Hog’s Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA

26. Louise

334 || 26 Louise L OUISE Giblette Daniels as a mother; the relationship between Louise Daniels and Jerry Daniels; her attitude toward women; Hmong friends; last trip to Thailand; old age and death. JACK TUPPER DANIELS, brother of Jerry Daniels My parents weren’t well educated, but my mother was brilliant. I mean, gosh, she graduated from high school when she was fourteen. And she married Bob when she was fourteen. And her mother—we called her Kakaw—was a clinical psychologist. Kakaw’s specialty was interviewing kids who either had or were thinking about killing their parents. Louise’s father left when Louise was born so she never knew her father. She had no sisters or brothers. Louise Daniels with her mother, Mrs. Catherine Tupper Giblette (“Kakaw”), after they climbed the Statue of Liberty, New York, May 1931. Daniels family collection. Used with permission. Louise || 335 KENT “DAN THE ANIMAL MAN” DANIELS, brother of Jerry Daniels The only thing that I’d like to know about Louise’s dad is who he was. Because he left, supposedly, when Louise was born a girl. He was a coach, and a girl was no good. When he didn’t have a boy he fled. So I’d like to call him up and say, “Jerry was a superman over there in Southeast Asia, Danny was the top forester here, I was the state champion wrestler and trap shooter, and Jack medaled at two different Olympics . How do you like that, asshole?” JACK TUPPER DANIELS, brother of Jerry Daniels My father grew up in an orphanage. I don’t remember a lot about him. He was gone a lot; during World War II he installed switchboards at different military bases. What I do remember is that my mother was very, very into her children. Everybody else would say, “I can hardly wait for school to start so the kids will go back to school!” She was the one mother who would say, “I hate to see school start in the fall because my boys will go to school. I want them home.” I can remember her saying that when I was a kid. She enjoyed us. Mrs. NORMA HUGHES, Ovando rancher; friend of the Daniels family Louise did not care for girls. She said that to everybody. When she was little and growing up she wanted to have nine boys after she was married, and no girls whatsoever . As the years unfolded, she got her nine boys because she had five sons and four grandsons: Boone and Tupper, Deeder and Farrett. So that equaled her nine boys. She was very happy about it. Ms. CECELIA CHRISTENSEN (formerly Mrs. Jack Stratton), friend of Louise Daniels Louise liked outdoorsy-type stuff, and she didn’t mind being dirty. She liked guns, camping, hunting. She really liked to fish. And she enjoyed the things her boys did. She sent Jerry’s bull riding gear to him in Laos when he asked for it. She didn’t worry about him riding a bull. She thought it was interesting! Ms. MYRA L. SHULTS, high school friend of Jerry Daniels In that family you could characterize the boys as being mountain men. They hunted, they fished, they lived off the land. They all were smart, but there was something almost feral about them. And Louise was like the leader of the pack. Louise was a beautiful woman, but she wasn’t a feminine woman. I think if she had her druthers she would have been a man. 336 || Hog’s Exit I was in Louise’s house when she lived behind Kent and Julie, and also I was in her trailer. Louise’s home was bare existence. That’s all it was. It was just utilitarian. There were no touches that you would expect to see in a home. Excerpt from a letter to the DANIELS FAMILY from JOHN BARKER,1 January 24, 1948 Louise, my father’s idea of cleaning a house was to sprinkle sand on the floor, sweep it out, and go hunting while the dust settled. He had no pride in ownership of a house as such—only if it looked like nature had created it as a part of the land. He could never see any thing remarkable about any public building. They were all just piles of material to him. You are so very much like him in that respect. Ms...