A Search For Survivors

Read part one of this account here first.

Over the years, I was “treated” by attachment therapists Nonie and Bruce Wilson in Portland, Oregon, Kathie Leah Bishop in Eugene, Oregon and Tom Gill and Beverly Cuevas in Washington.

There are so many things that happened, it is so hard to narrow it down or write it in linear format. I’ve often thought that it would take writing a book to get the whole terrifying story out, but I don’t have the patience or the gift for writing to do that.

Kathie did a lot of weird things, but at the same time managed to maintain the outward appearance of a perfectly normal suburban family. Our whole lives and attachment to Kathie (I was very “attached” to her) was wrapped around religion.

When I came to live with them (I was there for two years), they were going to a Mennonite church. We all had to wear homemade dresses, which Kathie made, and have our hair braided at all times. She taught me how to sew and bake. We did not watch TV or listen to the radio, and our home schooling was Mennonite based in curriculum.

After the Mennonite phase, we joined a small Baptist church where we were all “saved.” There were several times where I was made to stand up in front of the congregation and give my ‘testimony’ about how I had allegedly abused Kathie’s children. It was humiliating and it hurt. After that, the other kids from church who were my friends before that, would throw rocks at me when we went hiking and call me names and tell me I was going to hell.

Somewhere during this time, Kathie decided to have me exorcised. I have no idea why.

She had converted her garage into a sound-proof office with an inner room that had a two way mirror/window pane attached to an observation room. I watched them build this and later found out that it was my parent’s money that had funded it, along with the 15 passenger van that she bought.

Anyway, one day she took me into the office and sat me down on the couch. There were two men there, holding bibles, and she told me they were there to get the demons out of me. I felt rather silly sitting there on the couch while these men shouted Bible verses and yelled at the supposed demons in my face.

Looking back, I am rather grateful that these men were from the church and not the therapy circle for I’m sure things would have been a lot worse if they had.

I had learned by that time how to ‘play the game’ and exhibit the actions, emotions, and words that Kathie expected from me. Once I realized what game we were playing this time, I threw in a couple of growls and said a couple of things that might have sounded demonic and then acted like something left my body. This seemed to satisfy the two men and Kathie as well.

That was the only exorcism I went through, and while it was weird, it was not near as dangerous or damaging as some of the other things that went on with Kathie. I think that incident bought me almost a week of ‘family time’ with no punishments, ‘therapy’, or respite care.

My experience leaving Kathie was traumatic. She kidnapped me and took me to her parents home in Ashland, Oregon. She even renamed me to “Hazel Bishop” and told me it was her grandmother’s name, and as long as I behaved and acted like part of the family, she would call me Hazel.

My mother later described in a statement that “it was like trying to get my daughter out of a cult.” The police finally contacted her and had her drop me off at a juvenile detention center. I think she was not arrested because technically she had permission from my parents for me to live with her, and even though she packed me up and left and would not let my parents know where we were or answer phone calls from them, they still couldn’t legally prosecute it as a kidnapping.

I’ll never forget that day… I was so messed up emotionally. Through all the brainwashing and abuse, I had become very attached to Kathie and felt like a baby being ripped away from its mother’s breast. I cannot describe any better how much it hurt me to say goodbye to that evil woman that I had grown to love. I defended her for months to various psychiatrists and other doctors.

From what I remember my mother telling me, Kathie had no credentials whatsoever and should never have been practicing any sort of therapy. I think my parents may have attempted to do something, but I have no idea what… they never told me.

They have both since passed away.

Her name then was Kathie Leah Bishop and she lived in Eugene, Oregon. She commonly went by Kathie L. Bishop. Her husband was Donald Eugene Kennedy, but I think she made him legally change his last name to Bishop. Her kids were Mandy, Kimberly, Heather, Evan, and Jane. Her parents lived in Ashland and her dad’s name was Guy Bishop. I can’t remember her mother’s name.

When I was living with her, she was going through law school. I don’t know if she ever finished or not. That’s all the info I have as of 1994 when I left. She likes to change religions, she likes to change careers, and she likes to change husbands.