children but divorced in 1982.
During her early years in the US, George and their brother Peter visited her before Beatlemania made such further cosy family reunions impossible.
She smiles at the memory of one such visit to her home in Benton, on September 16, 1963, just months before the Beatles' famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
George loved it in America and it was wonderful to see him. He made a lot of friends," recalls Louise.
------------------
PEACE ON YA!