The crew on the ship quickly became enamored with the boys and once made a hook from a coat hanger and tied a line to it. They told young Bill to cast the line over the side of the ship to catch fish. The line was just long enough to reach the galley below where one of the kitchen workers would affix a dead fish to the hook and give it a yank. Bill would pull up the line and be thrilled with his“ catch.” It was a game that brought much laughter to those aboard.
While in Japan Connie worked for the U. S. Armed Forces Newspaper writing a regular column. One day she was asked to escort the newly married Marilyn Monroe around a military hospital. Marilyn had been flown in to cheer up the troops who were recuperating there. Connie has colorful stories to tell of this day.
When Roy retired from the Military he went to work for the United States Information Agency where he had his initial training in Washington DC. It was at this time that they lived on N street, directly across the street from the then Senator John F. Kennedy.
Roy’ s first foreign posting was to Hong Kong at the U. S. Embassy where they stayed for five years. In those days it would take 21 days to travel by boat from San Francisco to Hong Kong and they made that trip several times. Connie loved their time in Hong Kong and entertained at their home frequently. Their very first dinner party in their Hong Kong home was for world famous boxer Jack Dempsey and his wife. During this time Connie enjoyed working for a Hong Kong Tourist magazine and then as the first Asian sales rep for Newsweek Magazine.
From Hong Kong they moved to Kuala Lumpur for several years and then moved to Bangkok in 1963 where Roy took a job as a war correspondent for Voice of America working out of Saigon and Connie went back to work for Newsweek. Young son Bill was 14 when they arrived in Bangkok and finished his schooling during this period.
In 1971 Roy and Connie decided it was time to retire so they moved back to the States settling in Palm
Beach Florida. After spending so much time in Asia however it was just a few years before they decided they wanted to return. They moved back to Bangkok to be close to their son Bill who while still only in his mid 20’ s was making a name for himself in the business world.
While holidaying in Pattaya, Connie and Roy became friends with a family from London with the last name of Stocks, they were in the hotel business. The Stocks had a young son named Andrew who took an immediate shining to Connie. Andrew adored his own grandmother who had passed away very young and he saw a substitute in Connie. Through the years Connie has become Andrew’ s“ stepgrandma” and they have developed a very special bond, so much so that for the last ten years Andrew and Connie have been meeting daily to have lunch together.
44 HOT Magazine