I found this lovely story here. And all I could think of was when my mom hugged Tony Perkins because she saw an interview he did with Ringo and at the end Tony hugged Ringo. She has wanted a hug from Ringo Starr for 47 years and she figured that hugging the guy that hugged Ringo isn't too shabby! lol In 1963 my British pen pal sent me, Olivia Anne Morris Fuchs, "Olivia Anne," a magazine and asked me to look at the boys she loved inside. When I first saw The Beatles in that photo I really saw only one, George, George Harrison. I have been devoted to George Harrison and his music and his interests ever since.
Not long after, I was fortunate to be the unpaid hostess for the promoter who brought so many rockers to my home town through much of the 60s, probably because I also was the President of the Beatles Fan Club. That also opened doors to rockers and the rock radio stations which wanted all the "official" Beatles news I regularly received from England.
So, when The Beatles announced that they were performing in Indianapolis, Indiana, just up the road from my home in Louisville, Kentucky, one of my first Beatle friends and I, with her parents since we were not old enough to drive, set about to make sure we got to the show and to meet The Beatles. I had all the expected press credentials, and a portable reel-to-reel recorder with a suction cup to allow anything I happened to capture to be transmitted over the telephone receiver back to the radio stations. But, the most important piece of "equipment" I had was the magical Bank Americard in my own name. That allowed me to book rooms in all the best hotels in Indy. We stayed in the Speedway Motel Tower with the Beatles one floor above us!
Before The Beatles and my George arrived, all of we fans were forced out into the parking lot to await their arrival. The long years since have stolen what I thought was so important I had to reenter the Tower to retrieve and risk missing the arrival of The Beatles, but I am glad it happened. Because after the security finally allowed me back inside, while I was waiting for the elevator, in came John, Paul, George and Ringo. I was alone in the elevator lobby with the Beatles!
They laughed easily, seemed so happy to be there, and were warm and chatty with me. Before they left to go to their room each of them gave me a hug, a real true, hug. I remember each as though it happened yesterday, the feel of their arms and their warmth, and how I wished it never would end. One of my Beatle Rock Chick friends who hugged Paul recently in Nashville is the only person I ever have been able to speak with about how their hugs feel, even now in my recollection.
Much of what happened afterward is a blur because when I went outside to be with my girlfriend, all of the screaming girls who had seen what happened grabbed at me, took my rings and watch and scared me until security came to my rescue. But, before I went inside one lovely fan gave me two precious photos–one of John pulling the turquoise jelly baby from his boot heel and the other of him handing it off to me!
Click on the link to read the rest of the story, including how she met Dhani Harrison many years later and got to tell him about when she met his dad in 1964
