Carolyn Robinson was born in Lansing, Michigan in 1923. Growing up in Michigan and in Nashville, Tennessee, she was a great believer in the power of fate. Upon finishing high school, she received a scholarship to Bennington College, where she trained in all of the visual arts. Later, she ended up studying Stanislavsky drama. In 1947, she moved to Denver, Colorado to pursue her master's degree in theater and the fine arts at the University of Denver. In this city is where she met Neal Cassady, who became the object of her affection and her husband. Neal and Carolyn were married on April Fool's Day in 1948. They had 3 children: Cathy (born in August 1948), Jami (born in 1950), and John Allen (born in September 1951). John Allen was named after two of Neal and Carolyn's best friends, Jack (John) Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. The couple divorced in the Spring of 1950. Throughout Carolyn's life, she has written books about the Beats. She now lives in England and returns home to the States to visit her children and to participate in Beat-related events.
