No Ordinary Woman

by Valerie Byron

  Nick turned four in November 1980 and I enrolled him in the Lycee Francais private school in Redondo Beach. I had to car pool to get him there, and it was expensive. However, he was a bright little boy and soon picked up the French language. By the time he was five, he was writing in a beautiful cursive hand, both in English and French.

  Young Visions had turned out to be very successful, even though it was a huge strain on me physically. I would go to work in the day, return to Young Visions in the early evening, and take care of administrative duties in my spare time. Sometimes I would have to bring children home with me, as several parents worked late. Staff problems were always an issue but I managed to juggle home, work and my personal business quite well.

  Marsha was turning out to be a royal pain. Although my partner in the business, she would waltz in after school was over, smoking her cigarettes, and disrupting the program. She took no responsibility for the administrative side of the business – paperwork, purchasing, etc. and I began to feel she was no longer an asset.

  I lost the first director I had initially hired, and advertised for a new one. I found Charlene Hendrickson in 1981. She appeared to be just what we were looking for. Eventually, Charlene and I agreed that Marsha was making no contribution to the well-being of the school, and we arranged to buy her out. I gave Charlene shares in the business and the two of us voted Marsha out. I regret now that I was so harsh with Marsha, but at the time it seemed the best thing to do.

  Charlene did well as director of the school, although it was still left to me to take care of all the administrative and financial work. The day came when Charlene, thinking she was part owner of the business due to her few shares, demanded to ‘see the books.’

  I refused, thinking it was none of her business, but she insisted. In anger I fired her, a consequence of which was I had to buy her out as well. She immediately set up shop with her own after-school day care centre close by, and poached quite a few of my clients for herself. It was a nasty business and I was in a panic to secure a new director for the school.

  Dave Childs came for an interview and seemed perfect. I hired him and was pleased at the way he took charge. We were doing well financially and had incorporated a full summer program. The kids loved him and I was finally able to relax a little as some of the burden had been taken off my shoulders.

  By 1982 the strain of driving Nick back and forth to Redondo Beach became too much for me, not to mention the cost. I decided to take him out of the Lycee Francais and place him in 1st grade at Grandview Elementary School, since it was next door to Young Visions. Perhaps that was a bad choice since they were not as advanced academically as the Lycee, but socially it would be better for Nick. Unfortunately, Nicholas did not seem to make friends easily and although he was attractive, bright and confident, he seemed to antagonize other boys. I thought nothing of it at the time, although later it bothered me a great deal.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I was still working full-time for the Union of Flight Attendants, but not enjoying it as much as I had. The President of the Union was a Texas blonde named Darenda. She was also a Flight Attendant but hard as nails. We didn’t get along at all as she was constantly criticizing me. Darenda was a bleached blonde, with a huge Texas hairdo, blood-red fingernails and matching crimson lipstick. I disliked everything about her, although I loved all the other Flight Attendants who were officers of the Union. Fortunately, Darenda was not in town often, but one day she lit a fuse under me and I exploded.

  I was sitting at my desk when she approached me, complaining that I had not sent some documents by overnight mail as she had directed. She went on and on in front of other people, making me feel small. After she returned to her office, she called me in to complain some more. I threw the office keys on her desk, called her a “bitch,” and shouted “I quit,” storming out of the office forever.

  I went straight to Young Visions. It was around 4:00 pm and parents were collecting their children. One parent, George Ryon, was picking up his daughter, Heather.

  “Hi, Val,” he greeted me. “How are things?”

  “I just quit my job,” I replied. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”

  “Hey,” he assured me, “Come work for me. I need a good secretary.”

  I started working for George, who was a local real estate appraiser, the very next day. We worked out of his house in Manhattan Beach, and I found my niche with this very kind and easygoing gentleman, learning to use my first computer, a very complicated Vector.

  It was now 1983, three years after I had opened Young Visions, and the McMartin daycare scandal had hit the press. Newspapers were filled with accusations that the staff of Virginia McMartin Pre-school had been molesting children. The stories were outrageous and hardly credible, yet a witch hunt sprung forth and McMartin’s was closed down. Dave Childs and I gave an interview on television, assuring parents that their children were safe, but unfortunately for the McMartin family, their lives and business were done for.

  It was about this time that Bill’s health started to fail. He was under stress from the McMartin situation, plus was working in an unhealthy atmosphere at the courthouse. After suffering chest pains, he went to see a cardiologist who explained that Bill had several blocked arteries.

  In late 1983 Bill underwent open heart surgery to repair several blocked arteries. He came through the operation with flying colours, but I decided enough was enough, and decided to make some drastic changes in our lives.

  Dave Childs had turned out to be a suspicious person in my estimation. I was not certain if he, indeed, was a paedophile, but certain actions made me dismiss him. I hired a young woman, Maggie, who was engaged to be married, to run the centre in his place. Shortly after her wedding, her new husband was in a motorbike accident and suffered burns all over his body.

  After several months of recuperation, Maggie and her new husband, Mark, decided to run Young Visions together. With great relief, I eventually sold the centre to them, requiring only that they pay me out of the proceeds of income earned over a period of five years. This caused them no financial distress and I, in turn, profited nicely from the transaction. Our family took a well needed break to Hawaii and I put Young Visions out of my mind forever.

  Valerie and Nick, Maui, 1983

  In March 1984 Vanessa turned twelve and Nick was seven. Vanessa had entered junior high school and Nick was in second grade at Grandview. They were both doing fairly well in school, but Vanessa was approaching puberty and giving me a lot of backchat. I was finding it difficult to cope with a pre-pubescent daughter, especially since Bill was still recovering from his heart surgery.

  On impulse, I wrote to my brother Alan. He had divorced Jackie and re-married a young woman named Kath, seventeen years his junior. His young daughter, Josée, had come to visit us a few years previously, so I was thinking it was time for him to return the favor. Alan and Kath had moved to Germany, where he had taken a job as military physician in the British Army. They were living in a lovely home in Mönchengladbach, near Düsseldorf and I wrote to him with an unusual request.

  I asked Alan if he would take Vanessa for a year. She could go to the American school on the base, and I would pay all her expenses. We needed time apart from each other, until she got over her rebellious phase and I felt the change of scenery would be a growing experience for her.

  After lots of correspondence back and forth, Alan agreed to take Vanessa for a year. Everyone became very excited and we decided to take the trip to Europe together, as a family, and then drop Vanessa off in Germany at the end of the vacation. We left in June 1984 and spent a week in England, visiting family and friends. From England we went to Paris, and then on to Germany, which was spectacularly beautiful. We enjoyed our time with Alan and Kath and the trips we took to Amsterdam and Luxembourg, but eventually it was time to leave Vanessa and return home.

  In the fall of 1984 Nicholas turned eight years old. I was constantly taking him on auditions or to dance
classes, leaving Bill to his own devices. Nick had turned into the love of my life and I am embarrassed to say he became the “be-all” of my focus. He was teased at school by the other boys and I often went to pick him up from school to see him surrounded by a protective gang of girls as he left the building. I wondered why he was finding it so difficult to make male friends, but didn’t know how to pursue the matter.

  Meanwhile, Vanessa was in Germany, attending the American school on the Army base. She wrote many letters, telling us of her adventures and the friends she had made. I sent money to my brother for her upkeep and hoped she was maturing and doing well in school. My mother decided to take a trip to Germany to visit them and came home with tales that disturbed me.

  After six months, my brother asked that Vanessa come home. He said she was not doing well, and had become bulimic. I was in shock, as she had shown no signs of this before, and I had had no idea that she was worrying about her weight. Vanessa had always been a stocky child – certainly not fat, just built with a sturdy frame.

  She returned home, dressed in black. She was now a thirteen year old teenager with a mind of her own, and she wanted to dress like a punk. We enrolled her in a new junior high school and she immediately made friends, including a boyfriend, Bryan Pitts. I liked Bryan, and encouraged the friendship. Vanessa was an attractive young girl, with braces on her teeth, unsure of her place in the world. I enrolled her in a local modelling school, hoping the classes would give her self-confidence a boost. I figured if she could acquire healthy eating habits, it would negate the effects of the bulimia. She did well at the modelling school, became a vegetarian and stopped worrying about her weight. Her braces came off and her teeth were beautiful. She became a new girl, seemingly happy to be home again.

  The years sped by so fast, but Bill and I were content with our lot. We laughed a great deal and enjoyed family life to the max. Vanessa had grown up to be a great athlete, involved in soccer, softball, swimming and basketball. She had numerous boyfriends and seemed healthy and happy, although still quite reserved. We would cheer her on at the weekly matches and attempted to lure Nick into the same activities. Unfortunately he did not seem to have the same aptitude for sports as Vanessa, and was more proficient at skiing and swimming, loner sports. A bright, articulate little boy, he always gathered girls around him at school, and I was constantly searching for young boys to play with him. It was fortunate that I had made a great many friends of the parents at Young Visions, and was able to secure playmates for both Nicholas and Vanessa. Bill became a chief of the Indian Guides and involved Nick in their activities, including hiking and camping.

  We travelled a great deal, invested in properties that promptly lost us money when we tried to sell, were involved in the Manhattan Beach Community Church, as well as St. Cross, where Nick was an acolyte and entertained a great deal. This lifestyle was to keep us busy and emotionally stable for many years, as we avoided the intimacy and passion that we both thought had passed us by.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  After conceiving Nick, I lost interest in sex completely, as it had proved unsatisfactory and irritating. I had learned not to expect any more than a minute or two of intimacy from Bill, and often lay on my side, my back towards him, with hot tears streaming down my face. I was filled with frustration and unhappiness, wanting so much more physically than what I had. I can honestly say that I did not make any effort to change our sexual relationship as I had completely given up.

  My passion was re-directed to my son and his career was my number one priority, probably to the exclusion of everything else.

  By 1988, Reagan was president and we were the proud parents of a beautiful sixteen year old daughter and a bright, talented, eleven year old son. Vanessa was a freshman in high school and was immediately snatched up a tall, handsome senior, named Don. Nick was completing seventh grade in Manhattan Beach but was miserable there. He was constantly teased and tormented by other boys, and I still could not figure out why.

  I had a serious talk with Nicholas about his acting career. He had booked a few print ads and commercials, and was involved in modelling, but the good projects had eluded him. I told him that if he really wanted to act, then he should perform in student films and perfect his craft. I scanned the back pages of Dramalogue, a casting magazine, to find suitable projects for him.

  Over the next year, Nick starred in at least four student films from UCLA, USC and other prestigious universities, learning how to act and interpret lines. He also attended acting, singing and dance classes, developing into a well-rounded performer. I was such a stage mother, although I would deny the fact to anyone who even hinted at it. Bill and I would videotape all of Nick’s performances – whether they were student films or live theatre – and take them to a local video store to be copied. It was at “Video Archives” in Manhattan Beach, that we first met Quentin Tarantino. He worked as a cashier/stocker at the video store and was constantly watching old black and white thrillers on the overhead television. He was a strange-looking young man, but very pleasant and helpful. We had no idea in those days that he would eventually leave the video store to make the movies he was obviously dreaming about.

  In 1989, George Ryon unexpectedly fired me from my job. I think he was trying to save money, but it was a shock. Fortunately, one of his appraiser friends, Patrick Crawford, hired me immediately, and I went to work for him in December, doing the same appraisal work I had done for the past seven years. Patrick and I worked together in a small office next door to George, and I was happy in my new position.

  Nick’s career took off in the summer of 1989, when he was hired to co-star in the KCET production of “An Enemy of the People,” starring John Glover. I had changed talent agencies every so often, but Film Artists seemed to be on the ball, and I was thrilled when they called me to say he had the job. I loved being on the set with Nick and Bill, and even brought my mother to spend a day visiting and taking photos. We marvelled at Nick having his own trailer, with his name on the door.

  I had taken Nick out of the Manhattan Beach School District and transferred him to Hermosa Valley School in Hermosa Beach, for eighth grade. The school had a very good reputation and reportedly had a wonderful drama department.

  That move was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. Nick was greeted by his new classmates with awe and admiration. They had heard that he had been in a television drama, due to his late arrival at school. He was immediately drawn into the drama department and given the role of Cornelius Hackle in “Hello Dolly.” That was the start of a wonderful school year for Nick, where he made new friends and was accepted for what he was – a bright, talented and unique young man. It was then that I realised that his inability to make friends with other boys was due to his artistic side. They considered him a “pansy” because he preferred singing and dancing to playing soccer or baseball.

  Nick and John Glover “An Enemy of the People” 1989

  By September 1990 it was time for Nick to enter high school, and I had enrolled him in Redondo Union High, a little farther away than Mira Costa. Since new friends from 8th grade were going to Redondo, so was Nick. Upon his arrival, he was treated like a star, and he loved it.

  Redondo also had a fine drama department and Nick became involved immediately. His life was full and he was having a great time. Daily auditions, starring roles in school plays, participating in debate and student government gave him the confidence he would never have attained had he remained in the Manhattan Beach school system. I was very involved in his school life, attending drama productions and forensics, and hosting his friends to overnights and parties at our house.

  A sensitive and kind young man, Nick seemed to attract all the fat girls in school and he never failed to offer himself as consort when school dances or proms took place. He dated several lovely young girls while in high school and seemed to thrive on the attention he received. In the summer of 1991, his sophomore year, Nick was hired to play Leonard Nimoy’s son in “Never F
orget” for TNT. Blythe Danner played his mother and Dabney Colman also starred. It was thrilling for me to accompany him to the filming every day and I enjoyed basking in Nick’s star status.

  Blythe Danner, Leonard Nimoy, Nick,

  Jason Presson, Benjie Gregory, Juliet Sorcy

  NEVER FORGET – TNT (1991)

  Life was great for Nick and when he was voted Junior Class Prince and Student Council Vice President, my pride knew no bounds. His career seemed to be taking off; he had girlfriends and was very popular.

  Vanessa had not enjoyed her experience at high school as much as Nick had, and I wish I had sent her to Redondo as well. She was involved in tennis and had steady boyfriends, but did not seem to be much of an academic. She was pretty and feisty, and I didn’t worry about her too much, although we did have our share of fights. Bill couldn’t understand how the two of us would shriek abuse at each other, only to be best friends moments later. Such is the way of mothers and daughters, I suppose.

  Nick booked the part of the young Prince of Wales with the Shakespeare Society of America in early 1992. The play was to run for three months at the Globe Theater in West Hollywood and was directed by Delbert Spain, who had seen Nick perform in various local theatre productions.

  Brandon Horne and Nicholas Fee (Prince of Wales)

  RICHARD III (Globe Theater), Hollywood

  I was hired for my first role as Mistress Jane Shaw. All I had to do was lean out of a window and show my cleavage, which was pretty easy. I absolutely loved being in the production and made friends with the almost all-male cast. It was a great experience for Nicholas, who studied Shakespeare when he was not performing.