Jim Lincoln:
He’s a 78-year-old who likes
to ‘blast them’ once ip awhile
By MICHAEL KESTEN
Of the Emerald
Jim Lincoln was still chuckling
Thursday norning about his letter
the Emerald ran the day before.
The letter had been slightly critical
of Pres. Boyd.
"You know," he said, "this
young gal—she couldn't have
come more than up to here on
me—came up behind me and
slammed me on the back. Good
going, Jim,' she said, you really
blasted them. "
Lincoln, 78, is a man who likes
to "blast 'em" once in awhile. Al
though he was born in Alaska in
1898, Lincoln considers himself a
native Oregonian.
"Both my father and mother
were mountain people from Ken
tucky who came over the Oregon
trail and settled here. In 1898, you
know, during the Alaska gold rush,
they had this idea to start a board
ing house in Alaska for all the
miners. Well, it didn't work out,
and they came right back to
Oregon, but I was born in Alaska. I
was brought up here and in
California."
Currently teaching a SEARCH
class on a Native American
prophet, Lincoln has led an active
life, which includes extensive
travel throughout the world. He
served overseas in both world
wars and also fought in the
Spanish Civil War. Lincoln, a
lifetime artist, has lived through
various periods and phases of art.
During the Great Depression of
the 1930s he painted murals for
pubic buildings in the West under
a government art program. He
also painted nudes for speak
easies and bars (after the repeal
of prohibition) and often did pic
tures of ranches and farmhouses
for a few day’s room and board,
frequently signing the owners’
names to the works.
“I've done medical research the
last 35 years, the last 20 in New
York," Lincoln said.
"My specialization is electron
microscopy in ultra structure re
search of the individual cell. No
thing is simple, nowadays,” Lin
coln commented in discussing
how he made his “bread and but
ter."
i ne topic or maxing a living re
minded Lincoln of his youth on his
parents' farm about seven miles
west of Eugene.
"I was driving a horse-drawn
wagon loaded with hides into
Eugene when I was 13 years old.''
he said. "Later, I got to be a
machine shop helper in one of the
lumber mills. It was while I was
doing that, that I started going to
night school. The first time I went
to school was when I was 14.”
Lincoln continued his educa
tion, which included a two-term
stint at the University from 1922 to
1923, and graduated from the
University of California in 1936.
Lincoln’s SEARCH class con
cerns the Native American
prophet Wovoka. Lincoln is a fol
lower of Wovoka and considers
himself one of the few people qual
ified to teach the course.
He recalls the first time he met
Wovoka. “My father and I were in
San Francisco during the big ear
thquake of April 18, 1906. Al
though I was only eight, I re
member the terrible fires as if it
was only yesterday. My father
worked on some of the gangs that
began clearing the rubble.
“After two months, we left for
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon. We went by way of
Nevada and stopped in the Mason
Valley where I met Wovoka.
That's when I found out my father
could speak Paiute. Wovoka
knew English but he'd only talk to
strangers in Paiute."
Lincoln describes himself as a
Tuscarora-Cherokee. He visited
Wovoka two more times before
the prophet died in 1932. Lincoln
says that Wovoka related Christ
ianity to the American Indian way
of life.
“Wovoka said that this life is not
the true life, it’s just for our bodies.
The real life is the world of the
spirit. The first words of Genesis
say in plain Hebrew, God is a
spirit....’ He has no body. Our
souls are of God—not of this
world.’’
Buffalo not ‘in the mood’
BUFFALO, N Y. (AP) — Seven
members of singer Bette Midler's
touring company have been ar
rested on drug charges here in
what her manager said Monday
was an “illegal search and seiz
ure."
“They're against pinball
machines here,” said the popular
singer’s manager, Aaron Russo.
"Most towns are liberal in this day
and age...but Buffalo is in the
midst of this silly antivice
crusade."
!■ ..
Three members of Midler's
back-up band and four techni
cians were arrested Sunday when
police seized what they said was a
half-ounce of cocaine and V/2
pounds of marijuana in a down
town hotel room.
Officers said they had seen the
drugs by looking into a third-floor
window of the hotel from the ramp
in a nearby parking garage.
Midler is in the midst of a 20-city
tour that began Dec. 20 in San
Francisco.
786 E 11th AVENUE / EUGENE
THE MOST TALKED ABOUT
sandwich on campus ::::
THEY’VE KILLED
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A Program on Political Assassinations
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 E.M.U. BALLROOM 8:00 P.M.
featuring
HAYS GOREY—TIME correspondent and
contributing author to "'Who Killed J.F.K.?” TIME
Nov. 24, 1975.
and
MAE BRUSSELL— Conspiracy Theorist
Wednesday Feb. 18—129 Law 12:30 PM
MAE BRUSSELL—The US Intelligence Community and the politics of conspiracy
FREE
sponsored by the Cultural Forum and Student Bar Association
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