{"id":128029,"date":"2024-08-25T15:44:59","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T22:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=128029"},"modified":"2024-08-27T12:50:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T19:50:05","slug":"shirlees-story-bay-city-woman-joins-the-rev-jim-jones-peoples-temple","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=128029","title":{"rendered":"Shirlee\u2019s Story: Bay City woman joins the Rev. Jim Jones\u2019 Peoples Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: This article is republished courtesy of MLive.com. The original article appears <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

(MLive.com editor\u2019s note<\/strong>: This is the second installment of a five-part series on the life of Bay City native Shirlee A. Fields (nee Miller), who was among 918 people who died in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown and other Guyana locations on Nov. 18, 1978.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Yearbook photo of Bay City native Shirlee A. Fields (nee Miller), who died in Jonestown (Cole Waterman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BAY CITY, MI \u2014 In the years before Bay City native Shirlee A. Fields departed the U.S. for Jonestown, Guyana, a place from which she would never return, she and her family lived in California. While there, she would cross paths with the Rev. Jim Jones, joining his growing congregation in the Peoples Temple.<\/p>\n

Shirlee and Donald Fields befriended the Harrison family, including their children, daughter Lori and son Mark, who attended third grade with their son.<\/p>\n

Bob Harrison in 2013 posted his recollections of the family on\u00a0Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple<\/a>, which documents those who were part of the Nov. 18, 1978, mass death led by the Rev. Jim Jones. Harrison, who has since died, wrote he and his wife often dined with the Fields family.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs conversations go, Shirley was the more outgoing of the two, very talkative, with a quick mind and an active imagination,\u201d Harrison wrote. \u201cWe enjoyed their company; they were intelligent and interesting, and fun to be with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shirlee, however, had frequent bouts of pessimism, Harrison wrote. As with many who gravitated toward Jones and his message, she expressed cynicism over the state of the world and the social ills plaguing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur failure as a society to end poverty and racial injustice rankled her,\u201d Harrison wrote. \u201cShe often talked of her hope to find a belief which offered spiritual truth and present-world justice, and it was not long until she found the religion for which she had been searching.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than once, Shirlee stated her intent to get passports for her family \u201cin case they begin to persecute Jews here in the United States,\u201d Harrison wrote.<\/p>\n

The Fieldses grew less available in 1976. They talked of taking a special bus to San Francisco on weekends for meetings. At the time, Peoples Temple was headquartered there.<\/p>\n

When the Harrisons expressed curiosity, Shirlee enthusiastically told them of Peoples Temple, a new religious group she\u2019d discovered. Her husband was supportive but more reserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was our belief that this new religion was Shirley\u2019s \u2018thing\u2019 and Don was just going along to keep her happy,\u201d Harrison wrote. \u201cThis was in keeping with their style: Shirley took the initiative, and Don supported her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exactly when and under what circumstances Shirlee first encountered Jones is unknown.<\/p>\n

Soon, the family was absent every weekend and also grew increasingly secretive. When the Harrisons asked them about Peoples Temple, they gave vague responses.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe did tell us the members were very diverse, and were from a wide range of ages, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, educational levels and economic groups,\u201d Harrison continued. \u201cThey all prayed and wanted to end poverty and social injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the winter of 1976, the Fieldses moved to San Francisco. They sold their house, vehicles, and property, giving away whatever they could not sell. They told the Harrisons they were giving their money to Peoples Temple and would live in housing the group provided.<\/p>\n

By January 1977, the family was active enough in Peoples Temple for their then 9-year-old son Mark to march in protest of lower-income residents being evicted from San Francisco\u2019s International Hotel.<\/p>\n

The Harrisons again met with the Fieldses a handful of times in spring 1977. When they asked about their situation, they clammed up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had apparently all been instructed to avoid discussing Peoples Temple with outsiders,\u201d Harrison wrote.<\/p>\n

The Fieldses lived in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Northridge before entering Guyana on July 23, 1977. Just days after her arrival, Shirlee signed her name to\u00a0several affidavits<\/a>\u00a0as a witness to Jones\u2019 \u201cmiraculous capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Harrisons heard of the Jonestown Massacre, the mass suicide resulting in 918 deaths, they intrinsically knew the Fieldses were present.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife was very angry that Shirley and Don had apparently taken the children to their doom,\u201d Harrison wrote.<\/p>\n

Shirlee Fields was one of eight Michiganders to die in Jonestown. The others include\u00a0Jeffrey J. Carey<\/a>\u00a0of Flint,\u00a0the Hicks family<\/a>\u00a0of four from Detroit, and\u00a0Barbara J. Cordell<\/a>and\u00a0Mary Beth Wotherspoon<\/a>\u00a0of Grand Rapids. In the case of Wotherspoon, her sister H.J. Jones earlier this year published a book on her sister titled \u201cJonestown: An American Family Tragedy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who were Peoples Temple?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jones founded Peoples Temple in Indianapolis in 1954, emphasizing racial and class equality. He left the possessive apostrophe out of his church\u2019s name to signal its inclusivity and rejection of material ownership.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A collage of photos showing the Rev. Jim Jones and Peoples Temple members during the earlier years of the movement. Jones’ wife, Marceline Jones, is seated beside him in the upper left photo. The collage originally appeared in an essay by Stephan G. Jones titled “The Man They Loved,” appearing on The Jonestown Institute website. Photos provided by Stephan G. Jones and the Special Collections & University Archives, San Diego State University Library.Cole Waterman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jones\u2019 impassioned sermons, theatrical stage presence, and faith healings merged elements from different Christian denominations. To practice what he preached, Jones and his wife Marceline adopted several children of different ethnic backgrounds, a professed \u201crainbow family.\u201d<\/p>\n

In time, the Temple\u2019s congregation grew to be 80-90% Black.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he had not moved to California and Guyana, he would be considered one of the Civil Rights leaders of the late \u201850s and early \u201860s in the Midwest, doing what he did in Indianapolis,\u201d said researcher Fielding M. \u201cMac\u201d McGehee III, a leading authority on Jonestown.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 son, Stephan G. Jones, is less on board with that assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think part of him genuinely cared about social justice,\u201d he said, speaking with MLive. \u201cEven then, there was a selfish component to that. I think he was more caught up in\u00a0appearing<\/em>\u00a0as a great Civil Rights leader than actually\u00a0being<\/em>\u00a0one.\u201d<\/p>\n

As years progressed, Jones moved his flock to California.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Rev. Jim Jones stands in a crop field in Jonestown. Photo provided by Special Collections & University Archives, San Diego State University Library and The Jonestown Institute.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The church\u2019s philanthropy provided legal services, medical care, drug rehabilitation, housing for the disabled, college tuition, and a subsidized cafeteria where anyone could eat for free. With a fleet of Greyhound buses, Jones led congregants on cross-country tours, hosting revivals to recruit and fundraise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the \u201870s,\u201d McGehee said. \u201cPeople went out, trying to make the world better.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the church evolved, Jones shed much of its Christian theology. At various times, he espoused beliefs in reincarnation, that he could resurrect the dead, and that he was the incarnation of God. He would also describe himself as an atheist or agnostic, preaching an ideology he dubbed \u201capostolic socialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the poor and needy continued to join, the church\u2019s ranks were augmented by educated professionals, including professors, engineers, and attorneys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could see the people they were helping,\u201d McGehee said. \u201c(Jim Jones) would say, \u2018Your churches keep telling you that when you die and go to heaven, you\u2019ll get your reward. We\u2019re telling you, you can get it here and now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Shirlee\u2019s civic-mindedness likely moved her to join.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what drove a lot of people like the Fields family, like my wife\u2019s family, and any number of examples I could give,\u201d said McGehee, who had two sisters-in-law join Peoples Temple. \u201cThey felt they were doing a service for the world at large and getting that kind of benefit from it themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones grew affluent off the contributions of his parishioners. Despite being married, he was having sex with numerous congregants. For his faithful to attain Jones\u2019 forgiveness for their sins, they would often undergo severe beatings and humiliation, according to recovered documents and survivors\u2019 accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was filled with rage at what I saw behind the curtain,\u201d said Jones\u2019 son, Stephan G. Jones. \u201cI saw my father\u2019s antics from a very early age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Jones curried favor with California politicians and elites, even being named head of the San Francisco Housing Commission, he attracted scrutiny when former church members started alleging abuse and misconduct. Still, he and his organization weathered the storm caused by the 1972 publication of a multi-part expos\u00e9 in\u00a0The San Francisco Examiner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fearing prying eyes, Jones in 1974 sent his first batch of Temple members to Guyana to begin transforming 3,852 acres of wild brush into an agricultural town.<\/p>\n

The settlement grew to include crops, cottages, dormitories, a bakery, a sawmill, a brick factory, an infirmary, a pharmacy, a nursery, an animal shelter, a playground, a radio room, education tents, and a large pavilion. Residents rode horses and raised chickens, cows, and pigs.<\/p>\n

Another article<\/a>\u00a0in the August 1977 issue of New West magazine outlined physical, sexual, and emotional abuse within the church. The article also called for investigations into the Temple allegedly skimming funds from care homes they operated for troubled children and the elderly.<\/p>\n

Two months before the article published, Jones left the U.S. for Guyana in June 1977. The Fields family of four followed him the next month. Jones was also motivated by a custody dispute involving a former member with whom he claimed to have fathered a son. Jones had the boy moved to Jonestown.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
In this photo from 1974, the Rev. Jim Jones (in red shirt) leads Peoples Temple members through cleared grounds of the future Jonestown site in Guyana. Jones leads chimpanzee Mr. Muggs, a community mascot, on a leash. Standing to Jones’ right is his son, Stephan G. Jones.Photo provided by The Jonestown Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe wanted to believe that finally, we were going to live our dream and have the community we hoped for in greater society,\u201d said Stephan Jones.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival, residents\u2019 passports were confiscated. Jones controlled the flow of all news and communication. Miles of dense forest surrounded them, concealing venomous snakes, anacondas, and jaguars. With armed guards loyal to Jones, residents had virtually no means of escape. The nearest settlement was the tiny village of Port Kaituma, six miles away.<\/p>\n

Some survivors have said their time in Jonestown was the high point of their lives, espousing the communal love that pervaded. Others have described Jonestown as closer to a forced labor camp, with marathon work shifts in oppressive heat, food shortages, and sadistic punishments.<\/p>\n

His mind warped by amphetamines and sedatives, Jones ruled as a mad tyrant, ranting and raving on a public address system at all hours and depriving his exhausted followers of sleep, according to Jeff Guinn\u2019s 2018 book \u201cThe Road to Jonestown<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most ominously, he amped up a practice he started in the U.S. \u2014 compelling his flock to engage in dress rehearsals for a crisis called \u201cWhite Nights.\u201d The drills often ended in scenarios of mass death, according to The Jonestown Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an anxiety-ridden community after the White Nights began,\u201d Stephan Jones said.<\/p>\n

(Cole Waterman is a Michigan-based crime reporter with a long-held interest in Peoples Temple and Jonestown who has submitted numerous primary source transcripts from the FBI\u2019s FOIA files to the site beginning in the fall of 2023. He can be reached at\u00a0<\/em>Cole_Waterman@mlive.com<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note: This article is republished courtesy of MLive.com. The original article appears here.) (MLive.com editor\u2019s note: This is the second installment of a five-part series on the life of Bay City native Shirlee A. Fields (nee Miller), who was among 918 people who died in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown and other Guyana locations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":128015,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-128029","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/128029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128029"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/128029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128085,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/128029\/revisions\/128085"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/128015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}