Francis Gabe, inventor of the Self Cleaning House, was my mentor.

That might explain, in part, why some people consider me a tad eccentric.    I had a good role model.

Francis was an amazingly creative artist, writer, and inventor.

She designed and built buildings out of scrape materials, created beautiful panel sculptures of dragons out of concrete, painted, drew sketches, made pots in her kiln, and, most notably, invented the Self Cleaning House.

When I was in my twenties I lived alone in a cabin in the rural outskirts of Newberg Oregon.    Francis Gabe was my neighbor, my only neighbor.

We were both loners who did not particularly like or relate well with people.    Fortunately we did relate well with each other.    We both recognized our common estrangement from society, and that was our bond.

I eventually adapted to society by developing modicum of social skills and enough grasp of psychology to survive.    Francis adapted by assuming the role of a minor celebrity.

For a time Francis was very popular with the media.    She and her Self Cleaning House appeared on radio, television and in print.   She was a guest numerous times on David Letterman, along with many other television talk shows.

Many articles were written about her and her inventions, including one in the New York Times.   You can still find quite a bit written about her on the web.    Much of that information is wrong, but it is consistent with what she wanted the public to believe.

Perhaps most interesting was a video done of Francis for the web site Weird American Video.   Though the video makes fun of her, which I dislike, I have to admit it captures the essense of what made Francis Gabe so intriguing as a person.   She is, without a doubt, the most interesting person I have ever known.

If you have a minute, watch the video.    Pay particular attention to the house.    She built the entire house out of cinder block and discarded materials … by herself.

This was thirty years before the recycling/rebuilding phenomenon took place.

Francis was always an original thinker and a woman ahead of her time. They don"t make them like that anymore.