Karen#1
Well-known member
One of the reasons that we like to keep an eye on the trophies that Scientology leader David Miscavige hands out to his wealthy supporters is that we never know what kind of reaction we’re going to get from readers who tell us that they recognize some of these big donors to the church.
But we sure weren’t expecting this one!
On Thursday, we posted some new trophy winners, including those who were celebrated at the New Year’s Event in Los Angeles.
Among them was this lovely couple, Richard and Kathy Didcoate, with their Silver Meritorious trophy, recognizing them for donating a cumulative amount of $500,000 to the International Association of Scientologists, the church’s membership organization.
We hadn’t seen this couple before, but we heard from Claire Headley, who used to know them quite well!
Here’s what Claire sent us…
Reading your article and seeing Kathy and Richard Didcoate pictured celebrating their $500,000 donation to Scientology certainly answered some long lingering questions for me.
I knew Kathy and Richard from the UK. I grew up with their son Jaime in the Cadet Organization, where Sea Org children were largely raised without their parents. Instead of normal family life, we were raised on L. Ron Hubbard doctrine, group discipline, and a culture where neglect and abuse were common and parental love was replaced by mandatory loyalty and compliance to the organization.
When I joined the Sea Org in July 1991, Richard was working at the Hollywood Guaranty Building in Los Angeles. Later, when I was promoted to the international headquarters at Gold Base in Gilman Hot Springs, Kathy was also promoted there. She worked in marketing and put in the kind of punishing hours that were standard at Int. Like many staff at the base, she was frequently in trouble with David Miscavige.
At some point Kathy and Richard left the Sea Org, although I never knew exactly how or why. In 2007, Marc and I “randomly” ran into them at a diner in Toluca Lake when our first son was not even a year old. They quickly tried to build a friendship with us, telling us they had left Scientology. Kathy even attended our son’s first birthday party.
I don't recall discussing our 2005 escapes with them, but Kathy made a few comments about my mom — they had been in the Sea Org together in the UK. Kathy said she hoped my mom would wake up some day and be able to meet her grandson.
One thing always struck both Marc and me as strange. Kathy and Richard never talked about Jaime. That was odd because Marc and I actually knew Jaime far better than we knew either of his parents. We had worked with him at Int Base. I had grown up with him in the Cadet Org. It seemed natural that they would want to talk about their son, but they never did.
Still, we have always believed that former Scientologists deserve community and support when they leave. We also had nothing to hide, and by that point we were already becoming familiar with the harassment tactics Scientology uses against critics, intending to silence and isolate them. So we chose to accept them at face value and took whatever risk might come with that.
Richard ran an audio visual company in Glendale, and he spoke with Marc fairly often for a while under the guise of making business connections. Nothing ever came of those conversations. After Marc and I moved to Colorado, we never heard from either of them again.
Then in 2007, when Mike Rinder escaped Scientology and turned files he still had over to the FBI, we learned that Kathy and Richard had been reporting on our movements to OSA while presenting themselves to us as friends.
So when I saw Kathy and Richard Didcoate smiling in your article this week while celebrating a $500,000 donation to Scientology, I cannot say I was surprised. If anything, it simply confirmed what we learned years ago.
Some things always make more sense in retrospect.
Read more:
tonyortega.substack.com
But we sure weren’t expecting this one!
On Thursday, we posted some new trophy winners, including those who were celebrated at the New Year’s Event in Los Angeles.
Among them was this lovely couple, Richard and Kathy Didcoate, with their Silver Meritorious trophy, recognizing them for donating a cumulative amount of $500,000 to the International Association of Scientologists, the church’s membership organization.
We hadn’t seen this couple before, but we heard from Claire Headley, who used to know them quite well!
Here’s what Claire sent us…
Reading your article and seeing Kathy and Richard Didcoate pictured celebrating their $500,000 donation to Scientology certainly answered some long lingering questions for me.
I knew Kathy and Richard from the UK. I grew up with their son Jaime in the Cadet Organization, where Sea Org children were largely raised without their parents. Instead of normal family life, we were raised on L. Ron Hubbard doctrine, group discipline, and a culture where neglect and abuse were common and parental love was replaced by mandatory loyalty and compliance to the organization.
When I joined the Sea Org in July 1991, Richard was working at the Hollywood Guaranty Building in Los Angeles. Later, when I was promoted to the international headquarters at Gold Base in Gilman Hot Springs, Kathy was also promoted there. She worked in marketing and put in the kind of punishing hours that were standard at Int. Like many staff at the base, she was frequently in trouble with David Miscavige.
At some point Kathy and Richard left the Sea Org, although I never knew exactly how or why. In 2007, Marc and I “randomly” ran into them at a diner in Toluca Lake when our first son was not even a year old. They quickly tried to build a friendship with us, telling us they had left Scientology. Kathy even attended our son’s first birthday party.
I don't recall discussing our 2005 escapes with them, but Kathy made a few comments about my mom — they had been in the Sea Org together in the UK. Kathy said she hoped my mom would wake up some day and be able to meet her grandson.
One thing always struck both Marc and me as strange. Kathy and Richard never talked about Jaime. That was odd because Marc and I actually knew Jaime far better than we knew either of his parents. We had worked with him at Int Base. I had grown up with him in the Cadet Org. It seemed natural that they would want to talk about their son, but they never did.
Still, we have always believed that former Scientologists deserve community and support when they leave. We also had nothing to hide, and by that point we were already becoming familiar with the harassment tactics Scientology uses against critics, intending to silence and isolate them. So we chose to accept them at face value and took whatever risk might come with that.
Richard ran an audio visual company in Glendale, and he spoke with Marc fairly often for a while under the guise of making business connections. Nothing ever came of those conversations. After Marc and I moved to Colorado, we never heard from either of them again.
Then in 2007, when Mike Rinder escaped Scientology and turned files he still had over to the FBI, we learned that Kathy and Richard had been reporting on our movements to OSA while presenting themselves to us as friends.
So when I saw Kathy and Richard Didcoate smiling in your article this week while celebrating a $500,000 donation to Scientology, I cannot say I was surprised. If anything, it simply confirmed what we learned years ago.
Some things always make more sense in retrospect.
Read more:
They're $500,000 donors to the IAS — but they also happen to be Scientology spies!
One of the reasons that we like to keep an eye on the trophies that Scientology leader David Miscavige hands out to his wealthy supporters is that we never know what kind of reaction we’re going to get from readers who tell us that they recognize some of these big donors to the church.
