Judy and her friends were on their way to the iconic music festival, Woodstock, when their car broke down. They were still 90 miles from the festival grounds, and with no other options, they decided to hitchhike. As fate would have it, a car with Jerry and his friends pulled up. Jerry was caravanning to the festival with a group of friends in two VW Beetles, and they had room for one more. Judy saw that there was a woman in the car and thought it was safe to get in. In that moment, Jerry thought his luck had definitely changed for the better.
(Screenshot from Youtube)
Their first ride together in the back seat of Jerry’s pal’s 1967 VW Beetle eventually grew into 50 years of love and marriage, including two sons and five grandchildren. For decades, Judy and Jerry have told people their love story, but there was one downside: they never had any photos of their time at Woodstock together. They both brought cameras with them, but neither of them took pictures. For 50 years, they tried to find evidence of their time at the festival together, but they never found anything.
“We both had cameras, but neither of us took any pictures,” said Jerry. “For 50 years we’ve been looking for a picture of ourselves, and out of the blue one shows up. We’d known each other less than 48 hours when that was taken.”
The Griffins couldn’t believe their eyes when a friend sent them a screen grab of a PBS documentary, ‘Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation.’ It was a photo of the Griffins, rain-drenched and huddled under a blanket, at Woodstock 69.
“For a second you looked at it and thought maybe it’s a staged picture, someone playing a joke on us,” Judy said. “And then all of a sudden I realized that’s me!”
The native New Yorkers quickly discovered they had a lot in common, like a shared desire to leave the state and start fresh in California. Five months after the festival, they packed up a VW bus and drove cross-country to Los Angeles, where Jerry was starting law school. The Griffins eventually settled in Manhattan Beach, where they’ve lived for 40 years, and were married in December 1975, although they never celebrate that anniversary.
“We always celebrate Aug. 15th — which is also my birthday and the day we met as our anniversary,” said Judy.
Jerry and Judy Griffin recently celebrated their 50th anniversary with family and friends last week, who surprised them with a very special celebratory confection. Their kids surprised them with a wonderful cake that read, “Happy 50th Anniversary!,” alongside an edible re-printing of the long lost photo of Jerry and Judy at Woodstock that they had been searching for for the last five decades.