by Bart Key
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Elizabeth had always adored Sur even though she could never quite figure him out. She particularly liked the fact that he trusted me completely and never interfered with my management of his ranches. Any rare comment he did make was always about whether the people who worked for me were happy in their jobs and content with their salaries and benefits. Cory told me once that Sur considered me to be one of his lieutenants. When I told Elizabeth, she wasn’t surprised and thought the title was appropriate.
One time when Elizabeth and I were about to leave on one of my periodic visits to the ranches in Argentina and Chile, Sur insisted we stop on our way and be his guests for a couple of days at Casa Sur. While we were there, he hosted an outdoor barbecue and invited over Paco and his family, Miguel and his family and Jeremy. As always, Sur was the consummate host, smiling and friendly as always. After everyone stuffed themselves, the gathering moved down to his beach. That particular day the surf there was ideal for board surfing which was somewhat unusual. The surfers in the group all brought down surf boards from Sur’s cache and paddled out. Paco and Miguel’s kids were still in various stages of learning and Jeremy hovered over them like a hawk. When Miguel began showing off with his hotdog tricks, Jeremy matched him tit for tat. Naturally, all the kids had to give it a try also and wound up mostly wiping out except Maria, Miguel’s oldest daughter, who knew a few tricks of her own. When it starting getting dark, we all walked back up to Sur’s deck. Miguel had brought along his guitar and soon we were all singing along with not a care in the world.
When Sur asked Elizabeth to be one his trustees, I was so happy for her. She deserved the honor and our sons were very impressed. I was so glad I had not been selected. Being involved in public situations was something I tried to avoid like the plague. Even when I was a college rodeo champion, the only attention I sought was that from females my age. My sons are all a lot like me. Elizabeth, on the other hand, is comfortable being in the limelight. She’s the charmer, the enchantress and the successful author. In our neck of the woods, she’s thought of as the quintessential western woman. It’s hard to imagine how empty my life would have been had I not met her or perhaps I should say, had she not decided to meet me.
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Both of us were stunned when Sur asked Randy to be on his board. We hadn’t seen all that much of him after we moved from Ventura to San Francisco. Fortunately, we had stayed in close contact with Jeremy who updated us from time to time on what Sur and rest of the gang were up to. Following the sale of the beachwear company, Randy had swiftly moved up the ranks within the acquiring company which had now become one of the largest wholesalers of outdoor clothing and equipment in the world. Randy was now the company’s CEO.
About a year ago, Sur invited our family to be his guests at Casa Sur for a week. As both our daughters were now out of the home, it would be just me, Randy and our son Kali who would be going. Almost from the moment we arrived, we fell in love with the Guanacaste beach area and, before returning to San Francisco, we purchased one of the few remaining unsold seaside lots in Sur’s subdivision. Sur gave us the name of his architect and we got all revved up about designing and building a home on the site which would become our winter retreat.
Not far from Casa Sur was Jeremy’s bungalow home and he invited Kali to go surfing with him every day we while were there. Kali remembered to tell him that his older sister Bo said to say hello. She was now in her residency for anesthesiology and remembered Jeremy well from when she was a child. Kali had just finished his first year of college and had grown up surfing in the colder waters of the Bay area. He was taken aback at how warm the Pacific was off the coast of Costa Rica and raved about how cool it was to surf without wet gear. Jeremy offered to let Kali crash at his place for the rest of the summer if he’d like and Kali begged us into letting him stay. Jeremy was beloved in our family and I will never forgot the time when he and I designed our line of surfer beach clothes. We were so young then. To this very day, the Jeremy label and the embroidered logo we designed together appear on all of the top-of-the line beachwear manufactured by Randy’s company.
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Living together with Pierre at my chateau was like a dream come true. Although not even thinking about full retirement yet, I had reduced my work load considerably. When Sur set up his foundation, the plan was for me to begin methodically disposing of his assets in order to support his intended contributions. His European companies were to be the first sold off . The Austrian gaming company was purchased by Pierre and his family trust with Pierre taking over my position as the company’s board chair. He spoke excellent German and under his leadership the company continued to function normally and remained solidly profitable. He continued also as the board chair of his family’s banking conglomerate but had ceased being involved in the management of day-to-day operations.
After all these years, the two of us are now an openly gay couple. We loved to entertain and always had plenty of room for out-of-town guests as the chateau has six guest bedrooms on its second floor. Hans and his staff are quite skilled at making guests comfortable and Gustav is always available to step in and help when needed. He and Hans live together in the large caretaker’s quarters and are life partners too. Gustav continues as my security chief but sometimes now works with Cory and Jeremy on some sort of special projects Ward is involved in.
Although Pierre and I are still avid art admirers and collectors, nothing can top our passion for our football club. While it’s never been much of a profitable venture and the team doesn’t win all that often, we can hardly wait to attend each game especially those at home. Family and friends are always invited to join us in the owners’ seating area. When Paco, Anita and their two sons visited us during a family vacation to Europe, we took Paco and his boys to the locker room before the game where they got to witness the coach prepping his team. Even though they didn’t understood a word of French, they were entranced by the excitement and spirit in the room. Paco told me later that when they returned to Guanacaste, his boys couldn’t wait to tell their buddies about the experience.
My two year term on Sur’s foundation board has been completed much to my relief. Pierre’s term continues and I’m guessing he will be reelected for another term as he has been a very active trustee. Unlike me, he is more comfortable being in the public eye. I continue working very closely with Betty of course in arranging the timely transfer of Sur’s great wealth to his foundation. She and Ward are a truly amazing couple and quite obviously head-over-heels in love with each other. Pierre and I occasionally visit them in Geneva and love to go out on the lake with them on their yacht. They also visit us about once a year. When they do, Ward always recollects the time he monitored the chateau’s restoration. And he especially loves to catch up with Gustav and Hans.
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I’m still stunned by how my life has progressed since growing up in my small Mexican village. My memories are that my mom, big brother and I were a pretty happy family. Though poor, we never went hungry and always had a roof over our heads. Who would ever have guessed that I would go from humming a tune when following Paco around to performing in front of thousands of people all over the world.
If Mom were alive today, she would be so proud of her sons. She would adore my Sofia and our three daughters. Maria, our oldest, reminds me of Mom in a lot ways. Maria loves listening to good music just like Mom did. She is mostly quiet and reserved like Mom. Maria’s passion has become surfing. She always loves it when Jeremy is around because he will critique her skills and show her how to improve them. She has reached the point now where she can surf as good or better than any boy around her age. It won’t be long before she’ll be a better surfer than me.
Since retiring from touring, I and my family live a fairly quiet and normal life. I will still record an occasional album at my studio but the paparazzi now have all but given up hanging around the guarded entrance to our subdivision. About t
he only live audiences I have now are family and friends around a campfire on the beach.
I was surprised when Sur asked me to be on his board. Paco certainly deserves it more than me. But he continues to have huge responsibilities in managing Sur’s Costa Rican assets and would have little free time to devote to anything else at the moment. Plus he is a very private person not prone to socializing except when necessary as part of his job. I, on the other hand, was born to entertain. Being in the spotlight has never been an issue for me though it does have some limits which is why I gave up touring. Because of my fame, I am probably in a good position to promote CHOW. With our daughters getting older now, Sofia will be able to accompany me on fundraising trips. She can hardly wait and, being the consummate reporter, she’s already making plans to chronicle our travels.
Paco and I don’t see much of Sur anymore nor does anyone else for that matter because he spends weeks at a time now on his yacht at sea. And I don’t get the impression that he’s being purposely anti-social. It’s more like he wants those close to him to move on with their lives without his being an integral part of them anymore. Paco and I were concerned when Ward left for Switzerland as it seemed like he and Sur had always been inseparable. But Ward landed on his feet and successfully created a new life for himself. And it only got better for him when he and Betty fell in love.
During Sur’s absences, Casa Sur always remains open to Sur’s extended family. When board surfing conditions happen to be good from his private beach, Paco and I love taking our kids there. Jeremy will usually join us. Sur’s small staff at Casa Sur is always thrilled when we come over as they are idle much of the time now. Jeremy continues to run Sur’s office but the work load is much reduced. Sur’s jet crews are elated when anyone in his extended family wants to fly somewhere. All of us close to him are slowly adjusting to his not being in the picture much anymore.
Chapter 31
Then There Were Three
One thing about taking long cruises on my yacht was that I had lots of uninterrupted time to think. These days my thoughts were no longer troubled as they had been a number of times in the past. Rather, they reflected on my life, my foundation and the incredible times the four of us had experienced together over the years.
Though I will always cherish the memories of growing up in Idaho and my college days in Colorado, they pale in comparison to my life experiences which started just before my twentieth birthday. Almost overnight, I found myself in an situation totally unforeseeable which required that I make a series of major adjustments and decisions going forward. During this process, I entered the army as a newly commissioned second lieutenant and soon enough predictably received my orders to proceed to Vietnam where I would become a platoon leader in an infantry division. That assignment lasted about six months during which I lost several of my men during combat activities. For my next assignment, I was transferred to brigade staff where I would become a member of a special task force charged with devising a plan which, when implemented, would end the war’s hostilities. That was when I met Ward. Both of us were first lieutenants but he technically outranked me as he had been commissioned first. I can only imagine what was going on in his mind when he was told that his new assignment would be to stay close to me and keep me safe. We would become hooch mates and I could tell by the look on his face that he was dumbfounded.
As he helped me move in, I tried to explain what was going on. Since I was to be a principal participant in this top secret task force, a decision had been made at a high level that I should be protected from harm during its deliberations. Ward had been charged with that responsibility because of his outstanding military record. He would be attending all task force meetings with me, in effect, becoming a participant as well. What I didn’t tell him was that I had been instrumental in convincing certain key people to establish the task force and its mission. The friendship between me and Ward that began that day would continue to grow stronger and stronger over the following decades. His friendship, loyalty and dedication still humble me beyond words.
I mentioned to Ward when I left Vietnam that if he ever decided to leave his army career, I hoped he would let me know. Not too many months later, he called me from his parents’ home in Los Angeles relating that he had recently resigned his commission and left the army. When he visited me in Ventura, I was hopeful that I could figure out a way we could work together again. When I offered him the opportunity to join Jeremy and me in refurbishing beach houses I owned, he accepted on the spot. Later, Cory would join us too and over time, not to my surprise, Ward sort of naturally took on the role as the crew’s leader. As my business organization grew, I found more and more opportunities to assign Ward major responsibilities. Eventually he became my right arm.
The day Ward moved to Geneva was especially hard on me. But I couldn’t imagine anyone more qualified than he to be my foundation’s guardian. When the foundation became fully functional, I flew to Geneva and sat down with him and Betty to describe in more detail my vision of what I hoped the foundation could accomplish. First, it was a no-brainer that the hunger problem should have first priority. Incontrovertible evidence existed that enough food was being produced in the world to feed all its inhabitants. The problem was getting it to those who needed it. CHOW should use its best efforts to help. Eliminating thirst was high on the priority list too. CHOW should support research on developing less expensive desalination methods. As breakthroughs occurred, the knowledge should always be shared with the rest of the world at no cost.
Finding ways to improve human health was important also. Unquestionably the foundation should fund research to develop medicines and treatments which could prevent or cure diseases like cancer and dementia. Longer term, it was not inconceivable that someday injectable sensors based upon the growing science of nanotechnology could be developed to detect diseases in the body at their early stages and perhaps even cure at the same time. Nanotechnology could also possibly lead someday to the development of nanoscale materials which could be used in making inexpensive solar cells and more efficient batteries. If the world’s less-privileged had their own inexpensive means of making and storing power, the health benefits would be immense as impure water could be made safe, cold homes heated and hot homes cooled. At the same time, the burning of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere would be significantly reduced.
My mind flipped from Ward to Cory and how I first met him when he and his patrol accompanied Ward and me on some dangerous missions in the Laotian jungle. Having learned through the grapevine of his long range reconnaissance patrol’s reputation as being the best in our division, Ward and I met with him when his patrol was resting up in basecamp. We described to him generally the top secret mission we hoped to undertake with the assistance of his patrol. Two days later all of us were all dropped off on a hill by chopper and, after trudging through mostly heavy jungle for several hours, we reached the trails where Ward and I intended to conduct our studies. It was amazing at how skilled Cory and his other squad members were in moving silently and stealthily along. And it was even more amazing how quickly and efficiently they dealt with trouble when we encountered it.
Before leaving ‘Nam to return to the States, I made a special point of telling Cory that when I returned to the world I would send him a postcard giving him my address so that if he never needed a reference when he left the service, I would be happy to provide one. When he hired on to join my remodeling team, he became a contributing member almost overnight. He not only took on responsibility for all the electrical work but he also eagerly sought to learn other skill work from Jeremy and Ward so that he could help with that too. From the beginning, he wanted to be accepted as a full-fledged member of the tribe and in that direction pleaded with us to teach him how to surf.
We learned that Cory loved the mountain wilderness and eventually he introduced the three of us to backpacking. In our adventure years, the four of us would hump and hike together within
some of the world’s wildest and most remote places. When Cory visited the Bar 7 for the first time, he fell in love with the place and now has made it his home. He now lives in the same homestead house where Luke lived before he and Elizabeth were married.
During the years Cory was my travel assistant, he undertook the job with a vengeance always striving to do things better. He and Jeremy worked together in creating a file which included maps, restaurant and hotel list and instructions on how to make simple requests in a given country’s spoken language. He was always alert for trouble or danger wherever we went. I personally never worried about dangerous situations while traveling but he, Ward and Jeremy felt differently so Cory, in effect also became my bodyguard. At the end of the day, the main reason I loved having Cory along while traveling was because it gave me great pleasure to have him as company and be at my side.
And then there was Jeremy. The day we met will always be indelibly printed in my memory. He was so laid back and relaxed. He acted like he didn’t have a care in the world except to find good surf somewhere. When he taught me to surf, he explained things in such an animated manner that you knew he was picturing himself moving in synchronization with the surf. It was during this period that I came to realize just how smart he was. When we worked together on my beach house, it was evident that he possessed superior carpentry skills even though he made small of them. He worked fast and was a dedicated perfectionist.
Our friendship only grew from that first day. Over the years, Jeremy would take charge of remodeling my beloved Wild Beach and managing my offices in Ventura and Guanacaste. He found his real niche when he got into computers. He mastered the techniques of research and in time became adept at detection and prevention of hacking.
When Ward suggested that Jeremy and Cory be charter members of his shadow squad, I supported it instantly. While all three were older now, I knew that they nonetheless were more than able to be up to the challenges. In some ways, I would have loved to join them in their new adventures. It reminded me of the years all four of us traveled the world together and the incredible times we experienced.