Ammon Hennacy

I only met Ammon  Hennacy once, when he came to talk at the University of Oregon when I was a grad student. I'd heard a lot about him from the Salt Lake City group of folksingers in Eugene at the time, about his Joe Hill House where they would sing labor and peace songs. He had co-founded The Catholic Worker with Dorothy Day, they told me, an anarchist/pacifist with very long credentials.

Hennacy concluded his talk with the most memorable exit sequence I've ever seen. He said he was driving to Seattle for his next talk. His old car got such and such mileage, and gas cost such and such, so he was passing the hat for expenses. If he could get ten bucks, that would be really great. He had an old hat he passed around as he continued to talk.

When the hat came back, it was stuffed with money. Several hundred dollars at least. Hennacy took out a ten and put it in his shirt pocket. He dumped the rest on the table and headed for the door. Just before leaving he turned and said, If you can figure out how to divide that, we'll have gotten somewhere. And he was gone.

No one knew what the hell to do. No one took money back while I was there. I suppose the janitor got one very fine tip that night.

An unforgettable moment from an unforgettable man.

Wikipedia info