Some months ago, I was intrigued when a friend mentioned a longtime member of the Vineyard community, Jackie (“Crash”) Clason. It was her nickname that first caught my attention, and I soon learned during our interview how an adventurous spirit has guided Clason’s life.
My first question was about her nickname, which, it turns out, came from her demolition days here on Island. For four years in the mid-1970s, Clason participated in what was known as the Columbus Day Crunch. Hugh Taylor built a dirt track for demolition derby racing near what is now the Outermost Inn in Aquinnah. Looking at a photograph of herself at the race, Clason explains, “I had a car that needed to go, since it was going to be junked. Because I had a friend who owned the Duck Inn, we put blow-up ducks on it, and I wrote ‘Duck Off’ on the back.” Next, Clason points to a photo of herself walking away from the wrecked car. “That was me after I rolled over,” she says matter-of-factly. “I had to take my helmet off for them to get me out of [the car].”
What made her want to be in the derby? “It seemed like an exciting thing to do, so I thought I’d try it. It was probably the most fun I ever had. It’s the endorphins your body produces.” When Clason tells me, “You wouldn’t get away with it today,” I ask why the police didn’t stop it. “They were in it! It was a different time,” she says.
Born in Springfield, Clason first visited our shores in 1972 after hitchhiking with some college girlfriends. “I was just going to go to the Cape, because I’d gone there a lot with my family. But when we asked everyone who picked us up hitchhiking, ‘What is the best part of the Cape?’ every single one said ‘Martha’s Vineyard.’ It was $2.50 to get on the ferry, which was literally my food budget for the week. I lived on Campbell’s soup and brown rice.”
Over the next few summers, Clason found various places to bunk. The first was the Luce House, a rooming house that cost the grand sum of $15 a week. There was also camping in the woods for several years. She also lived in a shack on Fisher Farm on the Tisbury Great Pond, using a hand pump for water and kerosene lamps for light.
After Clason settled here, she drove a taxi to make ends meet, but eventually grew tired of it. “I realized this Island needed someone to give massages. I’m very physical, and I wished someone would massage me, so I thought I should do it. I just pretended it was me on the table.” It turned out Clason had a real talent for the profession, and her practice grew rapidly through word of mouth. Massage brought her in touch (so to speak) with many remarkable clients, including Lillian Hellman. “She introduced me to the Feiffers, the Styrons, and John Hersey. Luckily, I read a lot, so I could keep up a conversation.”
Clason continues, “One of the great things about doing massage here is that you meet a lot of very wealthy people, and they like you so much because you make them feel good.”
One such client greatly impacted Clason’s career trajectory in the early 1980s. Laurance Rockefeller, who was here visiting his daughter, enjoyed Clason’s massages so much that he immediately asked, “How can I make it interesting to move to New York?”
She tells me, “I said, ‘I was thinking of going to homeopathy school.’ He said, ‘I’ll pay for it.’ I got an apartment on Central Park, and I just had to go up to the top of Rockefeller Center and massage him once a week, for four years. He was so lovely. He died shortly after. I went to his funeral and sat behind Henry Kissinger. Boy, Laurance Rockefeller changed my life.”
Since returning to the Island decades ago, Clason has assisted Vineyarders with homeopathy. This alternative medical approach uses highly diluted substances to activate the body’s natural healing abilities and boost the immune system: “I liked it because it was natural, and it had helped me.”
Clason further helps people heal themselves by teaching meditation. She began practicing in the 1970s, and was a devoted follower of Thich Nhat Hanh, who viewed meditation as a way to transform both personal suffering and societal issues. She was ordained with the dharma name “True Friendship of the Heart” during a visit to Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastery, Plum Village, in France. “It was a high spiritual experience, connected to everything,” she remembers. Clason teaches individuals how to meditate on their own instead of becoming dependent on her. In her practice, which she calls Lotus Therapy, “you invite any troubling emotions, give them compassion, and let them go.”
As we concluded, I asked Clason what she is currently passionate about. She immediately replied, “Peace, fairness, love, and liberation. That’s why you meditate.”