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Wed, Sep 18, 2019
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Over a period of several months I conducted many interviews with Lori Garcia, the wife of Tommy Garcia who was the adopted son of Father and Mother Divine.
One of the topics that most interested me was how Tommy Garcia, a boy born in Los Angeles, wound up in Woodmont with Mother and Father Divine. This complicated story will probably be told at greater length when Tommy Garcia publishes his own book about that period. Still, Lori Garcia was forthcoming when speaking about how an anonymous little boy from Los Angeles wound up in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.
The adoption story has its roots in Jim Jones’ (of Jonestown infamy) association with Mother and Father Divine. For years Jones had tried to infiltrate the Peace Mission movement.
“The final visit between Jim Jones and Mother and Father Divine,” Lori said, “was the firecracker that set things in motion. It was at that time that Father Divine told Mother Divine, ‘I need a brown little boy who can be groomed, who has not been tainted by the movement, who is intelligent, and that I can groom to be your assistant.’ The obsessive lurking around of Jim Jones had put something unpleasant in the air, a tone that more or less seemed to say: “Look, Father Divine, you are a sick old man, and once you’re gone I’m going to come here and take over the Peace Mission movement.” An adopted son who could be trained to be Father Divine’s successor as well as an aid to Mother Divine was an investment in perpetuity. Soon a universal call went out to everyone in the movement at every location around the world to keep an eye out for such a boy.
‘Everyone wanted to be the one who delivered the child to Father Divine,” Lori said. In Los Angeles, meanwhile, a woman named Georgia Julia Costa, the 13th of 14 children born to Greek-Albanian parents in New Hampshire, met the very handsome and athletic Tomas Garcia, a semi professional soccer player who played for the Mainland Mexico team and who came to the United States on a work visa in 1949. The two met in Los Angeles in 1952, and little Tommy Garcia was born in 1954.
“Georgia fell in love with Tomas,” Lori said. “Tomas was very handsome and very well built. Both were very young. Georgia, a photographer, was 22. They spent a lot of nights dancing at the Hollywood Palladium. After Tommy was born, his sister Susan was born in August of 1958. “
Life for the little brown boy from the time of his birth to March of 1962 was a combination of harmony and falling victim to his father’s demons. Tommy was constantly complaining of severe headaches to his mother as the relationship between Georgia and Tomas began to go downhill. The headaches continued. Tommy was even been sent home from school because of them and his mother, at her wits end, took him to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles to find out what the problem was. The source of the headaches could not be traced to a medical condition but rather to trauma, such as a blow to the head. This was in fact what was happening although Tommy refrained from telling his mother beforehand that his father had kicked him in the head.
At the same time that this was happening, Georgia found herself in Los Angeles’ Self Realization Fellowship’s Lake Shrine gardens, camera in hand and looking for the perfect photo. Here she was in this Paramahansa Yogananda-inspired garden where, according to Lori, she had her first interaction with a woman from the Peace Mission movement.
“I believe that when a person meets a new friend, it’s sometimes easier to speak with that new friend about what’s going on in your life than telling an old friend,” Lori offered.
That’s what Georgia Garcia did. Georgia showed the woman, whose name was Louise, a photograph of her son, Tommy, and Louise must have thought of the call for a brown little boy that had been made by Mother and Father Divine back in Woodmont. What transpired between Georgia and Louise from that moment on was something that Lori Garcia could not tell me, although it can be assumed Louise sent the photo to Mother and Father Divine. This set the wheels of progress in motion. Years later, Tommy Garcia would reveal to Lori how he spotted the photo of himself at Woodmont. Father Divine had two special secretaries entrusted with a sort of high security clearance, Miss Saint Mary Bloom, his black right hand assistant and Miss Dorothy Darling, his white right hand assistant. Miss Saint Mary Bloom was also the treasurer of the movement’s Palace Mission and president and treasurer of the Circle Mission. Miss Saint Mary Bloom had a private office on the second floor of Woodmont with a sofa that Lori recalls being “over six feet long and a large safe that contained important papers and lots of cash.”
One day when Tommy was sent to the Bloom office he spotted the picture of himself in the safe.
“Somehow that picture was sent to Woodmont. I don’t know if it was sent to the attention of Mother Divine or Father Divine, I don’t know that answer,” Lori told me,” but I do know that upon receipt of that photo Father Divine said, ‘Bring me that child!’”
Mother and Father Divine obviously liked what they saw and further negotiations ensued. Eventually it was agreed that the four of them, Louise, Tommy, Tommy’s sister, Suzie and Georgia, would drive to Philadelphia from Los Angeles. With Louise in the passenger seat and Tommy and Susan in the back seat, the group headed east.
Immediately after Tommy’s personal introduction to Mother and Father Divine, he was taken to the King of Prussia Mall where he was outfitted in a new wardrobe. But his new life as the prince of Woodmont would not last long because almost immediately after his arrival he was molested by a male Peace Mission member.
Tommy’s mother, Georgia, who was promised the position of Mission photographer, was sent to live in another property. In 1962, there were hundreds, even thousands of buildings owned by the Peace Mission—in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, Harlem and even upstate New York. These buildings were places where people—workers—were needed. In exchange for room and board Peace Mission members participated in worker duties. Lori Garcia says she’s certain that Georgia fell right into step because she remained with the movement for the rest of her life under a new name, Miss Harmony Faith Love. “In most cases new names were given by Father Divine but in some cases people chose their own names and Father gave his okay. Georgia worked at the Key Flower Dining Room at the Divine Tracy Hotel and died in 2001. She never left Philadelphia,” Lori said.
Father Divine would die three years after Tommy Garcia arrived at Woodmont. “I am certain that Father Divine expected to have far more time with Tommy than he had,” Lori recalls. “But certainly the three years he had with Tommy were intense and very special.” The two shared many confidences, including the revelatory fact that Father Divine was not really God, as his followers believed. Lori, who says that she believes in God although she’s not sure what house of worship she belongs in, said: “Tommy not only knew that Father Divine was not God, but in one of their first meetings Father Divine said to Tommy, ‘I am not God.’
God or no God, the plan to find a little brown boy was well executed. “When Tommy was delivered to Father Divine, it was up to Father Divine to decide whether Tommy stays or goes. One of the first things Father Divine asked Tommy was would he agree to stay there with him,” Lori recalls. “Tommy looked around Father Divine’s office where there were 13 or 14 secretaries with their steno pads writing down every word that is uttered. Tommy notices that some people are smiling, some are frowning and some have no expression whatsoever. The first thing this eight and a half year old child says is, ‘What about my sister and my mom?’”
Lecturing on Father and Mother Divine
This sentiment demonstrated to Father Divine that this was not your average selfish kid. At this point Father Divine stated that they would be well taken care of although Suzie would not live at Woodmont. Tommy agreed and spent the next three years with Father Divine. At banquets he was seated between Father and Mother Divine. In addition to his Woodmont training, the boy was taken around to all the Peace Mission locations where he was introduced as Master Tommy.
Enrolled in a local school, the boy was taught how to be compassionate and a caring person and to take care of your fellow men and women and especially to take care of the elderly. As for the so-called ‘God Secret,’ Father Divine instructed the boy to “tell no one.”
“Tommy has kept that secret. From the time he was eight years old this secret has been kept because Father asked Tommy to keep it,” Lori adds.
One of the topics that most interested me was how Tommy Garcia, a boy born in Los Angeles, wound up in Woodmont with Mother and Father Divine. This complicated story will probably be told at greater length when Tommy Garcia publishes his own book about that period. Still, Lori Garcia was forthcoming when speaking about how an anonymous little boy from Los Angeles wound up in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.
The adoption story has its roots in Jim Jones’ (of Jonestown infamy) association with Mother and Father Divine. For years Jones had tried to infiltrate the Peace Mission movement.
“The final visit between Jim Jones and Mother and Father Divine,” Lori said, “was the firecracker that set things in motion. It was at that time that Father Divine told Mother Divine, ‘I need a brown little boy who can be groomed, who has not been tainted by the movement, who is intelligent, and that I can groom to be your assistant.’ The obsessive lurking around of Jim Jones had put something unpleasant in the air, a tone that more or less seemed to say: “Look, Father Divine, you are a sick old man, and once you’re gone I’m going to come here and take over the Peace Mission movement.” An adopted son who could be trained to be Father Divine’s successor as well as an aid to Mother Divine was an investment in perpetuity. Soon a universal call went out to everyone in the movement at every location around the world to keep an eye out for such a boy.
‘Everyone wanted to be the one who delivered the child to Father Divine,” Lori said. In Los Angeles, meanwhile, a woman named Georgia Julia Costa, the 13th of 14 children born to Greek-Albanian parents in New Hampshire, met the very handsome and athletic Tomas Garcia, a semi professional soccer player who played for the Mainland Mexico team and who came to the United States on a work visa in 1949. The two met in Los Angeles in 1952, and little Tommy Garcia was born in 1954.
“Georgia fell in love with Tomas,” Lori said. “Tomas was very handsome and very well built. Both were very young. Georgia, a photographer, was 22. They spent a lot of nights dancing at the Hollywood Palladium. After Tommy was born, his sister Susan was born in August of 1958. “
Life for the little brown boy from the time of his birth to March of 1962 was a combination of harmony and falling victim to his father’s demons. Tommy was constantly complaining of severe headaches to his mother as the relationship between Georgia and Tomas began to go downhill. The headaches continued. Tommy was even been sent home from school because of them and his mother, at her wits end, took him to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles to find out what the problem was. The source of the headaches could not be traced to a medical condition but rather to trauma, such as a blow to the head. This was in fact what was happening although Tommy refrained from telling his mother beforehand that his father had kicked him in the head.
At the same time that this was happening, Georgia found herself in Los Angeles’ Self Realization Fellowship’s Lake Shrine gardens, camera in hand and looking for the perfect photo. Here she was in this Paramahansa Yogananda-inspired garden where, according to Lori, she had her first interaction with a woman from the Peace Mission movement.
“I believe that when a person meets a new friend, it’s sometimes easier to speak with that new friend about what’s going on in your life than telling an old friend,” Lori offered.
That’s what Georgia Garcia did. Georgia showed the woman, whose name was Louise, a photograph of her son, Tommy, and Louise must have thought of the call for a brown little boy that had been made by Mother and Father Divine back in Woodmont. What transpired between Georgia and Louise from that moment on was something that Lori Garcia could not tell me, although it can be assumed Louise sent the photo to Mother and Father Divine. This set the wheels of progress in motion. Years later, Tommy Garcia would reveal to Lori how he spotted the photo of himself at Woodmont. Father Divine had two special secretaries entrusted with a sort of high security clearance, Miss Saint Mary Bloom, his black right hand assistant and Miss Dorothy Darling, his white right hand assistant. Miss Saint Mary Bloom was also the treasurer of the movement’s Palace Mission and president and treasurer of the Circle Mission. Miss Saint Mary Bloom had a private office on the second floor of Woodmont with a sofa that Lori recalls being “over six feet long and a large safe that contained important papers and lots of cash.”
One day when Tommy was sent to the Bloom office he spotted the picture of himself in the safe.
“Somehow that picture was sent to Woodmont. I don’t know if it was sent to the attention of Mother Divine or Father Divine, I don’t know that answer,” Lori told me,” but I do know that upon receipt of that photo Father Divine said, ‘Bring me that child!’”
Mother and Father Divine obviously liked what they saw and further negotiations ensued. Eventually it was agreed that the four of them, Louise, Tommy, Tommy’s sister, Suzie and Georgia, would drive to Philadelphia from Los Angeles. With Louise in the passenger seat and Tommy and Susan in the back seat, the group headed east.
Immediately after Tommy’s personal introduction to Mother and Father Divine, he was taken to the King of Prussia Mall where he was outfitted in a new wardrobe. But his new life as the prince of Woodmont would not last long because almost immediately after his arrival he was molested by a male Peace Mission member.
Tommy’s mother, Georgia, who was promised the position of Mission photographer, was sent to live in another property. In 1962, there were hundreds, even thousands of buildings owned by the Peace Mission—in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, Harlem and even upstate New York. These buildings were places where people—workers—were needed. In exchange for room and board Peace Mission members participated in worker duties. Lori Garcia says she’s certain that Georgia fell right into step because she remained with the movement for the rest of her life under a new name, Miss Harmony Faith Love. “In most cases new names were given by Father Divine but in some cases people chose their own names and Father gave his okay. Georgia worked at the Key Flower Dining Room at the Divine Tracy Hotel and died in 2001. She never left Philadelphia,” Lori said.
Father Divine would die three years after Tommy Garcia arrived at Woodmont. “I am certain that Father Divine expected to have far more time with Tommy than he had,” Lori recalls. “But certainly the three years he had with Tommy were intense and very special.” The two shared many confidences, including the revelatory fact that Father Divine was not really God, as his followers believed. Lori, who says that she believes in God although she’s not sure what house of worship she belongs in, said: “Tommy not only knew that Father Divine was not God, but in one of their first meetings Father Divine said to Tommy, ‘I am not God.’
God or no God, the plan to find a little brown boy was well executed. “When Tommy was delivered to Father Divine, it was up to Father Divine to decide whether Tommy stays or goes. One of the first things Father Divine asked Tommy was would he agree to stay there with him,” Lori recalls. “Tommy looked around Father Divine’s office where there were 13 or 14 secretaries with their steno pads writing down every word that is uttered. Tommy notices that some people are smiling, some are frowning and some have no expression whatsoever. The first thing this eight and a half year old child says is, ‘What about my sister and my mom?’”
Lecturing on Father and Mother DivineThis sentiment demonstrated to Father Divine that this was not your average selfish kid. At this point Father Divine stated that they would be well taken care of although Suzie would not live at Woodmont. Tommy agreed and spent the next three years with Father Divine. At banquets he was seated between Father and Mother Divine. In addition to his Woodmont training, the boy was taken around to all the Peace Mission locations where he was introduced as Master Tommy.
Enrolled in a local school, the boy was taught how to be compassionate and a caring person and to take care of your fellow men and women and especially to take care of the elderly. As for the so-called ‘God Secret,’ Father Divine instructed the boy to “tell no one.”
“Tommy has kept that secret. From the time he was eight years old this secret has been kept because Father asked Tommy to keep it,” Lori adds.
