Magnificent Desolation_ The Long Journey Home From the Moon - Buzz Aldrin [101]
It was a turbulent time that caused Lois and the three children to propose with great vigor the idea of buying another home back in Emerald Bay in an attempt to regain a sense of the family life they had once known. Bryant finally acquiesced and purchased a small hillside home to appease them, but was absent much of the time with various excuses. Lois attempted to restore some normalcy. By now the children were in college. But where was Bryant? Where had he disappeared to? When she heard from him in early December, he informed her he was now in Sun Valley, preparing for Christmas with the family.
Instinctively, Lois was concerned and decided to surprise Bryant by driving to Sun Valley to find out what was going on. When she arrived and inserted her key in the door, it didn’t work. She knocked on the door, and Bryant opened it. “Lois! What are you doing here?” Bryant had no idea that Lois was coming, but then quickly changed his tune. “Come in, come in. Excuse me for a moment, while I make a phone call.” Twenty minutes later a man knocked on the door, and served Lois with divorce papers.
Lois was in shock. But Bryant was adamant. He wanted a divorce before the beginning of the new year, and it was almost Christmas.
When Lois awakened the next morning in a separate bedroom from her husband, she gathered her senses. Instead of arguing about the divorce, she decided to go skiing, determined to have one of the greatest days of her life. As she approached the ski lift, she heard a voice call out to her, “Hey, Lois, come ski with me today.” Lois turned around and saw a tall, handsome man she had met the previous year in Sun Valley. His name was Clint Eastwood.
For the next four days the famous actor picked up Lois each morning, and they skied together all day long. Clint was involved with Sondra Locke at the time, but became a great ski buddy and friend for Lois. His friendship, along with her other good ski buddies, gave a boost to Lois’s morale at this low moment in her life.
Lois and Bryant’s divorce was finalized in 1982. Divorce is difficult enough, but in the aftermath of this life-changing parting, Lois awakened to the reality that throughout the marriage, portions of her fortune and her children’s had been diverted to her former husband’s own purposes, and that he had repeatedly been unfaithful to her. She struggled to regain her confidence and her perky, stylish, enthusiastic self. It wouldn’t be easy.
Despite feeling devastated and disappointed, Lois believed in herself. She was a survivor. She kept reminding herself of the ways she had advised her girlfriends about their problems: Believe in yourself, put a smile on your face, throw away the problems, walk with your head high, and move on! Think about what a great life can be ahead.
Mustering her stamina to apply this philosophy to herself, Lois marched stalwartly forward, stylish and smiling, even though she didn’t feel that way inside. She was, however, secure in her finances following the divorce settlement; her stock and each of the children’s stock was valued in the millions of dollars, safely invested in Western Savings. She bolstered her activities and her checkbook by serving as a public-relations figure for her father’s company, and received a small stipend of about $35,000 per year to publicize Western’s real-estate developments in San Clemente and other locations in Southern California.
As her confidence rebounded, she dated frequently, but refused to get seriously involved with any of her suitors. Often she would go outside on the deck of her home in Emerald Bay, and in the peaceful quiet of a starlit night, as the waves of the Pacific lapped gently against the shore, Lois would look up at the moon and stars, and ask, “Please God, send me my Prince Charming.