I first met Joan in 1967 while I was in the Air Force stationed at a base that was a three-hour drive from LaGrange. I came home most weekends and on one, a friend named Terry Brinkman offered to fix me up with a high school friend who was home from college. He said her name was Joan Vickroy and suggested I be on my best behavior because, unlike our group of rogues, she was part of a more conservative group in high school. When I arrived to pick her up, I was quite taken by how pretty she was and remembered that I had seen her a few weeks before at the local hangout, Topps Big boy. She was sitting in a booth with her friends and for a few minutes we kind of stared at each other from afar. At that moment I was too intimidated by her good looks to say hello, so it was ironic that I was now taking her out on a date. One date led to another, than another and it didn’t take long until I was hooked. Every weekend that I was home I tried to spend as much time as possible with Joan, knowing that in about 30 days I would be reassigned to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City. I was hoping that despite being long distance, our relationship would continue but the reality was that she was a very attractive girl in college, so it was no sure thing. I also had some overcoming to do with her parents because her father, Big Vic, played golf with the father of one of my friends. During their weekend matches he would hear stories of his son’s drunken shenanigans and I knew I was going to be guilty by association. Six weeks went by quickly and after a great time dating it was time to go. On the way out of town I drove to the pharmacy where Joan worked to say goodbye and she handed me a bag of goodies for the road with the inscription on the bag reading “Because I care package”. A good sign I hoped.
As a pleasant surprise our long-distance relationship continued, and we called or wrote each other weekly. On one of the calls, I suggested she fly to Oklahoma for a long weekend, and she agreed. Without telling her parents she flew in, we had a great time, and our relationship was getting stronger. I also started to fly home whenever she was on any break from school, so we saw each other as often as possible.
On an airman’s pay this flying was getting expensive and Joan was unhappy in school, so we talked about getting married. My parents liked Joan as much as I did so there was no convincing there, but I had a feeling it would be a tough sell to hers. I remember calling her dad and being so nervous I had trouble crafting a good case for why she should leave school and marry a guy in the military. The phone call went OK on my end but apparently the tone was different when we hung up and he spoke to Joan. He really wanted her to get a degree, she was too young, life would be difficult married to a serviceman, and he presented as many negatives as he could think of. Even in those days Joan was determined to do what she wanted so despite all the objections she eventually won out. Since I was still in Oklahoma Joan planned everything for the wedding and I found us a one-bedroom, furnished apartment for $75 per month. After a fun wedding with all our friends we packed up our 1966 Mustang and headed for a new adventure.
With her great personality Joan easily adapted to life as a military wife and got along really well with all my friends, many who were also married. She also got a job working at the Base Exchange, so we had a few extra bucks plus an inside track to the best deals.
During my time as a weatherman, I applied and was accepted to a weather department that required that I attend a 6 week “explosive safety course” in Denver. I had relatives in Colorado, so Joan was able to join me for a combo training school/vacation. On a squadron “check in” call near the end of my temporary assignment I was notified I’d been permanently reassigned to a new duty station at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand”. I didn’t have much of a poker face and Joan could see my shock as all I could say was,” U-huh, u-huh, u-huh” and hung up the phone. I informed Joan and my relatives of the news, and we all looked at each other with the same question, “Where in the hell is Ubon Thailand”. We hunted around the house for a world atlas and after finding one found that Ubon was in Southeast Asia very near the borders of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
After enjoying our Colorado vacation, Joan and I headed back to pack up, say goodbye to our Oklahoma friends and drive back home for a two week leave before Thailand. Once home we caught up on everyone’s lives, did a significant amount of partying and got proficient at explaining where Thailand was. Joan had decided to live with my parents during the year I would be gone so the plan was for my entire family to drive from Illinois to California, where I would leave from, visit with my dad’s relatives and then return back to Illinois, all in about 10 days.
My dad had a 1969 Chrysler with bench seats so with seven people plus luggage, there wasn’t much room for personal comfort. To add to the tension of the trip, and make Joan seriously wonder about her decision to join the family, my younger brother Billy had decided it was a good time to learn to play the harmonica. When it was finally time to head for Thailand Joan and I had decided we would simply say goodbye with a hug and kiss and walk our separate ways without looking back.
Once back in Illinois my parents created a space for Joan in the basement, so she had privacy except for annoying visits from my Chihuahua Chico who she hated. I think Chico felt the same way because Joan told me he would strategically drop little piles on the floor where she had to walk. She quickly got a job working as a copy writer for a company in Oak Park called Westgate Graphic Design. In true Joan fashion she quickly endeared herself to the staff, especially with one of the owners, Chuck Semel, who became a lifelong friend.
About halfway through my tour a fellow GI told me about a means of free travel known as flying “space available”. This meant that any military person could get free passage on any military plane that had open seats. I planned to get out of the military at the end of my tour and had 10 days of accrued leave so I thought I would give it a try. After about three days of hopping from one base to another and sleeping on airport floors I finally made it to the US and bought a flight to O’Hare. When I arrived, it was a typical Chicago gray February day, and I waited in the pick-up area for Joan to arrive. I looked out at the curb and noticed a bright red 1970 Mustang Boss 302 driven by a dark-haired girl that kind of looked familiar. I stared because I hadn’t seen one of these cars when suddenly the girl behind the wheel gave me a wave motioning me to come over. Realizing it was Joan I walked outside, opened the passenger door and the first words out of my mouth were, “Whose car is this”? “It’s my surprise” she said and told me to take the wheel. It was exciting to be home after six months so after reconnecting with my family, Joan and I decided to drive the new car with a couple of friends, Bob and Sue Ann Burke to Carbondale to visit Kevin and Tara McMillen and Brian Dorosz who were still attending school. The leave went by too quickly and soon I was back in Thailand for another six months and Joan was back to work.
When I finally got out in August of 1970, Joan flew to California to meet me. Her parents were now living in Arcadia California, so we spent a week being tourists before flying home. Joan had rented an apartment in Western Springs that was above the Pretty Penny dress shop and directly across from the train station. Joan continued to work at Westgate but soon went from just copywriting to modeling for some of their print ads. This exposed her to a career that interested her, and she soon decided to give it a go full-time. She got into an agency, worked really hard and began getting work on a regular basis. The job was interesting to both of us as she became close friends with future celebrities (Larry Manetti who was Rick on Magnum PI) and we got a couple invites to parties at the Playboy Mansion in Chicago.
Things were going well and in 1972 we purchased a home in Willow Springs. Now that we had our own place the next obvious step was to get a dog. The dog, which was another Joan surprise, was an Irish Setter who was good looking but border-line insane. It looked like we were planting our roots to become long time Illinois residents when unexpectedly my father, who had moved to San Clemente, California with my mom, had a heart attack and died. When we flew out for the funeral services, we realized he hadn’t prepared for this and my mom, who still had two young children at home, was going to have a hard go of things. Also, Joans parents were very excited to see her so the thought of moving to California entered the picture. That thought became reality when a few months after returning home a company in Chicago who needed a California salesperson offered me a job. We immediately put our house up for sale, packed up two cars and our dog and headed out west.
Joan was going to give LA modeling a go of it and my new job would be traveling all over California, Arizona and Nevada so we looked for a home near my mom. We found Laguna Beach to be a quiet charming town, so we bought a house ($29,000) that had a big ocean view. We were enjoying our new California life, especially when the winter came, and had no problem getting Chicago friends to visit.
Joan soon got tired of doing 90-minute commutes for auditions (It also didn’t help that she broke her ankle skiing in Aspen) and decided to look for another career. Real Estate was getting hot, so she got her license and after interviewing with a couple of Laguna firms, chose Lingo Real Estate. It took her no time to get the hang of things and she got off to a quick start. Her career also introduced us to an entire new group of friends, so our Laguna social life improved as well. Joan was never big on cooking (after ten months living in our house, we realized the stove didn’t work when we tried to reheat some chips and cheese) so we became regulars at a local Mexican restaurant called Tortilla Flats.
One of the other interesting things about being in real estate is you are constantly exposed to cool homes that are tempting to buy. Within a year we sold our home on the hill to move closer to the beach and about nine months later bought one on the beach.
I was still a traveling salesperson, which was getting tiring, and Joan suggested I get into real estate. I followed her advice and in 1978 quit my job and got my license. It was the late 70’s early 80’s and it was a time of hot markets and exposure to lots of deals. Now that Joan could refer me her clients, her entrepreneurial side kicked in and she got involved with several ventures including being part of a group that started a bank. During a time when they were looking for a permanent president she stepped in as a temporary president and we referred to it as “Joan’s Bank”.
Things were moving at a rapid pace, probably too rapid, and we got into more deals including a real estate development project in Sun Valley Idaho. It was the early 80’s and the market was starting to turn cold so suddenly we were under significant financial pressure. The bank wasn’t doing well and the project in Sun Valley was in serious trouble so I moved to Idaho to see how I could help. What started out to be three months ended up being three years and during the time apart we both realized we were moving in different directions. Because we still cared for each other we didn’t do anything about getting divorced for six years and when we finally did, we worked out an agreement without the need for attorneys. I’m glad to say we remained close friends right to the end.
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