Jan. 27, 2025

Joan Robinson Hill and Dr. John Hill - Part 1 of 3

Joan Robinson Hill and Dr. John Hill - Part 1 of 3
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Joan Robinson Hill and her husband, Dr. John Hill, were the darlings of Houston’s high society in the 1960s. Joan was a champion equestrian from one of Houston’s wealthiest families, and John was a successful plastic surgeon with a love for classical music. They were young, attractive, and seemed to have it all—a picture-perfect couple moving through a world of horse shows, charity events, and fancy parties.

But behind the scenes, things weren’t as perfect as they seemed. Joan and John were opposites in many ways, and their differences caused tension from the start. To make matters worse, Joan’s father, Ash Robinson, was a major presence in their lives. He was fiercely protective of Joan and had no problem getting involved in her marriage, which only added more strain. By 1969, the cracks in their relationship couldn’t be ignored any longer. The problems in their marriage came to a head, setting off a chain of events that would stretch over six years and leave a trail of heartbreak, betrayal, and tragedy for everyone involved.

Join us on Patreon to hear all three parts today.

Today's snack: Texas caviar

Sources:

WEBVTT

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I am Rich and I'm Tina.

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And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty

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years of marriage.

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Some days you'll feel like killing your husband and some.

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Days you'll feel like killing your wife.

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Welcome to love, Mary Killin.

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Hey, Rich, how are you?

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I'm great? How are you?

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God? I've missed you?

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You have.

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We just recorded a Patriot episode an hour ago.

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I know we've been apart for a whole hour. It's

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really been hard for me.

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No offense, but I haven't really missed you. But I'm

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looking forward to missing you this week because you are

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leaving the country.

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I am leaving the country for a few days.

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I'm not any way too excited about that. Oh you're leaving.

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Yeah, I can tell you really about that.

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Well, I'm finally recovering from whatever ill this I had,

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and I'm just looking forward to like feeling better and

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so you can getting back to my life.

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Yeah, I'm sure you are. Well.

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You guys were nice and put Christmas away, but you

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literally and we have like a lot of Christmas things.

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You just all dumped everything on the floor in the

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storage room.

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That's only because we know you are very very particular

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about where that particular.

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So that's going to take me at least three or

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four days.

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But anyway, good luck for that.

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Are you going to give me the snack that's not

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chips and salta.

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I'm going to give you a snack. You know what

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I made for you?

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Chips and salsa.

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No, I made you. I made you a ham.

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You did not make me a ham.

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I didn't make you a ham.

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Well, I saw like I saw a bag of open

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tea chips in your office, and then I saw some

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jalapeno and some cilantro stems in the sink. And the

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last when we were recording the Patriot episode, you ran

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out of the room screamy.

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Know you're laughing at my pain.

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But you had a holla pino on your.

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Hands and to touch my eye, which was really bad.

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IM sorry, are you feeling better?

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I am? It's crazy though I had washed my hands

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like three times. Tell you since I yeah, So what

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I have for you is not salsa.

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As much as you it's not him.

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It is no. Do you know why I was saying

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it was ham? No, that's a joke.

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That's it's a good joke.

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Because on Christmas I made a ham.

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Because I was sick. And couldn't make Christmas. I was

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going to make a ham.

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We also get so when I put away the ham,

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I put it in a big tupperware container and it

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wouldn't fit in the fridge, and so I put it

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out on the back deck because it was cold out.

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And then I promptly forgot about it.

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Yeah, it's set there for And then I I saw

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it like a few days ago. I was like, is

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that the Christmas ham? I'm a deck you hero.

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I completely forgot about it.

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So it's like the temperature here has fluctuated greatly in

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the last three weeks.

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Yes, So I finally got rid of it yesterday.

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Okay, happy to know it's distrasing its story.

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But no, I brought you. We're going to Texas today,

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so I brought you something called Texas caviat. It's a

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little like salsa.

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Okay, you do ens and corn.

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And black eyed peas Okay, sometimes how many, which I

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guess is kind of like corn.

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I guess exactly.

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It's a white corn, yeah, I guess, so.

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Yeah, And it's got a bunch of other stuff in

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it too.

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Probably neck may be my favorite, but we'll see.

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I left out the bell peppers because I know how

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much hate.

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Bell peppers are my very worst food.

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But I did put the onions in, which I know

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you're not a huge fan of.

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But I like onions but not raw on its. But

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if they're chopped, really never mind, let me just try it.

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Okay.

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What did you think about the Texas caviar?

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Well, I'm going to start by saying that you are

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adorable and I love when you made like a little

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you know, state represented snacks and it's just very cute.

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It's very nice when you when you cook things because

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you are very good in the kitchen.

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Thank you. But there's a butt coming. I can tell.

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I didn't love it. No, I don't really, I don't

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like cold beans.

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I just I just don't.

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Yeah, so I didn't love it, Like why would you

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put beans in your salsa?

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I think it's really good myself. I really like. I

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love the cilantro flavor. I'm a big cilantro fan. I

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know that controversial something like it, I don't.

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I like the lime flavor was nice, and the chips

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were really good. But yeah, there's no line of it.

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No, there's it's Italian dressing is basically okay.

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I like the acidic nature of it. But you know,

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I know a lot of people.

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Like it, But I what are you going to rate it?

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I'm going to read it, but I don't want to hurt

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your feelings.

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Feelings. You don't have to like everything.

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I probably a four, but if it were salsa, I

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would have rated it a tad. I raid the chips

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and a nine. Those chips are really good.

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Those are they're Julio's chips, which are from Texas. We

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had those ones before, and they're they're really.

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Oh you went to the store that I don't. I

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don't know where you get those?

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Yeah, just a Myers chip with the chip bile.

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Yeah, yeah, Okay, I guess I need to look a

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little closer. Usually normally by usually normally the big bag

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of Costco Turtiat chips.

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Yeah, those are good too.

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Yeah.

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I'm going to give it an eight out of ten

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because I think it's really good.

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Well, if you thought it was really good, I think

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you would give it a nine out of ten.

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Eight is good.

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Eight and a half.

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All right, Well, let's get to the case.

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Before we start, I just want to say we've gotten

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a few messages lately from people that said they really

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appreciate when we do longer and even multi part episodes. Wow,

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which is nice because this is going to be a

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long one. This was a recommendation from our partner in crime, Elizabeth,

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and as she put it in her in her suggestion,

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this is the og of true crime married couple cases

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go back to the nineteen sixties and seventies. Surprised they

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haven't heard about it because once I researched it, it's

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like this is very well known case.

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We've had a lot of really good recommendations lately, so

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I think twenty twenty five is going to be a

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good year for I think very kill.

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My main source for this case is a book called

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Blood and Money by Thomas Thompson. It was published originally

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in nineteen seventy six, and it is a classic of

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the true crime genre. It's a super deep dive into

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this case and I loved the book. It was just amazing.

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So I decided to also go deep in my telling

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of the case as well. So this is going to

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be a three part episode.

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I believe you told me yesterday that this might be

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your favorite case that you've ever done.

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It might be, but you know, I'm kind of like

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I have this.

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Recent yeah, Yeah, definitely me too.

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Joan Robinson Hill and her husband, doctor John Hill, were

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the darlings of Houston's high society in the nineteen sixties.

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Joan was a champion equestrian from one of Houston's wealthiest families,

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and John was a successful plastic surgeon with a love

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for classical music. They were young, attractive, and seemed to

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have it all, a picture perfect cuple moving through a

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world of horse shows, charity events, and fancy parties. But

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behind the scenes, things were not as perfect as they seemed.

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Joan and John were opposites in many ways, and their

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differences caused tension from the start. To make matters worse,

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Joan's father, Ash Robinson, was a major presence in their lives.

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He was fiercely protective of Joan and had no problem

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getting involved in her marriage, which only added more strain.

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By nineteen sixty nine, the cracks in their relationship couldn't

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be ignored any longer. The problems in their marriage came

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to a head, setting off a chain of events that

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would stretch over six years and leave a trail of heartbreak, betrayal,

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and tragedy for everyone involved. Our story begins with Ash

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Robinson born in eighteen ninety eight into a family with

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deep roots and a lot of history. One of his

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ancestors even signed the Declaration of Independence. His grandparents owned

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a plantation, and his father was a doctor who eventually

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moved the family to the Houston area. Ash grew up

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with privilege, but at eighteen he learned a hard lesson

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about money. When his mother passed away, she left him

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sixty nine thousand dollars, an enormous sum at the time,

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worth about two million today. But his father didn't sugarcoat things.

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When he handed Ash the money, he said, son, you

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didn't earn this, and you don't know what it's worth.

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I can tell you this, it's more than most men

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earn in a lifetime. My advice, the quicker you get

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rid of it, the better off you'll be. Then you'll

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start finding out what life is really like.

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That's some odd advice. My advice would be saves that

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money to think.

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That would be my advice too. But Ash took his

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dad's advice literally. He headed straight to New Orleans and

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within six months the money was gone. He spent be

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hard to spend that much time. It wouldn't, but it

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would be a challenge. He spent most of it betting

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on horse racing, convinced that he knew what he was doing,

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but he did not. By the time he met Rhea,

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the woman who would become his wife, Ash was flat broke,

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but he still had his charm. He promised Ria a

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life of advance, maybe not a stable one, but never

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a boring one. She must have believed him, because in

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nineteen nineteen they tied the knot at a simple courthouse wedding.

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Ash was clever and ambitious. He was always chasing the

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next big opportunity. After scraping together a little money, he

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made a bold investment with a man who had leased

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six hundred and forty acres of land. It was the

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early days of Texas' oil boom, and an oil company

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quickly offered to buy the lease for ten times what

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the man had paid. But ashe wasn't one to jump

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at the first offer, he figured if the oil company

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was that eager, the land had to be worth even more,

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so he held out. Sure enough, they came back with

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a better offer fifty times the original pulse. Ash turned

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his three hundred and twenty dollars investment into sixteen thousand dollars,

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which was a small fortune back then. That deal lit

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a fire in him. He decided he wanted to be

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a Texas oil man, and within a few years, Ash

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Robinson was a millionaire. Ash and Rhea Robinson wanted nothing

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more than to have children, but life had other plans.

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Rhea discovered that she couldn't, and the couple turned to adoption.

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In nineteen thirty one, their prayers were answered when they

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adopted Joan, an infant just one month old, born to

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an anonymous mother near Houston. Joan Robinson grew up believing

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that she was their biological child until her late teens,

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when she needed a birth certificate to apply for a passport.

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That's when she learned the truth that she was adopted.

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Years later, in her thirties, curiosity about her birth parents

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got the better of her. She hired a private investigator

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who came back with a shocking theory, Ash himself might

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have been her biological father. The investigator suspected that Joan's

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mother was a young woman from Houston who had been

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paid by Ash to carry his child so that he

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and Rhea could adopt her. Now, there's no concrete proof

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of this, just the investigator's hunch, ashe denied it every

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time the subject came up. In the end, Joan decided

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she didn't need the answers for her. Ash and Rheo

243
00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:55.080
were her real parents, and that was the end of it.

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From the moment Joan came into their lives, she was

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the center of Ash's world. Nothing was too good for her.

246
00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:06.159
Private nursemaids, elite schools, dance lessons, you name it, Ash

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00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:09.080
provided it. When Joan was three or four years old,

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she and Ash were riding in the back of their

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Chaufford Cadillac when they passed an amusement park with pony rides.

250
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Joan begged to stop, so Ash had the chauffeur pull over.

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He paid a nickel for her to ride the pony,

252
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probably expecting her to get scared and cry like a

253
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lot of the other kids did. But Joan was fearless.

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She loved it. That first nickel pony ride sparked a

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passion for horses that would define Joan's life. Every day

256
00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:35.639
after preschool, she couldn't wait to be Chaufford back to

257
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that amusement park. This cracks me up, just the image

258
00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:40.559
of this little four year old girl being chauffored in

259
00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:43.360
the back of a Cadillac to an amusement park to

260
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go ride a pony.

261
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Yeah.

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The manager noticed her natural talent and told Ash, you'd

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00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:50.519
better get that kid a real horse, and of course

264
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Ash obliged. He bought her an old, worn out horse

265
00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:56.120
named Dot for one hundred and fifty dollars and hired

266
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a riding instructor to teach her the basics. The instructor

267
00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:02.159
wasn't impressed, stood the horse and doubted it could even learn.

268
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But Joan she had not, walking, trotting and cantering in

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no time. At just five years old, Joan entered her

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first equestrian competition, going up against riders twice her age.

271
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She took third place in the twelve and under category

272
00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:17.639
and proudly hung the ribbon on the wall next to

273
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her bed. By the time she graduated high school, that

274
00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:23.000
wall was covered in ribbons, most of them blew, and

275
00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:26.320
her shelves were packed with trophies. Joan wasn't just good

276
00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:28.080
with horses, she was exceptional.

277
00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:29.480
That is amazing.

278
00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.240
After high school, Joan headed to Stephen's College for Women

279
00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:36.879
in Missouri, but leaving home didn't mean leaving her parents behind.

280
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Ash and Rhea couldn't bear to be far from their daughter,

281
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.759
so they moved to Missouri as well, renting a suite

282
00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:46.080
at a hotel near campus. Imagine if you are going

283
00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:48.279
off to college and your parents are like, we're coming

284
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with you. We're gonna live right next door.

285
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Okay, Yeah, I wouldn't love that.

286
00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:53.000
No, I wouldn't either.

287
00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:55.159
I would love to be close to our children there.

288
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I know. Ash commuted back to Texas for work when necessary,

289
00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:02.039
just so they could stay close to Joan. Joan did

290
00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.759
okay in school, but her real focus was her horses.

291
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Every day after class, she rushed off to ride the

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horse that she'd brought with her. Her classmates liked her,

293
00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:13.000
but they often felt sorry for her. Joan seemed like

294
00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:14.840
she was tethered to her parents in a way that

295
00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.799
kept her from experiencing college life the way that most

296
00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:20.759
students did. But Joan didn't seem to mind. She was

297
00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:23.200
just as devoted to her parents as they were to her.

298
00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:25.840
She wouldn't even go on a date without checking with

299
00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:29.519
them first. At one point, Joan got a taste for acting.

300
00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.080
MGM's studios even offered her a screen test in Hollywood,

301
00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:36.240
but ashe quickly shut that down, saying that Hollywood was

302
00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:39.720
no place for a good girl. Then came Spike Benton.

303
00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:46.679
Joan felt hard. Yeah, guy named Spike. Joan fell hard

304
00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:48.720
for him, and Spike went to Ash to ask for

305
00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:52.399
her hand in marriage. Ashe said no, too young, too soon,

306
00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:55.679
and Spike was about to enter the Navy, but Joan

307
00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.320
had her heart set on it. She convinced her dad

308
00:13:58.360 --> 00:13:59.559
and the two were married.

309
00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:01.320
Do you know how old Joan was?

310
00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:03.799
I think she was about eighteen at this time. The

311
00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.360
newly weds moved to Pensacola, Florida, where Spike started Navy

312
00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:09.720
flight training. And guess who followed?

313
00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:11.360
Oh? Ash and Lea.

314
00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:14.480
Of course, I was starting to think you weren't going

315
00:14:14.519 --> 00:14:17.080
to be able to guess. Yes, Ash and Rhea followed

316
00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:20.159
her to Pensacola. They moved into an apartment just minutes away,

317
00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:23.399
and Ash came over to Joan's place every morning for coffee.

318
00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:26.840
The marriage didn't last. After six months, Joan and Spike

319
00:14:26.919 --> 00:14:30.200
went their separate ways. It wasn't long before Joan started

320
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:32.559
seeing someone new, Cecil Burgless.

321
00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:34.679
I'm not sure about Cecil's either.

322
00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:37.960
He was a childhood friend who shared her love of horses.

323
00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.759
Cecil asked Ash to marry Joan again, but this time

324
00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:46.120
ashe said no, absolutely not. Joan, however, wasn't one to

325
00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:50.360
back down. She and Cecil eloped. Ash was furious, threatening

326
00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.759
to cut her out of his life forever, but that

327
00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:57.200
marriage also fell apart, lasting only six months. Years later,

328
00:14:57.320 --> 00:14:59.799
Joan admitted to a friend that Ash may have sweetened

329
00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:02.440
the de for the breakup. He offered her a Cadillac,

330
00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.279
a mink coat, a diamond ring, and any horse she

331
00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:09.440
wanted if she left Cecil. The marriage apparently was already

332
00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:12.080
on the rocks, and so Joan agreed and moved back home.

333
00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:14.840
By the time she was twenty, Joan had already been

334
00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:16.360
married and divorced twice.

335
00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:19.639
Yikes. Joan spent her days with her horses, and in

336
00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.000
the evenings she was out in the town with her

337
00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:26.360
best friend, Joan Jaworski. She was a staple of Houston's

338
00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:29.840
cafe society, often seen in the society pages of the

339
00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:33.080
local newspapers, whether it was for a horse show or

340
00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:37.159
simply being out with the city's elite. Ash Ever, Protective

341
00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:41.279
regularly hired private detectives to dig into the backgrounds of

342
00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.559
any man. Joan took an interest in. One of those

343
00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:49.399
men was Travers Fells. Oh he's not like a bad guy.

344
00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:52.759
Guy I described by one of Joan's friends as, quote

345
00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:56.320
the most gorgeous son of a pitch in Texas.

346
00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:58.480
Do you have a picture of I don't.

347
00:15:58.519 --> 00:15:59.960
I couldn't find a picture of him.

348
00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:03.320
Travers was the heir to a fortune, but he was wild,

349
00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:07.600
a drinker, a frequent bar fighter, and someone who loved

350
00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.639
speeding around town in his Cadillac with a bottle of

351
00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:14.799
bourbon on the dashboard and a loaded thirty eight under

352
00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:15.320
his seat.

353
00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:16.759
Girls like boy.

354
00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:21.000
Joan and Travers were in a long term, off and

355
00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:24.200
on again relationship. While she was involved with Travers, she

356
00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:29.399
was also seeing other men. Ash absolutely hated Travers couldn't

357
00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.399
even pretend to be civil. Joan would often try to

358
00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:35.360
get Travers to show some ambition, like getting a job,

359
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.679
to prove to her father he wasn't just a wild,

360
00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:43.000
good looking mess, but it never worked. Around nineteen fifty three,

361
00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:46.440
Joan fell in love again, but this time it wasn't

362
00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:49.720
with a man. It was a horse, a filly named

363
00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:53.799
beloved Blinda. She was a dappled gray beauty, though her

364
00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:57.399
parentage was unknown. Joan felt like there was something special

365
00:16:57.399 --> 00:17:00.559
about her and begged Ash to buy the horse. Ashed,

366
00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:04.599
unable to resist, his daughter, forked over twenty seven five

367
00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:07.920
hundred dollars for her. For contexts, that was a lot

368
00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:13.119
for a horse, especially one without clear lineage. Joan debuted

369
00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:16.400
Beloved Belinda had a major horse show in Louisville, Kentucky,

370
00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:20.079
in nineteen fifty three. She had a custom writing costume

371
00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:23.920
made to match the exact pearl gray of Belinda's coat.

372
00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:27.440
When they entered the ring, they were the last to perform,

373
00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:31.720
and the crowd was mesmerized. One newspaper wrote, quote, when

374
00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:35.039
Joan Robinson rides Beloved Belinda, it is one of the

375
00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:38.839
most achingly beautiful sights in the world. It's a poem,

376
00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:43.119
a waltz, the sculpture of Rodin and the painting of Suzanne.

377
00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:48.599
My goose pimples, Get goose pimples. End quote. Old newspaper

378
00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:53.160
articles were written differently. They had so much more detail

379
00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:57.920
and panache, and they were just more interesting. He well,

380
00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:00.440
I guess they were less visual, so they kind of

381
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:00.839
had to be.

382
00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:02.000
Yeah, that's a good point.

383
00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:05.079
From nineteen fifty three to nineteen fifty eight, Joan in

384
00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:10.160
Beloved Belinda dominated the circuit, winning five world championships together.

385
00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:11.079
Wow.

386
00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:13.880
One evening, while out to dinner, Joan spotted a new

387
00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:18.039
handsome face at the table with doctor Riley Foster, a cardiologist,

388
00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.240
with his wife, Maggie. Joan knew Maggie, so she stopped

389
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:24.400
by to say hello, and that's when she met John Hill.

390
00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:27.440
He was new to town, a medical student. In turning

391
00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:31.559
with doctor Foster. Later, Joan pulled Maggie aside and asked

392
00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:35.000
her to set up a proper introduction, and that was

393
00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:38.440
the beginning. John Hill was born in nineteen thirty one.

394
00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:42.359
And this small town of ed Couch, Texas. If you're

395
00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.559
wondering how ed Couch got its name, it's pretty straightforward.

396
00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:48.640
The town was named after a local real estate developer,

397
00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.640
ed Couch. It's about as far south in Texas as

398
00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:56.400
you can go without crossing into Mexico. John's parents, Raymond

399
00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.559
and Myra, owned a farm where they grew vegetables, cotton

400
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:02.799
and grain. Raymond was a quiet, simple man, while Myra

401
00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.480
was incredibly religious, some might even say fanatically. So over

402
00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:10.359
time they turned their little farmstand into a full shop

403
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.000
that sold all sorts of goods, and they managed to

404
00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:16.039
do pretty well for themselves. John was the middle child

405
00:19:16.039 --> 00:19:18.319
of three, born in nineteen thirty one, the same year

406
00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:21.920
as Joan. Had an older sister, Judy, and a brother, Julian,

407
00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:24.599
who was just a year younger than him. John and

408
00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:29.119
Julian were incredibly close, almost inseparable growing up. Religion played

409
00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:32.240
a huge role in their lives. The kids memorized Bible

410
00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:35.200
verses and went to church and Sunday school every week.

411
00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:38.319
But religion wasn't the only thing that shaped their childhood.

412
00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:42.400
Music was another big influence. All three kids took piano lessons,

413
00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:45.680
but John really took to it. In addition to piano,

414
00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:49.480
he learned to play the trombone, tuba, flute, and recorder.

415
00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:52.440
He dreamed of a career in music, but Myra was

416
00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.759
worried it wouldn't bring in the money, so she encouraged

417
00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:58.640
him to pursue medicine instead, and that's exactly what happened.

418
00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:01.559
John and Julian both did deed to go to medical school,

419
00:20:01.960 --> 00:20:06.160
much to Myra's delight. After graduating Summa cum lauree from

420
00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:10.319
Abilene Christian College, John Hill moved on to Baylor College

421
00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:13.240
of Medicine in Houston. He completed his four years of

422
00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.960
medical school and internship. This was when he met Joan

423
00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:21.200
before settling into a residency and surgery. In his third

424
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:25.119
year of residency, John decided to specialize in plastic surgery,

425
00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:28.720
and let's be honest, the main reason was because of money.

426
00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:32.440
Plastic surgery was a relatively new field back then, with

427
00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:36.319
some exciting breakthroughs happening in the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties,

428
00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:40.039
like internal wiring for facial fractures and the use of

429
00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:44.039
silicone plus. In Houston, the booming oil industry meant there

430
00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:46.759
was big money to be made and there weren't many

431
00:20:46.759 --> 00:20:49.319
plastic surgeons in the area, so it was a smart

432
00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:52.400
move if he wanted to make a solid income. Also,

433
00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.519
John liked the plastic surgeons generally kept regular hours. While

434
00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:58.920
there could be emergencies, it wasn't the kind of job

435
00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:00.759
where you'd get called in the middle of the night,

436
00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.960
something that was important to him because music was still

437
00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.920
a huge part of his life. His dream to work

438
00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:09.799
as a doctor during the day and play music at night.

439
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:14.200
As for Joan and John's relationship, things moved quickly after

440
00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.599
they met through their mutual friends Maggie and doctor Riley Foster.

441
00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:20.519
Joan and John seemed to hit it off, but Maggie

442
00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:24.240
wasn't convinced. She saw them as total opposites. Joan was

443
00:21:24.279 --> 00:21:27.000
a spoiled, rich girl who loved horses and going out,

444
00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:30.279
while John was a quiet, religious mama's boy who loved

445
00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:33.880
classical music and opera. Joan liked to swear like a sailor,

446
00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:37.480
while John cringed every time she led a goddamn slip.

447
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:40.119
But love works in mysterious ways.

448
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.680
Oh does it?

449
00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:46.000
It sure does, Tina. The day after their dinner, John

450
00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:49.799
told Maggie quote, She's the most incredible girl I've ever met,

451
00:21:50.119 --> 00:21:53.000
And soon enough they were dating. Joan pretended to be

452
00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:56.079
interested in classical music, and John acted like he cared

453
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:56.799
about horses.

454
00:21:56.920 --> 00:21:57.319
Oh boy.

455
00:21:57.559 --> 00:21:59.680
When it came time for John to ask Ash for

456
00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:02.519
joe Jan's hand in marriage, Joan coached him on what

457
00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:05.519
to expect. Just listen to all the reasons he says

458
00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:08.200
why we shouldn't get married, and I'll talk to him afterwards,

459
00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:12.359
she advised. But surprisingly ashe was nice to John, maybe

460
00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:14.960
it was because he saw John as having better prospects

461
00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.920
than Travers Fells. Ash was curious about John's medical training

462
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.400
and his future plans. He figured he would need to

463
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.759
help the couple financially for a while, but he gave

464
00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:27.039
his blessing. John's mom, Myra, actually turned out to be

465
00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:30.119
the more difficult one because of her religion. Myra was

466
00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:34.240
completely opposed to divorce under any circumstances. John told her

467
00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:36.920
that Joan had been divorced once, saying that she had

468
00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.559
been young and not ready for marriage. He left out

469
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:43.240
the second divorce, but still Myra objected. A week before

470
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:46.400
the wedding, Myra received an anonymous letter telling her that

471
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:50.279
Joan had been married and divorced twice. The letter also

472
00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:52.880
said that her dad, Ash had been to prison for fraud,

473
00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:56.400
which was not true. Myra tried to talk John into canceling,

474
00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:57.720
but he would not be cowed.

475
00:22:57.960 --> 00:22:59.079
Do you know who sent a letter?

476
00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:01.880
I don't know. It's really weird that someone would even

477
00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:02.440
send that.

478
00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:04.880
Letter, well, especially with part of the letter being a

479
00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:05.880
complete lie.

480
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:09.200
Yeah, I know, maybe it was travers Fels.

481
00:23:09.559 --> 00:23:10.319
Sounds like something.

482
00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:15.039
Because Joan and John married in September nineteen fifty seven

483
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:18.079
at her parents' home by the swimming pool, The society

484
00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:21.039
pages called it a storybook wedding. They were both twenty

485
00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:23.799
six years old, but the marriage started off on a

486
00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:27.039
rocky note. They lived upstairs at Ash and Rhea's house,

487
00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:29.759
and Joan had no idea how to cook. The family

488
00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:31.839
had a cook who took care of most of the meals,

489
00:23:31.960 --> 00:23:35.359
and John drove a car provided by Ash, often with

490
00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:38.279
a chauffeur at the wheel. Ash was an ever present,

491
00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:41.680
overbearing figure in their lives, and soon Joan and John

492
00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:45.799
were leading completely separate lives. Joan was constantly traveling for

493
00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:49.039
horse shows, which John rarely attended, and he was deep

494
00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:51.440
into his medical work. When he had free time, he

495
00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.200
just wanted to play and listen to music. Before they

496
00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.240
tied the knot, Joan had made it clear that her

497
00:23:56.279 --> 00:23:58.720
passion for horses would take up a lot of her time,

498
00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:01.559
but John was fine with that. In fact, it gave

499
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.680
him space to pursue his own hobbies without feeling guilty.

500
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:07.680
On the rare occasions when John did go to Joan's

501
00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:10.640
horse shows, he would bring along a paperback mystery to read.

502
00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:14.000
One time, he even fell asleep in their box. Joan

503
00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:16.839
took it in stride, saying that's okay. I nodded off

504
00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:20.079
during Hayden the other afternoon when he was playing. In

505
00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:22.680
June of nineteen fifty nine, it was time to retire

506
00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:25.359
beloved Belinda, the horse that Joan had poured her heart

507
00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:28.039
into for years. It was a huge moment, and the

508
00:24:28.079 --> 00:24:30.720
crowd at the pin Oak Charity Horse Show was buzzing

509
00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:34.319
with excitement. As Sports Illustrated later put it, quote, the

510
00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:37.960
combination of the beautiful mare shown by her equally decorative

511
00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:40.480
owner has been one of the most successful and recent

512
00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:43.599
show history. Together they have taken more than eighty six

513
00:24:43.640 --> 00:24:47.200
Blue Ribbons and four five gated World Championships in the

514
00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:51.440
amateur division. The moment was emotional. The band played Allbangziyin

515
00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:54.240
and the crowd cheered, many with tears in their eyes

516
00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:56.640
as the eleven year old mare, draped in a blanket

517
00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:59.440
of red roses, was led around the ring by Joan.

518
00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:02.880
Ash and Rhea were visibly moved crying as they watched

519
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:05.799
Joan ride around the arena one last time. But as

520
00:25:05.880 --> 00:25:09.880
Joan exited the ring, there was one person noticeably absent, John.

521
00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:12.680
Joan later found out that John had been in the

522
00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:17.039
corridor talking with another music enthusiast about an upcoming musical gathering.

523
00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:20.400
Joan didn't confront him about it directly, but she was crushed.

524
00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:22.880
Oh boy, that's how I feel when you don't want

525
00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:25.039
to talk about my housewife's shows.

526
00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:27.319
I'll try to do a better job.

527
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:29.960
I'm sorry, did Well, that's how you feel when you

528
00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:32.000
talk about the lions. But I try to act excited.

529
00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:35.680
Did beautiful or beloved Belinda? Did she have babies?

530
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:38.759
She did. We will talk a little bit about that later,

531
00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:41.480
but yeah, Joan did retire her and she did have

532
00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.160
some babies. In nineteen sixty, Joan gave birth to a son.

533
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.279
It was the last year of John's surgical residency, but

534
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:51.240
he still had two years of specialty training left. He

535
00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:53.640
wasn't making much money yet, and they were still living

536
00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:57.160
with Joan's parents, so he wasn't super excited about the baby.

537
00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.720
In fact, Ash was the one who did Joan's bidding

538
00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:02.160
when she had a craving or needed help with anything.

539
00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:05.599
But when the baby finally came, John was excited. He

540
00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:08.519
ran down the hospital corridor shouting, it's a boy, It's

541
00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:12.279
a boy. John and Joan named their son Robert Ashton Hill,

542
00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:15.079
the middle name being a tribute to his grandpa. But

543
00:26:15.160 --> 00:26:17.160
when they brought the baby home and Ash held him,

544
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:20.640
he declared, we'll call him boot Boot Hill and that was.

545
00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:24.839
That was the name that stuck for many years. It's

546
00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:27.440
a terrible nickname, isn't it. Boot. Just as he had

547
00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:30.279
with his only daughter, Ash ensured that his only grandson

548
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:33.920
had the best of everything. He paid for diaper service, formula,

549
00:26:34.119 --> 00:26:37.240
round the clock nurses because Boot was often sick during

550
00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:40.160
his first year. As medical students neared the end of

551
00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:42.839
their training, local doctors would often keep an eye out

552
00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:46.440
for promising new talent to join their practices. For John Hill,

553
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.759
that doctor was doctor Nathan Roth. Roth had moved to

554
00:26:49.799 --> 00:26:53.240
Houston from New York and started his own plastic surgery practice,

555
00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:56.400
but he faced some hurdles. First, he was seen as

556
00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:00.079
an outsider, being a jew from New York. Second, he

557
00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.160
was not an attractive man, which that shouldn't matter, but

558
00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:05.759
when you're a plastic surgeon, people tend to judge based

559
00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:10.319
on physical appearances. Meanwhile, John, tall, handsome, and well connected

560
00:27:10.359 --> 00:27:13.960
to Houston's elite, had a promising future. Everyone said he

561
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:17.200
had great hands and would make a skilled surgeon. Roth

562
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.799
had concerns about John's family. His brother Julian was a

563
00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:23.680
year behind John and med school, and rumors about his

564
00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:28.799
sexual confusion quote unquote were swirling. In conservative nineteen sixties.

565
00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.119
Houston Julian also had a reputation for being a bit

566
00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:34.720
of a ticking time bomb, quiet and full of pent

567
00:27:34.839 --> 00:27:38.559
up energy. On top of that, Ash's growing dissatisfaction with

568
00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:41.480
his son in law was becoming well known. Ash would

569
00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:44.079
tell anyone who would listen that John never even bought

570
00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:46.920
baby food for his son. Roth didn't want any of

571
00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:50.000
these family issues spilling into his practice, so he offered

572
00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:53.839
John a junior partnership with one condition. Joan. John and

573
00:27:53.880 --> 00:27:56.039
their son would need to move out of Ash's house

574
00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:59.400
and get their own place. John agreed, though he didn't

575
00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:02.440
have enough say for a down payment. Roth loaned him

576
00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:06.559
five thousand dollars to help him out. Interesting condition, isn't it?

577
00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:09.200
But I guess your reputation is sort of like everything,

578
00:28:09.240 --> 00:28:11.960
and I think Roth could see that there were family

579
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.880
issues going on there with the Dynamics.

580
00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:16.240
So we think those family issues would be there whether

581
00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:18.799
they lived their property or not.

582
00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:21.799
Well, yeah, that is true. As we'll find out. Ash

583
00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:24.599
wasn't thrilled about his daughter and grandson moving out, but

584
00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:27.920
their new house was only ten minutes away. Joan reassured

585
00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:30.640
him that he could visit every day and he usually did.

586
00:28:31.160 --> 00:28:34.519
John joined Roth's practice in nineteen sixty three, and Roth

587
00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:37.559
threw a big party to welcome him. John's brother Julian,

588
00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:40.400
had been happy for John's new opportunity, but he didn't

589
00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:43.200
show up for the party despite getting an invite. A

590
00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:46.519
few days after the party, Julian swallowed a bottleful of

591
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:49.240
pills and died. He was just thirty years old.

592
00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:51.640
Oh, that is very sad.

593
00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:54.400
It is. We'll be back after a break.

594
00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:04.559
John start as a plastic surgeon did not go well.

595
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:08.799
His first operation was repairing a patient's broken jaw. It

596
00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:12.200
was plastic surgery one oh one, so Roth felt comfortable

597
00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:15.640
giving doctor Hill the assignment. The operation seemed to go

598
00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:18.240
well and the patient went home satisfied, but he came

599
00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:22.000
back in a few weeks complaining of excessive drainage coming

600
00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:25.799
from his upper jaw. Drainage is common, but it should

601
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:29.400
clear up after several days. Doctor Roth examined him and

602
00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:32.480
everything looked fine, so he told the patient not to

603
00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:36.519
worry that drainage would likely stop soon. That sounds horrible,

604
00:29:36.680 --> 00:29:39.640
I know. A few weeks later, however, the patient was

605
00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:42.480
at his dentist and has had X rays done. The

606
00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:45.839
x rays showed a small tip from a drill bid

607
00:29:46.200 --> 00:29:49.319
that must have broken off during the surgery and lodged

608
00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:50.960
in the man's upper jaw.

609
00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:53.720
Oh my gosh, that's the nightmare. Huh.

610
00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:57.880
The patient returned to doctor Roth's practice livid and talking

611
00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:03.000
about a malpractice suit. Was also furious drilbet's break off

612
00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:06.519
during surgery. It happens, but there was no possible way

613
00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:09.680
that the surgeon wouldn't have known about it. How could

614
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:12.839
he'll just let it go without removing the piece? He

615
00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:16.440
brought Youohn in and gave him a severe reprimand John

616
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:21.240
acted apologetic and ashamed. The patient did file a malpractice suit,

617
00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:24.240
but luck was on John's side. Before the suit went

618
00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:26.799
to court. The man blew his nose one day and

619
00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:30.519
the tiny piece of metal popped out of his nose.

620
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:32.240
Problem solved.

621
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.759
Though John's surgeries improved, Roth was also bothered by his

622
00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:41.799
personal I'm sorry, I can't get over the drill bit

623
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:45.039
coming out of his nose, Oh my gosh. But Roth

624
00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:48.480
was also bothered by his personal style. Where Roth had

625
00:30:48.599 --> 00:30:53.279
tasteful art, John on cheap oil paintings like those you'd

626
00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:56.200
find in a motel. The only nice piece he had

627
00:30:56.359 --> 00:30:59.640
a photo of Joan on beloved Belinda sat on the

628
00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.839
floor gathering dust. So he had like velvet elvises and

629
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:07.119
things like that, something like that. John also took his

630
00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:10.480
love for music to extremes. He had a piano installed

631
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:14.559
in his office and would serenade female patients with chopin

632
00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:20.279
before consultations. In the operating room, he played classical music loudly,

633
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:23.960
with one patient recalling quote, the last thing I remember

634
00:31:24.440 --> 00:31:28.480
was this gorgeous doctor bending over me and Beethoven crashing

635
00:31:28.599 --> 00:31:33.519
all around me. Despite these quirks, John's skills grew, especially

636
00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:37.039
in hand surgery. One patient, a tennis player who had

637
00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:40.599
nearly severed his hand and a table saw accident, recovered

638
00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:43.720
enough thanks to John's work to win his club championship

639
00:31:43.880 --> 00:31:47.119
within a year. John had a routine of waking at

640
00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:52.920
five am most mornings to practice his tube. I was guy.

641
00:31:54.359 --> 00:31:56.400
He would practice his too, but in his office before

642
00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:59.839
anyone else arrived. He was deeply committed to his music,

643
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:04.359
dedicating at least twenty hours a week to practicing, taking lessons,

644
00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:07.799
and performing with various groups. While John focused on his

645
00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:11.319
medical career and his music, Joan embraced the role of

646
00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:16.240
a busy housewife. Alongside her passion for equestrian activities, she

647
00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:20.319
also immersed herself in charity work, volunteering every Tuesday at

648
00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:25.240
Texas Children's Hospital. Joan frequently attended teas, luncheons, and social

649
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:28.640
events with other doctors wives, becoming a well loved figure

650
00:32:28.680 --> 00:32:32.240
in their circle. Her friendly and warm personality endeared her

651
00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:36.079
to everyone. She often playfully flirted with the doctor's but

652
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:39.200
it was all in good fun and no one saw

653
00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:41.519
it as a thread. It was clear to everyone that

654
00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:44.960
Joan was devoted to her husband. When John began earning

655
00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:47.839
money at his medical practice with doctor Roth, he gave

656
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:52.720
Joan a monthly allowance of one hundred dollars to cover groceries, utilities,

657
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:57.960
a part time made and entertaining expensives. Though it was insufficient,

658
00:32:58.200 --> 00:33:01.160
Joan didn't worry too much. Heather was always willing to

659
00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:04.599
help out financially. He seemed happy to provide, knowing it

660
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:07.119
kept Joan closely connected to him.

661
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:10.400
I give you a much better loss, shut up.

662
00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:12.839
Just kidding.

663
00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:16.160
At one point, Joan decided she wanted to buy a

664
00:33:16.200 --> 00:33:19.480
small farm to breed and board horses. She found a

665
00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:22.640
three acre property on the outskirts of town, that seemed perfect.

666
00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:25.680
Her father agreed to buy it for her, but only

667
00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:29.279
in the condition that he retained control over hiring and

668
00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:33.680
firing staff. Hmmm, that's interesting. I wonder how John felt

669
00:33:33.720 --> 00:33:36.759
about him always being there and always kind.

670
00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:38.119
Of Oh, I'm sure he hated it.

671
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:39.839
I can't imagine he was.

672
00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:43.400
It almost seems like Ash was like obsessed with his daughter,

673
00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:45.960
like is their only child, and he just seemed like

674
00:33:46.519 --> 00:33:48.920
his whole world truly revolved around her.

675
00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:51.279
Yeah, it's kind of offensive, like, we'll just take care

676
00:33:51.319 --> 00:33:54.240
of all your financial needs and your husband, even though

677
00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:57.039
it sounds like he was doing well financially. Also, Yeah,

678
00:33:57.480 --> 00:34:01.359
doesn't matter. She named it Chatsworth Farm, after her mother's

679
00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:05.160
ancestral estate in New Orleans. Joan poured her energy into

680
00:34:05.160 --> 00:34:08.400
transforming the property, and by nineteen sixty five it had

681
00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:11.800
become a charming little farm with thirty six horse stalls,

682
00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:16.119
a regulation show ring, and scenic riding trails. John had

683
00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:18.880
no objections to Joan's new project. It gave her a

684
00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:23.599
fulfilling outlet while allowing him uninterrupted time for his musical pursuits.

685
00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:25.559
So he just wanted her out of his hair all

686
00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:25.880
the time.

687
00:34:25.960 --> 00:34:26.599
It seems that way.

688
00:34:27.159 --> 00:34:29.920
He really visited the harm except for the annual spring

689
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:33.320
picnic that he and Joan hosted for several hundred doctors

690
00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.960
and their wives, a lavish event generously funded by Joan's father.

691
00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.039
One day in nineteen sixty five, John came home with

692
00:34:41.159 --> 00:34:44.480
exciting news. He had spotted a house for sale and

693
00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:47.800
the heart of the River Oaks neighborhood. River Oaks was

694
00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:51.159
and still is a beautiful residential area of Houston, with

695
00:34:51.280 --> 00:34:56.559
palatial homes whose values ranged from one to twenty million dollars. Today,

696
00:34:56.920 --> 00:34:59.679
it's one of the wolfiest communities in Texas and the

697
00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:03.559
Unit States. The house John found was at fifteen sixty

698
00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:06.840
one Kirby Drive, just a few blocks from Ash's residence.

699
00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:08.679
Oh that surprises me. I know, thought it was gonna

700
00:35:08.679 --> 00:35:11.280
be like, you know, miles and miles away. The house

701
00:35:11.360 --> 00:35:13.480
was one of the nicest in the neighborhood, and John

702
00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:17.119
wanted to buy it. Initially, Joan wasn't convinced. She thought

703
00:35:17.159 --> 00:35:21.519
the house was both financially out of reach and overly ostentatious,

704
00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:24.960
particularly for a young couple with just one child. She

705
00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:28.000
had been considering building a modest ranch house in the

706
00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.920
countryside at Chatsworth farm. However, John managed to change her mind.

707
00:35:33.239 --> 00:35:35.440
The house was just two minutes from her parents home,

708
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:38.360
and he argued it was a perfect fit for a

709
00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:41.719
doctor on his way up. With financial help for Mash,

710
00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:44.960
who provided a loan for the down payment, they purchased

711
00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:46.400
the house and settled in.

712
00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:50.440
Although John and Joan had always led largely separate lives,

713
00:35:50.559 --> 00:35:53.920
their relationship seemed to deteriorate further after they moved to

714
00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:57.199
Kirby Drive. John often vanished for hours at a time,

715
00:35:57.320 --> 00:35:59.880
claiming he was at the hospital, making rounds or catching

716
00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:02.639
up on paperwork. He would leave the house before dawn

717
00:36:02.679 --> 00:36:06.480
and typically return home long after nightfall. Their time together

718
00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:10.559
became increasingly rare, limited to public appearances at social events

719
00:36:10.599 --> 00:36:14.719
and professional dinners. Joan began voicing her frustrations to friends,

720
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:17.880
making pointed remarks about their lack of intimacy. When the

721
00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:21.079
subject of sex arose, she would quip sex, What's that?

722
00:36:21.880 --> 00:36:25.079
In public, she often directed passive, aggressive comments at John,

723
00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:28.320
hinting at his neglect of her. John wouldn't respond to

724
00:36:28.360 --> 00:36:31.559
these comments in public, but behind closed doors, he frequently

725
00:36:31.639 --> 00:36:34.840
nagged Joan about her smoking, a habit she had tried

726
00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:38.280
and failed to quit numerous times. He also made disparaging

727
00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:41.199
remarks about her smelling like a horse a jab at

728
00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:45.599
her equestrian pursuits. That's so mean, that really mean. Their

729
00:36:45.639 --> 00:36:49.239
differences extended to their values and their habits. John remained

730
00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:53.760
deeply religious, refraining from swearing, smoking, or excessive drinking, and

731
00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:57.039
faithfully attended church every Sunday. Joan, on the other hand,

732
00:36:57.079 --> 00:36:59.800
had little interest in religion and lived her life without it,

733
00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:04.119
adhering to his stricter standards. Nathan Roth had reservations about

734
00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:07.039
John Hill from the very beginning, and his concerns only

735
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:10.320
grew worse with time. Hill's sloppy record keeping was a

736
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:13.760
constant source of frustration for Roth. In a medical partnership,

737
00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:16.519
it's crucial to seamlessly pick up where the other doctor

738
00:37:16.599 --> 00:37:20.079
left off, but Roth found that impossible with Hill's patients.

739
00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:24.159
Hill's records were a disorganized mess, stuffed into coat pockets,

740
00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:27.079
scattered around the office, or crammed into the trunk of

741
00:37:27.079 --> 00:37:30.559
his car. Roth also came to view John as unreliable.

742
00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:33.400
Hill frequently asked him to cover shifts so that he

743
00:37:33.400 --> 00:37:37.119
could attend musical events or even grade school pta meetings,

744
00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.920
leaving Roth to shoulder the extra work. After three years

745
00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:44.400
of mounting frustration, Roth decided he had had enough. He

746
00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:47.599
called Hill into his office and ended their partnership. Hill

747
00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:50.599
didn't take the news quietly. He accused Roth of breaching

748
00:37:50.679 --> 00:37:53.880
their contract and claimed that he was owed money. The

749
00:37:53.920 --> 00:37:59.440
disagreement escalated into lawsuits and lingering animosity. Undeterred, John struck

750
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:02.039
out on his own. He rented a suite of offices

751
00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:04.119
in the same building where he had worked with Roth,

752
00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:07.119
and quickly set up his own practice with a new

753
00:38:07.159 --> 00:38:10.320
staff in place. His business thrived. By the end of

754
00:38:10.360 --> 00:38:12.599
his first year, John was earning one hundred and sixty

755
00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:15.480
eight thousand dollars, which was a remarkable income for a

756
00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:18.920
doctor his age back in the mid sixties. With his

757
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:21.760
income growing, John decided it was time to realize his

758
00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:25.000
musical dreams. When he and Joan purchased their house on

759
00:38:25.079 --> 00:38:29.119
Kirby Drive, John had already envisioned the large room above

760
00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:32.159
the garage as the ideal space for a music room.

761
00:38:32.760 --> 00:38:35.199
One evening, he casually mentioned to Joan that he wanted

762
00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:39.800
to create a dedicated music room in the house. Joan, surprised, responded,

763
00:38:39.880 --> 00:38:42.599
don't we already have one? She was referring to the

764
00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:46.719
scattered musical instruments, stacks of sheet music and records that

765
00:38:46.840 --> 00:38:49.960
seemed to occupy every corner of the home. But John

766
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:53.199
explained that he wanted something entirely different, a state of

767
00:38:53.239 --> 00:38:56.519
the art room that would be sound proofed, acoustically perfect,

768
00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:59.800
and equipped with a built in high fidelity sound system,

769
00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:02.119
and he had the perfect place for it in the

770
00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:06.800
unused servant quarters above the garage. When Joan asked how

771
00:39:06.840 --> 00:39:10.199
much it would cost, John estimated ten thousand dollars tops.

772
00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:12.599
She then asked where the money would come from, and

773
00:39:12.679 --> 00:39:17.119
John motioned toward her father's house just down the road. Ash, however,

774
00:39:17.159 --> 00:39:20.880
flatly refused to fund what he considered a frivolous project.

775
00:39:21.239 --> 00:39:24.280
He reminded John that he hadn't even repaid the twelve

776
00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:27.679
thousand dollars that Ash had loaned him for the house's downpayment.

777
00:39:27.760 --> 00:39:29.840
When John's making a lot of money, why does he

778
00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:31.480
need anywhere loans from Ash?

779
00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:33.119
I think he's just starting to make a lot of

780
00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:35.400
money at this point. But yeah, it's a good point.

781
00:39:35.400 --> 00:39:37.960
I mean one hundred and sixty eight thousand, that's a

782
00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:38.639
lot of money.

783
00:39:38.760 --> 00:39:42.519
Yeah, determined, John secured a bank loan to repay Ash.

784
00:39:42.599 --> 00:39:45.679
The twelve thousand dollars, along with an additional ten thousand

785
00:39:45.679 --> 00:39:48.719
dollars for the music room. In hindsight, this amount would

786
00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:52.000
barely scratch the surface of what the project would ultimately cost.

787
00:39:52.400 --> 00:39:56.119
John enlisted a sound engineer to oversee the project, instructing

788
00:39:56.199 --> 00:39:59.480
him to design a flawless space where music could be

789
00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:03.360
both played, mad and appreciated under perfect conditions. Money is

790
00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:07.480
no object, John emphasized. The sound engineer later remarked that

791
00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:10.760
John seemed utterly consumed by the vision, as though it

792
00:40:10.800 --> 00:40:14.639
had become an obsession. In August nineteen sixty eight, it

793
00:40:14.679 --> 00:40:16.719
was time to pick up eight year old Boot from

794
00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:19.920
summer camp. The camp's final day was a special occasion

795
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.280
when parents were invited to watch their children showcase various activities.

796
00:40:24.599 --> 00:40:28.039
Joan insisted that John accompany her, but he initially resisted.

797
00:40:28.199 --> 00:40:30.280
He claimed that he couldn't make it. His schedule was

798
00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:34.039
packed with surgeries, workers were coming to renovate the music room,

799
00:40:34.440 --> 00:40:38.079
and he was committed to playing at a church recital. Joan, however,

800
00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:41.039
refused to back down. The boy barely even knows he

801
00:40:41.119 --> 00:40:44.519
has a father, she said firmly, with no room for negotiation.

802
00:40:44.719 --> 00:40:47.920
John begrudgingly canceled his commitments and agreed to join her

803
00:40:48.480 --> 00:40:50.599
at the camp that day. One of the other parents

804
00:40:50.639 --> 00:40:53.719
there was Anne Kirth, a striking woman near forty who

805
00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:57.039
carried an air of mystery and allure. The daughter of

806
00:40:57.079 --> 00:41:00.000
a prominent Houston architect, Anne had been married and divorce

807
00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:04.079
three times and was raising three sons. People often remarked

808
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:07.960
that she bore a striking resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor. Anne

809
00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:11.039
caught John's eye during lunch. He sought her out several

810
00:41:11.079 --> 00:41:14.039
times that day, even taking pictures of her with her children.

811
00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:17.599
As the day wound down, Ann found herself chatting with Joan,

812
00:41:18.039 --> 00:41:21.800
who offhandedly mentioned that she couldn't find her husband. Amused,

813
00:41:21.800 --> 00:41:24.519
Anne thought to herself, stick with me and he'll show up.

814
00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:26.440
What up.

815
00:41:27.360 --> 00:41:31.239
Just days after the camp ended, John reached out to Anne.

816
00:41:31.559 --> 00:41:33.599
He had developed the photos that he had taken and

817
00:41:33.639 --> 00:41:36.320
wanted to show them to her. She invited him over.

818
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:40.119
He arrived at her home around seven pm. That visit

819
00:41:40.159 --> 00:41:42.519
stretched into the early hours of the next morning.

820
00:41:43.079 --> 00:41:44.519
It did not it did.

821
00:41:44.800 --> 00:41:47.800
They talked all night, delving into their lives and dreams.

822
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:50.679
The next day, John called her twice, making it clear

823
00:41:50.719 --> 00:41:52.679
that he was eager to spend more time with her.

824
00:41:53.239 --> 00:41:56.800
What about your wife, Anne asked. John didn't hesitate. He

825
00:41:56.880 --> 00:42:00.119
confessed that he felt trapped in his marriage. Joan's world

826
00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:03.480
revolved around horses, while his passions were music and medicine.

827
00:42:03.960 --> 00:42:06.480
He lamented that his life felt empty because he had

828
00:42:06.480 --> 00:42:08.960
no one to truly share it with. By the end

829
00:42:08.960 --> 00:42:11.320
of August, John and Anne were lovers.

830
00:42:12.119 --> 00:42:14.599
One day, Joan returned from a horse show to find

831
00:42:14.599 --> 00:42:17.159
a note on her dresser from John. It read quote,

832
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:20.000
things are not good between us. I've gone away for

833
00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:23.719
a few days to find myself. Did he go by himself?

834
00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:25.639
I guess we might find out.

835
00:42:25.800 --> 00:42:29.000
Confused and hurt, Joan called John's office but was told

836
00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:31.719
he was in surgery. She left messages, but he didn't

837
00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:34.800
call back. As the days passed, her emotions swung between

838
00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:39.480
anguish and fury. Finally, she confided in her father, admitting

839
00:42:39.519 --> 00:42:42.800
that John had left her. Her father suggested hiring a

840
00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:46.159
private detective to uncover what John was up to, but

841
00:42:46.239 --> 00:42:50.320
Joan said no, not yet. Distress took its toll. Joan

842
00:42:50.360 --> 00:42:53.559
couldn't eat or sleep, relying on friends to console her

843
00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:56.840
as she tried to make sense of John's actions. After

844
00:42:56.880 --> 00:43:00.280
two weeks of silence, John finally called, asking to meet

845
00:43:00.320 --> 00:43:03.039
and talk things over. When he arrived at their house,

846
00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:07.039
Joe noticed he was followed by a blue Ford. John

847
00:43:07.119 --> 00:43:11.280
came inside, but their conversation quickly turned into an argument.

848
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:15.199
Within ten minutes, he stormed out, with the blue Ford

849
00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:19.320
trailing closely behind. Determined to get answers, Joan called her

850
00:43:19.360 --> 00:43:23.679
friend and neighbor, Van Maxwell. The two decided to follow John,

851
00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:27.440
though they initially lost his trail. They spotted the blue

852
00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:30.920
Ford in a drug store parking lot. Pulling in, Joan

853
00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:35.119
caught sight of John inside the car with another woman.

854
00:43:35.800 --> 00:43:39.039
John approached Joan's car as Van tactfully stepped away to

855
00:43:39.079 --> 00:43:43.239
give them privacy. When Van returned, Joan appeared dazed and

856
00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:47.280
in shock. Quote her name is Anne Kurth, Joan said.

857
00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:50.320
John told me he's in trouble. He said he's having

858
00:43:50.360 --> 00:43:53.840
an affair with this woman's husband and is being blackmailed.

859
00:43:54.280 --> 00:43:58.639
Van was incredulous her husband. Are you sure? Joan nodded.

860
00:43:58.880 --> 00:44:01.480
He repeated it twice. What in the hell do I

861
00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:05.880
do now? Soon after, anonymous notes began arriving, claiming that

862
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:10.079
John was living with Anne Kirth. They were these anonymous notes. Again,

863
00:44:10.920 --> 00:44:14.800
they were seen together at restaurants and concerts. With more digging,

864
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:18.440
Joan discovered the truth. Ann didn't even have a husband.

865
00:44:18.800 --> 00:44:21.679
For some reason, John had lied about having an affair

866
00:44:21.800 --> 00:44:23.039
with Joan's husband, but.

867
00:44:23.079 --> 00:44:26.960
The most bizarre lie, Like you're lying and saying I'm

868
00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:30.639
having an affair with this woman's husband. Like, I don't

869
00:44:30.760 --> 00:44:32.280
understand the purpose of that lie.

870
00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:34.639
I don't know if he just like like it would

871
00:44:34.679 --> 00:44:36.400
be easier on her if it was a man.

872
00:44:36.599 --> 00:44:38.920
Maybe, I don't know, It's just it's bizarre.

873
00:44:39.199 --> 00:44:42.480
Determined to uncover more, Joan hired an off duty cop

874
00:44:42.559 --> 00:44:45.320
to spy on John. He confirmed that John was staying

875
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:49.800
at Anne's house every night. Joan, desperate for details, decided

876
00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:53.000
to search John's car trunk with Van's standing watch at

877
00:44:53.039 --> 00:44:57.440
the parking garage of John's workplace. She rummaged through it. Inside,

878
00:44:57.519 --> 00:45:01.239
she found a receipt from an upscale apartment for lizard

879
00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:05.360
shoes and a matching handbag. The son of a bitch

880
00:45:05.440 --> 00:45:09.400
never bought me anything, Joan affumed, you, sir, had better

881
00:45:09.559 --> 00:45:13.320
not be buying any lizard bags, belts, or accessories for women.

882
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:15.760
No, or you're in trouble okay, I won't.

883
00:45:15.960 --> 00:45:20.840
Weeks later, Joan's father hired a private detective, who revealed

884
00:45:20.960 --> 00:45:24.639
that John had rented a bachelor pad. So the amount

885
00:45:24.679 --> 00:45:27.679
of people here that are like hiring private detectives is

886
00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:29.000
just baffling to me.

887
00:45:29.039 --> 00:45:29.960
It's world.

888
00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:32.440
One day, Joan came home to find John's car in

889
00:45:32.480 --> 00:45:35.159
the driveway. Hope sparked in her chest, but it was

890
00:45:35.239 --> 00:45:39.079
short lived. Inside, she found John packing his sheet music.

891
00:45:39.119 --> 00:45:43.440
Oh he's packing a sheet and this is serious, She

892
00:45:43.599 --> 00:45:46.480
begged him to stay. Quote why are you so unhappy?

893
00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:49.920
Is it the horses? I'll sell them, I'll sell the farm.

894
00:45:50.199 --> 00:45:52.920
I'll do whatever you want. I think women in the

895
00:45:53.039 --> 00:45:56.360
nineteen sixties and seventies are different than women today, because

896
00:45:56.400 --> 00:45:57.920
I feel like, see, uh.

897
00:45:57.760 --> 00:45:59.480
I know Joan had a lot going for I think

898
00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:01.480
she could done just fine without him.

899
00:46:01.559 --> 00:46:04.800
But John was unmoved. Quote Anne won't let me go,

900
00:46:05.039 --> 00:46:08.519
he said, even if I wanted to. Boy, John really

901
00:46:08.599 --> 00:46:10.239
thinks highly of himself, doesn't he.

902
00:46:10.440 --> 00:46:10.840
Yeah.

903
00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:15.159
Desperate, Joan called Anne directly. When Anne answered, Joan blurted

904
00:46:15.199 --> 00:46:18.480
out that she knew everything. She accused Anne of keeping

905
00:46:18.559 --> 00:46:23.760
John from returning home. Anne, however, remained calm and assured quote.

906
00:46:24.119 --> 00:46:27.639
On the contrary, she said, I've encouraged John to go

907
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:30.480
home to talk things out with you, to see his son,

908
00:46:30.679 --> 00:46:33.760
to make a decision. I don't like this hidden, secretive

909
00:46:33.800 --> 00:46:37.280
business either. I know how much respect John has for you.

910
00:46:37.639 --> 00:46:41.039
Oh sure, did John ever spend time with her son?

911
00:46:41.559 --> 00:46:41.800
Uh?

912
00:46:41.920 --> 00:46:43.559
Not a whole lot. It doesn't seem.

913
00:46:43.880 --> 00:46:47.679
Stunned by Anne's composure, Joan hung up more confused than ever.

914
00:46:48.599 --> 00:46:51.440
By the fall of nineteen sixty eight, John no longer

915
00:46:51.480 --> 00:46:54.639
bothered to hide his relationship with Anne. He paraded her

916
00:46:54.679 --> 00:46:58.840
around town openly. At a charity gala in October, he

917
00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:02.960
even introduced as his fiance. Even with John out of

918
00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:06.239
the house, work on the music room continued. In his mind,

919
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:09.320
John must have seen himself getting the house in a divorce.

920
00:47:09.880 --> 00:47:14.480
By October, John had spent over seventy five thousand dollars

921
00:47:14.519 --> 00:47:18.960
on renovations, far exceeding his initial ten thousand dollars budget,

922
00:47:19.519 --> 00:47:24.679
and he wasn't finished. He decided to order a Bo'sendorfer

923
00:47:25.119 --> 00:47:27.320
is how he's saying, sounds good to me, the world's

924
00:47:27.360 --> 00:47:32.880
most expensive piano, handmade in Austria. Fewer than one hundred

925
00:47:32.960 --> 00:47:36.360
were produced each year. John placed an order for one

926
00:47:36.519 --> 00:47:40.800
at fifteen thousand dollars, a staggering sum at that time

927
00:47:41.119 --> 00:47:41.920
and at this time.

928
00:47:42.159 --> 00:47:42.599
Yeah.

929
00:47:42.880 --> 00:47:47.760
Today, top tier bosendorfers sell for over three hundred thousand dollars.

930
00:47:47.920 --> 00:47:51.039
They're really nice via oh my Yeah.

931
00:47:51.119 --> 00:47:55.079
In mid November, Joan was served with divorce papers. In them,

932
00:47:55.239 --> 00:47:59.239
John accused her of having quote commenced a course of unkind,

933
00:47:59.639 --> 00:48:04.159
harsh and tyrannical conduct towards him, while portraying himself as

934
00:48:04.199 --> 00:48:09.320
the victim who had conducted himself with propriety and treated

935
00:48:09.360 --> 00:48:13.960
his wife with kindness and forbearance. What a piece of work.

936
00:48:14.760 --> 00:48:18.440
Joan's friends urged her to let go and accept the divorce.

937
00:48:18.679 --> 00:48:21.800
You'll be better off without him, they said. But Joan

938
00:48:21.920 --> 00:48:25.320
still loved John, and the prospect of a third failed

939
00:48:25.400 --> 00:48:28.760
marriage must have weighed heavily on her, especially now that

940
00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:31.960
she was thirty seven. Determined to fight for her marriage,

941
00:48:32.119 --> 00:48:35.760
Joan decided to stall the proceedings and hopes of reconciliation.

942
00:48:36.280 --> 00:48:39.320
She hired an attorney who sent John a registered letter

943
00:48:39.440 --> 00:48:43.079
firmly stating that she would not consent to the divorce.

944
00:48:44.159 --> 00:48:46.920
Not when to sit back and let events unfold, ashe

945
00:48:46.960 --> 00:48:50.599
decided to take matters into his own hands. In early December,

946
00:48:50.920 --> 00:48:54.360
he called John and delivered a stark ultimatum, if you

947
00:48:54.480 --> 00:48:57.000
ever want to see your son again, you'd better get

948
00:48:57.039 --> 00:48:59.639
over to my house now. John was out the door

949
00:48:59.679 --> 00:49:02.679
with an OS few minutes. What exactly transpired during the

950
00:49:02.719 --> 00:49:06.239
meeting between Ash and John remains unclear, but the outcome

951
00:49:06.440 --> 00:49:09.280
was a signed document from John that laid everything on

952
00:49:09.320 --> 00:49:13.079
the line. The letter read quote, Missus Jan Hill, I

953
00:49:13.119 --> 00:49:17.199
asked that you become reconciled with me and forgive my transgressions.

954
00:49:17.559 --> 00:49:19.320
I want to come back home and be a good

955
00:49:19.400 --> 00:49:21.960
husband to you and a good father to Robert, and

956
00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:25.679
the event of any additional separation between us, no matter

957
00:49:25.719 --> 00:49:28.519
what the cause of reason, I will deed you all

958
00:49:28.559 --> 00:49:31.159
of my interest in our home at fifteen sixty one

959
00:49:31.239 --> 00:49:34.519
Kirby Drive. I will make all payments on same until

960
00:49:34.519 --> 00:49:37.639
it is completely paid for. I will pay all taxes

961
00:49:37.639 --> 00:49:41.000
and insurance on same until it is completely clear of

962
00:49:41.079 --> 00:49:44.119
all encumbrances. I will pay all up keep on the

963
00:49:44.159 --> 00:49:47.480
same during this time. Also, I will further give you

964
00:49:47.559 --> 00:49:51.639
one thousand dollars per month for your household and personal expenses.

965
00:49:51.920 --> 00:49:54.639
That's quite a raise from her one hundred dollars I

966
00:49:54.679 --> 00:49:57.679
will take a life insurance policy and sufficient amount to

967
00:49:57.719 --> 00:50:00.960
pay off all of the indebtedness of the house at

968
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:04.000
fifteen sixty one Kurby Drive. In case of my death,

969
00:50:04.239 --> 00:50:07.480
I will place seven thousand dollars into your account at once.

970
00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:10.840
It is distinctly understood that it is not my idea

971
00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:15.360
or intention to influence any judicial action now pending or

972
00:50:15.920 --> 00:50:19.960
that might be instituted against you or by you. Signed

973
00:50:20.079 --> 00:50:24.360
Robert John Robert Hill, MD, December ninth, nineteen sixty eight.

974
00:50:25.079 --> 00:50:28.760
With the document in hand, Ash dismissed John and immediately

975
00:50:28.800 --> 00:50:31.840
called Joan quote. He's come at home if you still

976
00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:34.840
want him, He told her, Wow, you know.

977
00:50:34.800 --> 00:50:37.599
It's going to I'm really curious what Ash said to

978
00:50:37.679 --> 00:50:40.559
John or how he got him to sign that document.

979
00:50:40.599 --> 00:50:42.880
But it's yeah, kind of weird. Huh.

980
00:50:43.280 --> 00:50:46.480
Yeah, So this is like an official document that Ash

981
00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:49.960
had John signed saying that he is in the marriage.

982
00:50:50.280 --> 00:50:53.519
Yeah, basically, it's really it's really odd. It's like Ash

983
00:50:53.559 --> 00:50:57.159
wrote it himself and forced John to sign it. He

984
00:50:57.199 --> 00:50:59.639
tried to make it sound like a very legal document.

985
00:50:59.719 --> 00:51:01.599
But yeah, it's really kenn of bizarre.

986
00:51:01.920 --> 00:51:03.400
And what's going to happen to Anne?

987
00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:06.639
I guess we'll have to wait and find out. After

988
00:51:06.679 --> 00:51:09.519
signing a letter, John went straight home to Joan. He

989
00:51:09.599 --> 00:51:12.400
admitted that he was too afraid to retrieve his clothes

990
00:51:12.400 --> 00:51:16.639
and belongings from Anne's house, citing her fiery temper. Joan

991
00:51:16.760 --> 00:51:19.920
called Clyde Wilson, a family friend and private investigator, to

992
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:23.039
accompany John and help with the task. When they arrived

993
00:51:23.039 --> 00:51:25.880
at Anne's house, John refused to leave the car, leaving

994
00:51:25.920 --> 00:51:29.400
Clyde to handle the situation. Anne, unaware of the letter

995
00:51:29.440 --> 00:51:32.599
that John had signed, initially refused to let Clyde in,

996
00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:36.559
demanding an explanation from John. With no other option, John

997
00:51:36.599 --> 00:51:40.519
reluctantly entered the house, silent and brooding. He allowed Clyde

998
00:51:40.519 --> 00:51:44.400
to gather his things while avoiding Anne's questions. That evening,

999
00:51:44.480 --> 00:51:47.679
Joan and John joined two other couples for a celebratory

1000
00:51:47.679 --> 00:51:49.440
dinner marking their reconciliation.

1001
00:51:49.760 --> 00:51:50.559
Oh that's weird.

1002
00:51:51.239 --> 00:51:55.400
Joan seemed radiant, but John's demeanor was markedly different. Their

1003
00:51:55.440 --> 00:51:58.760
friends couldn't help, but notice how subdued and defeated he appeared.

1004
00:51:59.119 --> 00:52:03.079
So you see, to their friends, Hey, John's affair is over.

1005
00:52:03.239 --> 00:52:04.599
Let's go out to dinner and cele it.

1006
00:52:04.679 --> 00:52:08.559
Rate everything's all good again. Later that night, John called

1007
00:52:08.599 --> 00:52:11.760
Anne and acted as though nothing had changed. Furious at

1008
00:52:11.760 --> 00:52:15.599
his behavior and demanded answers, John apologized for how he

1009
00:52:15.639 --> 00:52:18.000
had handled the situation and asked her to meet him

1010
00:52:18.039 --> 00:52:21.960
for lunch the next day, promising to explain everything. Two

1011
00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:26.320
days before Christmas, John officially withdrew his divorce petition. Joan

1012
00:52:26.440 --> 00:52:29.400
eagerly planned a festive holiday, hoping for a fresh start.

1013
00:52:29.840 --> 00:52:32.840
On Christmas morning, John spent an hour with Joan and

1014
00:52:32.880 --> 00:52:36.599
their son before claiming he had to make hospital rounds instead.

1015
00:52:36.679 --> 00:52:39.239
He met Anne at a motel, where he assured her

1016
00:52:39.239 --> 00:52:42.480
that his marriage was over. I just need some more time,

1017
00:52:42.519 --> 00:52:47.199
he insisted. Desperate to win back John's affection, Joan embarked

1018
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:50.920
on a rigorous self improvement campaign. Determined to quit smoking,

1019
00:52:50.960 --> 00:52:54.960
she tried everything, a hypnotist, medication, and sheer will power,

1020
00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:58.280
but nothing worked to hide the habit. She brushed her teeth,

1021
00:52:58.320 --> 00:53:02.480
gargled with mouthwash, and used breath fresheners religiously. Before John

1022
00:53:02.519 --> 00:53:06.880
came home. Joan also focused on her appearance, meticulously counting

1023
00:53:06.920 --> 00:53:09.039
calories in an effort to get her weight down to

1024
00:53:09.119 --> 00:53:12.159
one hundred and ten pounds. She sought beauty tips from

1025
00:53:12.199 --> 00:53:15.400
a younger, more stylish friend, hoping to recapture some of

1026
00:53:15.400 --> 00:53:18.800
the spark that she thought John desired. Meanwhile, John was

1027
00:53:18.800 --> 00:53:21.840
walking a tightrope, juggling the demands of two women. He

1028
00:53:21.920 --> 00:53:25.480
tried to keep Joan content and unsuspecting while continuing his

1029
00:53:25.599 --> 00:53:30.239
relationship with Anne, who had grown increasingly impatient. Anne demanded

1030
00:53:30.239 --> 00:53:34.599
a decision her or Joan. On Valentine's Day, John's priorities

1031
00:53:34.639 --> 00:53:37.679
became painfully clear. He bought Anne a lavish box of

1032
00:53:37.760 --> 00:53:41.000
chocolates and small gifts for her three sons. Joan, on

1033
00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:44.599
the other hand, received nothing. The bozen door for piano

1034
00:53:44.719 --> 00:53:48.199
was finally delivered and installed, marking the completion of John's

1035
00:53:48.199 --> 00:53:51.840
opulent music room. The space, the size of a hotel ballroom,

1036
00:53:51.920 --> 00:53:55.360
was nothing short of breathtaking. It featured a soaring double

1037
00:53:55.400 --> 00:53:59.639
height ceiling adorned with glittering chandeliers, a grand fireplace carved

1038
00:53:59.639 --> 00:54:04.159
from ornate marble, and gilded candelabras framing an antique clock.

1039
00:54:04.719 --> 00:54:07.199
The walls held a touch of mystery, gold panels that

1040
00:54:07.320 --> 00:54:11.239
opened silently with a hidden mechanism, revealing shelves lined with

1041
00:54:11.360 --> 00:54:15.760
John's vast collection of treasures. Two thousand record albums, hundreds

1042
00:54:15.800 --> 00:54:18.920
of music books, and an array of musical instruments.

1043
00:54:19.280 --> 00:54:21.679
I'm guessing this didn't match the decre of the rest

1044
00:54:21.719 --> 00:54:22.320
of their house.

1045
00:54:22.519 --> 00:54:24.719
No, I think it actually did. I seen a lot

1046
00:54:24.760 --> 00:54:26.920
of pictures of the inside of the house, will post some,

1047
00:54:27.039 --> 00:54:31.519
but it was a very just a beautiful, elaborate mansion.

1048
00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:34.280
The whole thing was very fancy. A highlight of the

1049
00:54:34.360 --> 00:54:37.039
room was its state of the art sound system, at

1050
00:54:37.079 --> 00:54:40.119
a staggering cost of over twenty thousand dollars. It included

1051
00:54:40.199 --> 00:54:43.840
one hundred and eight speakers seamlessly built into the walls,

1052
00:54:44.079 --> 00:54:46.880
making it one of the most advanced and expensive privately

1053
00:54:46.920 --> 00:54:50.280
owned sound systems in the world. To crown the extravagance,

1054
00:54:50.280 --> 00:54:52.719
a movie screen could descend from the ceiling at the

1055
00:54:52.719 --> 00:54:55.599
push of a button, turning the space into a private theater.

1056
00:54:56.119 --> 00:54:59.039
The total cost for the music room exceeded one hundred

1057
00:54:59.039 --> 00:55:02.760
thousand dollars, close to a million of today's dollars, more

1058
00:55:02.840 --> 00:55:05.239
than the price John had paid for the entire house.

1059
00:55:05.559 --> 00:55:08.199
So I'm guessing he would do just about anything to

1060
00:55:08.280 --> 00:55:11.880
hold on to the house that had his elaborate music group.

1061
00:55:12.079 --> 00:55:16.079
I would guess the same thing Joan's passion project, Chatsworth

1062
00:55:16.159 --> 00:55:20.360
Farm was struggling. Despite her dreams of breeding championship horses,

1063
00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:23.599
the farm had yet to produce any winners. Instead, it

1064
00:55:23.639 --> 00:55:26.840
had become a modest operation, catering to little girls taking

1065
00:55:26.920 --> 00:55:30.239
riding lessons and boarding their ponies. Financially, it was a

1066
00:55:30.280 --> 00:55:33.760
sinking ship. Part of the problem was Ash. He clashed

1067
00:55:33.760 --> 00:55:36.119
with the trainers that Joan hired, and his tight grip

1068
00:55:36.159 --> 00:55:39.119
on the purse strings made things worse. Trainers had to

1069
00:55:39.159 --> 00:55:41.440
plead with him for every expense, whether it was a

1070
00:55:41.440 --> 00:55:45.480
new piece of equipment or basic maintenance. Many quit in frustration.

1071
00:55:45.679 --> 00:55:49.400
Fed Up with the constant hurdles, Ash, frustrated with farms

1072
00:55:49.440 --> 00:55:53.400
mounting losses, threatened to sell. Joan, desperate to save her dream,

1073
00:55:53.519 --> 00:55:56.920
begged him to reconsider. Determined to turn things around, she

1074
00:55:57.000 --> 00:55:59.480
came up with a plan. She would ask her old

1075
00:55:59.519 --> 00:56:03.719
friend to Diane's Setagast to take over management. However, since

1076
00:56:03.760 --> 00:56:07.960
Ash controlled the finances, his approval was essential. To secure

1077
00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:12.039
his blessing. Joan invited Diane and her roommate and companion Eunice,

1078
00:56:12.199 --> 00:56:14.679
to visit from Dallas for a few days to discuss

1079
00:56:14.719 --> 00:56:18.559
the particulars. But when Diane and Eunice arrived, they discovered

1080
00:56:18.559 --> 00:56:21.760
that Ash had left abruptly on a business trip to Florida.

1081
00:56:22.280 --> 00:56:24.960
Instead of a brief visit, Diane and Eunice ended up

1082
00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:27.199
staying at the house for a week, a week that

1083
00:56:27.239 --> 00:56:30.039
would prove pivotal in the chain of events that followed.

1084
00:56:30.960 --> 00:56:33.440
During their week at the Hill mansion, Diane and Eunice

1085
00:56:33.519 --> 00:56:37.880
quickly realized that John and Joan's reconciliation wasn't going well

1086
00:56:37.920 --> 00:56:42.559
as many believed. John frequently disappeared for hours, sometimes staying

1087
00:56:42.559 --> 00:56:47.320
out all night, leaving Joan frustrated and suspicious. He often

1088
00:56:47.360 --> 00:56:50.519
promised to join Joan and her house guests for dinner,

1089
00:56:50.760 --> 00:56:53.119
but he would show up late, if at all, only

1090
00:56:53.159 --> 00:56:56.079
to skip the meal and retreat to play music with friends.

1091
00:56:56.679 --> 00:57:01.199
Diane and Eunice witnessed frequent arguments and simmering tension between

1092
00:57:01.239 --> 00:57:05.000
the couple. On Friday night, March fourteenth, nineteen sixty nine,

1093
00:57:05.239 --> 00:57:09.320
the Hills attended the annual Wild Game Dinner, a lively

1094
00:57:09.480 --> 00:57:13.119
charity event where local hunters served up their catches. Joan

1095
00:57:13.199 --> 00:57:16.880
had always enjoined the rocous affair in previous years, but

1096
00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:20.199
this time was different. The couple arrived late, and Joan

1097
00:57:20.320 --> 00:57:24.760
seemed uncharacteristically subdued. She barely drank, picked at her food,

1098
00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:27.880
and remained quiet throughout the evening. As the party began

1099
00:57:27.960 --> 00:57:30.440
to liven up with a rock band preparing to take

1100
00:57:30.480 --> 00:57:33.719
the stage, John announced that he needed to leave because

1101
00:57:33.760 --> 00:57:36.760
he had hospital rounds to make. Joan begged him to

1102
00:57:36.800 --> 00:57:39.840
stay just a little longer, but he refused. A friend

1103
00:57:39.880 --> 00:57:42.559
offered to drive Joan home later if she wanted to stay,

1104
00:57:42.960 --> 00:57:46.320
but Joan declined, whispering I'd better do what he wants.

1105
00:57:46.360 --> 00:57:49.280
I'm still trying to make it work. On the drive home,

1106
00:57:49.400 --> 00:57:51.960
Joan asked if John would be out laid again. His

1107
00:57:52.119 --> 00:57:57.280
vague reply sparked an argument that escalated quickly. Furious, Joan snapped,

1108
00:57:57.639 --> 00:58:00.519
twice this week, you've been out all night. If you

1109
00:58:00.639 --> 00:58:04.679
stay out tonight, don't bother coming home. When they pulled

1110
00:58:04.679 --> 00:58:07.679
into the driveway, John dropped Joan off, put the car

1111
00:58:07.719 --> 00:58:11.519
in reverse, and prepared to leave. Joan, overwhelmed with anger

1112
00:58:11.599 --> 00:58:14.400
and hurt, shouted loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

1113
00:58:14.920 --> 00:58:17.960
You've blown it, John, You've lost your wife, your son,

1114
00:58:18.280 --> 00:58:21.880
and your goddamn music room. She ran into the house,

1115
00:58:22.079 --> 00:58:26.440
sobbing as John drove away on Saturday, Jones slept until

1116
00:58:26.480 --> 00:58:29.719
nearly four p m, an unusually late start for her,

1117
00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:33.039
as she was typically up at seven a m. Around

1118
00:58:33.039 --> 00:58:36.440
two thirty, Eunus grew concerned and asked John if they

1119
00:58:36.480 --> 00:58:40.559
should check on her. John dismissed her worries, explaining that

1120
00:58:40.639 --> 00:58:43.360
Joan had been upset when he returned late the previous

1121
00:58:43.480 --> 00:58:47.239
night after his house hospital rounds. To help her relax,

1122
00:58:47.360 --> 00:58:51.000
he said he'd given her a sleeping pill. When Joan

1123
00:58:51.159 --> 00:58:54.920
finally emerged, she was visibly embarrassed and apologized to her

1124
00:58:54.920 --> 00:58:58.480
house guests for oversleeping. That pill John gave me really

1125
00:58:58.559 --> 00:59:02.679
knocked me out, she admitted. Later that afternoon, John took

1126
00:59:02.840 --> 00:59:06.000
eight year old Boot for a much needed haircut. They

1127
00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:08.920
were gone for more than two hours, not returning until

1128
00:59:08.960 --> 00:59:12.480
seven p m. Curious about the delay, Joan asked Boot

1129
00:59:12.519 --> 00:59:16.599
what had taken so long. The boy hesitated, clearly uncomfortable,

1130
00:59:16.880 --> 00:59:20.400
before finally admitting that they had stopped by John's apartment

1131
00:59:20.719 --> 00:59:23.639
to pick up some music. He added that John had

1132
00:59:23.679 --> 00:59:26.760
asked him not to tell her. Joan was devastated. She

1133
00:59:26.800 --> 00:59:29.400
had believed that John had given up his bachelor pad

1134
00:59:29.440 --> 00:59:32.360
when they had reconciled and now she realized that he

1135
00:59:32.400 --> 00:59:36.719
had lied. Distraught, she confided in Diane and Eunice, sharing

1136
00:59:36.760 --> 00:59:40.440
her growing suspicion that John was still seeing Anne, or

1137
00:59:40.880 --> 00:59:44.239
perhaps another woman. She called her close friend and neighbor,

1138
00:59:44.360 --> 00:59:48.719
Van Maxwell, who rushed over to support her. Joan prepared

1139
00:59:48.760 --> 00:59:51.719
strong drinks for everyone and suggested they play bridge in

1140
00:59:51.760 --> 00:59:55.639
the music room. The atmosphere was tense. The women sat

1141
00:59:55.719 --> 00:59:57.760
on one side of the room, sipping their drinks and

1142
00:59:57.800 --> 01:00:01.039
playing cards, while John stayed on the other side, engrossed

1143
01:00:01.079 --> 01:00:04.880
in his music, playing it loudly. Joan made pointed remarks

1144
01:00:04.880 --> 01:00:07.199
loud enough for John to hear, like I'm going to

1145
01:00:07.239 --> 01:00:10.639
the lawyer on Monday. It's just about over between us.

1146
01:00:11.079 --> 01:00:14.519
The tension became unbearable, her Van, who excused herself to

1147
01:00:14.639 --> 01:00:17.679
use the restroom. Van as a woman, Yes, this whole

1148
01:00:17.719 --> 01:00:20.159
time I was thinking Van was a man. Maybe there

1149
01:00:20.239 --> 01:00:23.920
was a little old yeah. Meanwhile, John switched the music

1150
01:00:23.920 --> 01:00:27.719
to a slow, romantic ballad. Diana and Unis noticed Joan

1151
01:00:27.840 --> 01:00:30.840
looking up at him, tears welling in her eyes. Sensing

1152
01:00:30.880 --> 01:00:35.280
the opportunity to diffuse the situation, Diane suggested they dance.

1153
01:00:35.840 --> 01:00:38.760
When Van returned, she was shocked to find Joan and

1154
01:00:38.880 --> 01:00:43.440
John dancing slowly, Joan's head resting on his shoulder. Unnerved

1155
01:00:43.440 --> 01:00:45.920
by the scene, Van quietly slipped out of the room

1156
01:00:46.039 --> 01:00:50.000
and left. Diana and Eunice retired to their room as well.

1157
01:00:50.559 --> 01:00:53.280
The next morning, Ash returned from his business trip and

1158
01:00:53.320 --> 01:00:55.559
called Joan to ask if she could pick him up

1159
01:00:55.559 --> 01:00:58.519
from the airport, as she usually did. Diane answered the

1160
01:00:58.559 --> 01:01:01.960
phone explained that Joan wasn't feeling well, so ashe took

1161
01:01:01.960 --> 01:01:06.159
a taxi home. Not long after, Joan came downstairs. She

1162
01:01:06.239 --> 01:01:09.800
appeared cheerful, but mentioned that her stomach was upset. Despite

1163
01:01:09.800 --> 01:01:12.760
her discomfort, she told her friends that she was optimistic.

1164
01:01:13.159 --> 01:01:15.760
Quote I think things are going to be okay between

1165
01:01:15.760 --> 01:01:18.320
me and John, she said with a smile. But just

1166
01:01:18.440 --> 01:01:21.159
moments later she was hit by a wave of nausea

1167
01:01:21.400 --> 01:01:24.000
and hurried to the bathroom, spending the rest of the

1168
01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:27.079
day in bed. John checked on her several times throughout

1169
01:01:27.119 --> 01:01:30.800
the afternoon. That evening, one of John's musician friends came

1170
01:01:30.840 --> 01:01:32.960
over and the two played together in the music room

1171
01:01:33.400 --> 01:01:37.880
for an hour. Afterward, John, Diane, Eunice, and Boot went

1172
01:01:37.920 --> 01:01:40.960
out to dinner, leaving Joan at home to rest on

1173
01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:43.239
the way back. They picked up some orange juice for

1174
01:01:43.360 --> 01:01:46.559
her later that night. As Diana and Nunas packed for

1175
01:01:46.599 --> 01:01:50.159
the return to Dallas. Next morning, John left to visit

1176
01:01:50.199 --> 01:01:54.039
another musician friend. He returned after midnight to find Joan

1177
01:01:54.199 --> 01:01:58.039
still unwell. While he was gone, Joan had been sick

1178
01:01:58.199 --> 01:02:02.880
several more times. On Monday morning, March seventeenth, Diana and

1179
01:02:02.880 --> 01:02:04.960
Eunice woke up early, eager to hit the road and

1180
01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:08.639
avoid traffic on their return to Dallas. In the kitchen,

1181
01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:11.599
Diane encountered John, who was preparing to leave for work.

1182
01:02:11.960 --> 01:02:14.639
He looked tired and mentioned that Joan had been restless

1183
01:02:14.639 --> 01:02:17.679
throughout the night. Probably just a virus, he said, I'll

1184
01:02:17.760 --> 01:02:20.639
order some medication for her. You can't order.

1185
01:02:20.480 --> 01:02:22.519
Medication for a virus, that's true.

1186
01:02:22.920 --> 01:02:25.800
Before leaving, Diana and Eunice went to Joane's room to

1187
01:02:25.840 --> 01:02:29.159
say good bye. Joan was pale and visibly weak. Can

1188
01:02:29.239 --> 01:02:32.039
you bring me some water? I'm so thirsty, she murmured

1189
01:02:32.400 --> 01:02:35.239
while Eunice fetched the water. Diane leaned in and asked,

1190
01:02:35.400 --> 01:02:38.039
do you want us to stay? We don't mind. Joan

1191
01:02:38.119 --> 01:02:40.719
shook her head. No, I'll be fine, she assured them,

1192
01:02:41.039 --> 01:02:45.280
though her voice lacked conviction. Diana and Eunice exchanged uneasy

1193
01:02:45.280 --> 01:02:48.559
glances but didn't press further. After saying their good byes,

1194
01:02:48.639 --> 01:02:52.079
they left the mansion. Effie Green and her husband Archie,

1195
01:02:52.119 --> 01:02:54.119
who had been working for the Hills for a couple

1196
01:02:54.119 --> 01:02:57.000
of months, returned to the estate that Monday morning after

1197
01:02:57.000 --> 01:03:00.960
spending the weekend with their daughter. Effie handled cooking and cleaning,

1198
01:03:01.000 --> 01:03:04.440
while Archie managed house maintenance. They lived in the servants

1199
01:03:04.480 --> 01:03:07.280
quarters at the back of the house. Upon their arrival,

1200
01:03:07.360 --> 01:03:10.880
John informed Effie that Joan wasn't feeling well. She's sick

1201
01:03:10.960 --> 01:03:14.760
and needs to rest. He instructed, let her sleep, don't

1202
01:03:14.760 --> 01:03:18.599
disturb her unless she calls for you. By midafternoon, Effie

1203
01:03:18.639 --> 01:03:21.280
started to feel uneasy. It wasn't like Joan to go

1204
01:03:21.360 --> 01:03:24.719
all day without summoning her over the intercom, even when

1205
01:03:24.719 --> 01:03:28.480
she wasn't feeling well. Effie shared her concern with Archie.

1206
01:03:28.880 --> 01:03:32.719
She doesn't seem right, she said. Unable to shake this feeling,

1207
01:03:32.760 --> 01:03:35.840
Effie decided to check on Joan. When she entered the bedroom,

1208
01:03:35.960 --> 01:03:39.480
Joan barely managed to lift her head. I'm so sick, Effie,

1209
01:03:39.920 --> 01:03:44.199
she whispered faintly. Effie gently reassured her, saying don't worry.

1210
01:03:44.199 --> 01:03:46.360
Doctor Hill will come home soon to take care of you.

1211
01:03:46.840 --> 01:03:51.039
But inwardly she was deeply concerned. On the morning of Tuesday,

1212
01:03:51.119 --> 01:03:54.760
March eighteenth, Doctor Hill summoned Effie Green to Joan's sick room.

1213
01:03:55.280 --> 01:03:58.920
Joan lay limp and unresponsive, her head resting in John's arms.

1214
01:03:59.239 --> 01:04:02.320
His tone was cle, un detached as he instructed e

1215
01:04:02.440 --> 01:04:06.360
Fie clean up Joan's mess. Without waiting for her response,

1216
01:04:06.400 --> 01:04:09.199
he handed her some medication he had brought for Joan

1217
01:04:09.239 --> 01:04:11.719
and added, I'll be back later to check on her.

1218
01:04:12.159 --> 01:04:14.840
Moments later, he left the house to play a tuba

1219
01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:17.800
solo at a school concert. I'm going to be really

1220
01:04:17.840 --> 01:04:18.840
mad if Joan dies.

1221
01:04:18.960 --> 01:04:19.960
Just so you know, okay.

1222
01:04:20.599 --> 01:04:23.000
Effie turned on the lights and gently rolled Joan on

1223
01:04:23.119 --> 01:04:25.840
to her side, only to discover that she had soiled

1224
01:04:25.840 --> 01:04:28.280
the bad It was clear that she had been laying

1225
01:04:28.320 --> 01:04:32.400
in the mess for hours. Shocked but composed, Effie helped

1226
01:04:32.440 --> 01:04:35.840
Joan to the bathroom. Joan's voice was faint but desperate.

1227
01:04:36.000 --> 01:04:39.280
I'm burning up, I'm so sick. They barely made it

1228
01:04:39.280 --> 01:04:42.320
to the toilet before Joan was overcome by another bout

1229
01:04:42.320 --> 01:04:46.079
of diarrhea. Afterward, Effie gave Joan a sponge bath and

1230
01:04:46.159 --> 01:04:49.000
changed the soiled bed. Lindens. Joan looked at her with

1231
01:04:49.079 --> 01:04:52.079
tears in her eyes and whispered, I don't want to die.

1232
01:04:52.519 --> 01:04:55.760
You're not going to die, Effie said, grasping Joan's hand.

1233
01:04:56.119 --> 01:05:00.519
Let's pray together. God answers prayers. Deeply Concerned and Effie

1234
01:05:00.519 --> 01:05:03.559
called doctor Hill's office, only to learn that he wasn't there.

1235
01:05:04.079 --> 01:05:07.920
She left a message. Joan was gravely ill and needed

1236
01:05:07.960 --> 01:05:11.039
to go to the hospital immediately. It was just after

1237
01:05:11.079 --> 01:05:14.920
ten am. Meanwhile, John was on stage at a local

1238
01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.280
elementary school performing his tuba solo. Why was he performing

1239
01:05:19.280 --> 01:05:20.440
in an elementary school?

1240
01:05:20.480 --> 01:05:22.320
I guess he was in some band and they must

1241
01:05:22.320 --> 01:05:24.760
have brought the band into play. I don't know.

1242
01:05:24.960 --> 01:05:27.760
When his performance concluded, a clerk handed him a message

1243
01:05:27.760 --> 01:05:31.400
from his office. Joan was critically ill and required his attention.

1244
01:05:31.920 --> 01:05:34.719
As John exited the school, he was surprised to see

1245
01:05:34.760 --> 01:05:39.519
Anne waiting for him. Frustrated with John's continued stalling, she

1246
01:05:39.599 --> 01:05:43.280
had confronted him with an ultimatum. She was her or Joan.

1247
01:05:43.719 --> 01:05:47.360
He had promised her decision by that morning. John sighed

1248
01:05:47.360 --> 01:05:51.000
and apologized. Joan's very sick. He explained, I need to

1249
01:05:51.000 --> 01:05:53.840
go home. He reassured Anne he would call her later

1250
01:05:54.000 --> 01:05:58.000
and hurried off. Later that morning, Joan's mother, Rhea, stopped

1251
01:05:58.000 --> 01:06:00.719
by to check on her daughter. She found John at

1252
01:06:00.760 --> 01:06:05.320
Joan's bedside, his expression unusually grave. I think we'd better

1253
01:06:05.360 --> 01:06:08.199
take her to the hospital, Ma, he said, somber lee.

1254
01:06:09.119 --> 01:06:12.079
That is where we're gonna stop for today. I'm sorry.

1255
01:06:12.400 --> 01:06:13.480
I know it's a cliffhanger.

1256
01:06:13.960 --> 01:06:14.920
You're not sorry at all.

1257
01:06:16.320 --> 01:06:17.920
Okay, I'm not sorry at all. You're right.

1258
01:06:18.320 --> 01:06:22.920
They went to the hospital, and Joan dramatically improved, and

1259
01:06:23.039 --> 01:06:25.599
John decided to stay with his wife and son, and

1260
01:06:25.639 --> 01:06:28.320
they all live happily ever after the end.

1261
01:06:28.679 --> 01:06:29.920
Do you think that's it? Huh?

1262
01:06:30.000 --> 01:06:31.239
Yeah, I just wrapped it up for you.

1263
01:06:31.400 --> 01:06:33.760
I know it's very typical of most of the stories

1264
01:06:33.800 --> 01:06:38.039
we do. What do you think of the story so far?

1265
01:06:39.320 --> 01:06:39.800
Sad?

1266
01:06:40.559 --> 01:06:42.280
Yeah? What do you think of John?

1267
01:06:42.960 --> 01:06:45.039
I think John is I don't know if I have

1268
01:06:45.119 --> 01:06:45.719
the right word.

1269
01:06:45.880 --> 01:06:46.800
He's a weird guy.

1270
01:06:47.360 --> 01:06:48.280
He's spineless.

1271
01:06:48.840 --> 01:06:52.079
Yeah, he's kind of a coward, it seems like, Yeah,

1272
01:06:52.159 --> 01:06:55.679
but he's also very quirky, like just a very strange guy.

1273
01:06:55.760 --> 01:06:58.400
Like he's obviously talented, he's a surgeon. But at the

1274
01:06:58.400 --> 01:07:01.920
same time he's like this slob who keeps records everywhere.

1275
01:07:02.000 --> 01:07:04.559
And then he's just like his obsession with music. I mean,

1276
01:07:04.599 --> 01:07:06.639
I love music, but you do. I'm not going to

1277
01:07:06.679 --> 01:07:08.400
get up at five am to go play my two

1278
01:07:08.519 --> 01:07:10.440
bas in my office.

1279
01:07:10.519 --> 01:07:13.960
You know, No, you wouldn't do that.

1280
01:07:14.039 --> 01:07:16.119
It was very few hobbies. I can imagine getting up

1281
01:07:16.119 --> 01:07:18.880
at five am to practice. But I don't know.

1282
01:07:19.599 --> 01:07:21.719
Yeah, he doesn't come off as a good guy. It

1283
01:07:21.760 --> 01:07:24.880
seems like Joan, like you said, could do better.

1284
01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:26.760
Yeah, Joane seems like a really I don't know.

1285
01:07:26.880 --> 01:07:29.320
She seems it's not easy being a woman, just so

1286
01:07:29.440 --> 01:07:32.320
you know, and finding a good mate. No, I mean

1287
01:07:32.800 --> 01:07:36.119
I got lucky, did I sure did.

1288
01:07:36.800 --> 01:07:38.719
What do you think about Ash Joan's dad.

1289
01:07:39.320 --> 01:07:43.280
I don't know, Like, I am probably a dominating parent

1290
01:07:43.320 --> 01:07:45.519
who would do anything for their kids, so I kind

1291
01:07:45.519 --> 01:07:46.920
of get that a little bit. I know it's not

1292
01:07:47.000 --> 01:07:48.719
right to want to do everything for your kids, but

1293
01:07:49.679 --> 01:07:51.280
I mean, what do you think.

1294
01:07:51.519 --> 01:07:54.719
Yeah, I mean he's it's just his uh, his obsession

1295
01:07:54.800 --> 01:07:56.719
with Joan just seems a little extreme.

1296
01:07:56.840 --> 01:07:57.079
I guess.

1297
01:07:57.119 --> 01:07:58.920
Oh yeah, I know the rest of the story too,

1298
01:07:58.960 --> 01:08:00.280
So I don't want to say too much, but.

1299
01:08:00.760 --> 01:08:01.840
I've already you already have.

1300
01:08:02.159 --> 01:08:05.039
Yeah, we'll hear a lot more about Ash in part two.

1301
01:08:05.599 --> 01:08:09.000
He definitely seems like he likes to have his way,

1302
01:08:09.119 --> 01:08:13.000
and you definitely should give your kids more space to

1303
01:08:13.039 --> 01:08:15.639
grow up. And you know, yeah, it's not it's not

1304
01:08:15.719 --> 01:08:18.000
healthy to have that close up relationship with your kids.

1305
01:08:18.039 --> 01:08:20.520
I think when you're an adult, you have separate lives.

1306
01:08:20.560 --> 01:08:23.279
If our daughter was married and was having marital problems,

1307
01:08:23.319 --> 01:08:26.079
would you drag her husband over and make him sign

1308
01:08:26.119 --> 01:08:27.520
a legal docum? Yes?

1309
01:08:27.640 --> 01:08:31.760
Yes, I would do that, Yes I would. I mean

1310
01:08:31.760 --> 01:08:34.279
if you have I think when you have that much money, too,

1311
01:08:34.479 --> 01:08:39.159
it just taints your the way you walk through the world.

1312
01:08:39.199 --> 01:08:41.640
I think you think you can buy anything and make

1313
01:08:41.680 --> 01:08:44.319
anything better with your money. And it seems like Ash

1314
01:08:44.399 --> 01:08:45.680
definitely wasn't afraid to do that.

1315
01:08:45.920 --> 01:08:46.840
Yeah. Absolutely.

1316
01:08:54.880 --> 01:08:58.880
You talked about how John and Joan were opposites, right,

1317
01:08:59.279 --> 01:09:02.760
do you think that that opposites attract I don't. Do

1318
01:09:02.840 --> 01:09:04.319
you think that we're opposite?

1319
01:09:04.560 --> 01:09:07.199
No? I think, well, and we're not alike in every

1320
01:09:07.239 --> 01:09:09.000
way for sure, but I think we're more alike than

1321
01:09:09.000 --> 01:09:09.880
we are opposite.

1322
01:09:10.279 --> 01:09:13.039
And what ways are we alike and what ways are

1323
01:09:13.079 --> 01:09:16.119
we different, and not just for us, for married people

1324
01:09:16.119 --> 01:09:18.800
in general. What do you think the things are that

1325
01:09:18.840 --> 01:09:21.840
you can be different in and the values, the core

1326
01:09:21.920 --> 01:09:23.680
values that you should have that are the same.

1327
01:09:23.800 --> 01:09:27.039
Oh, jeez, I don't know. That's a big complicated question.

1328
01:09:28.640 --> 01:09:30.359
It's a really hard question for me to answer. But

1329
01:09:30.399 --> 01:09:33.800
I think we both have like similar views on how

1330
01:09:33.840 --> 01:09:38.600
to work together, how to raise a family together. Like,

1331
01:09:38.640 --> 01:09:42.399
I think the big decisions were usually aligned on.

1332
01:09:42.760 --> 01:09:46.439
The always surprises me when we go furniture shopping or

1333
01:09:46.439 --> 01:09:49.279
things like that, and we usually tend to agree. Yeah,

1334
01:09:49.319 --> 01:09:52.279
and you don't necessarily defer to me, No, I definitely,

1335
01:09:52.319 --> 01:09:55.560
but we do tend to have like similar aesthetics or

1336
01:09:55.880 --> 01:09:57.640
like we've lived at a lot of houses, but we

1337
01:09:57.680 --> 01:10:00.319
always kind of agree on the same one we're gonna Yeah,

1338
01:10:00.640 --> 01:10:03.239
So things like that, decisions that can be really hard,

1339
01:10:03.319 --> 01:10:05.439
we've I think are fairly easy for us.

1340
01:10:05.600 --> 01:10:07.600
Yeah. I think we're different, and you know, we have

1341
01:10:07.640 --> 01:10:11.640
different styles of kind of how we approach things. I'm

1342
01:10:11.640 --> 01:10:14.119
probably a little more laid back than you are.

1343
01:10:17.079 --> 01:10:19.079
It's because we're laid back in different ways. We've talked

1344
01:10:19.079 --> 01:10:22.159
about this recently, Like, I'm not a neat freak, but

1345
01:10:22.239 --> 01:10:25.439
I really like things neat and organized where and you don't.

1346
01:10:25.600 --> 01:10:28.319
I'm a neat friend, but you I don't know. I

1347
01:10:28.319 --> 01:10:31.520
think over the years, I don't this is offensive to

1348
01:10:31.560 --> 01:10:33.920
say this, but you're kind of well trained, like you

1349
01:10:34.079 --> 01:10:37.119
never leave your socks anywhere but the hamper or you know,

1350
01:10:37.359 --> 01:10:40.079
like things let other women complain about like you don't

1351
01:10:40.159 --> 01:10:40.520
really do.

1352
01:10:41.239 --> 01:10:44.039
Yeah, I think that's true. I like things neat as well,

1353
01:10:44.079 --> 01:10:46.359
but I'm also a little lazier when it comes to

1354
01:10:46.439 --> 01:10:47.720
like keeping things neat.

1355
01:10:47.760 --> 01:10:50.439
Like your office drives me nuts, yeah, and I don't. Yeah,

1356
01:10:50.560 --> 01:10:53.800
generally like it's just always dusty and yeah, yeah it's

1357
01:10:53.880 --> 01:10:56.039
very dusty, but but it's kind of your domain, so

1358
01:10:56.079 --> 01:10:56.920
I try to let you.

1359
01:10:57.520 --> 01:10:59.319
Yeah, how do you think we're alike?

1360
01:10:59.560 --> 01:11:03.279
And I think we're both generally nice and I think

1361
01:11:03.399 --> 01:11:05.600
I think I've said this before, but you know, if

1362
01:11:05.640 --> 01:11:08.399
you care about someone and you don't always have to

1363
01:11:08.439 --> 01:11:13.319
be right, and that's how we're similar. And politically like

1364
01:11:13.359 --> 01:11:16.880
in today's world, I think it really I you, if

1365
01:11:16.920 --> 01:11:19.560
we didn't agree politically, I'm not sure if we could

1366
01:11:19.560 --> 01:11:20.199
be together.

1367
01:11:20.319 --> 01:11:20.439
Well.

1368
01:11:20.439 --> 01:11:22.720
A lot of people don't have strong views on politics,

1369
01:11:22.720 --> 01:11:24.920
but I think if you do have strong views on politics,

1370
01:11:24.920 --> 01:11:27.680
it's probably good to have those be similar.

1371
01:11:27.840 --> 01:11:29.840
So yeah, yeah, that's true.

1372
01:11:29.680 --> 01:11:30.720
Especially in today's world.

1373
01:11:30.800 --> 01:11:32.760
Yeah, I think if you're married to someone and you

1374
01:11:32.920 --> 01:11:36.960
generally like them and respect them, your things are just

1375
01:11:37.000 --> 01:11:39.479
a little bit easier. And I think that you are

1376
01:11:39.600 --> 01:11:42.399
very respectful of women, and not all men are, so

1377
01:11:42.439 --> 01:11:45.520
I do really appreciate that about you, and like John

1378
01:11:45.760 --> 01:11:49.039
in this case, didn't really seem to be very respectful

1379
01:11:49.039 --> 01:11:52.439
of Joan. No, no, no, You're gonna have different likes

1380
01:11:52.479 --> 01:11:55.960
and dislikes, and that's good because you shouldn't always have

1381
01:11:56.000 --> 01:11:59.039
the same, you know, interest. It's good to have separate interests,

1382
01:11:59.039 --> 01:12:02.840
but you should resp try to respect your partners interests.

1383
01:12:03.399 --> 01:12:04.079
Very well said.

1384
01:12:06.119 --> 01:12:11.439
We're recording this on Saturday, January eighteenth at five thirty ish,

1385
01:12:11.720 --> 01:12:14.279
and tonight's a big night. I'm gonna did you want

1386
01:12:14.319 --> 01:12:14.840
to talk about that?

1387
01:12:14.960 --> 01:12:17.039
And a half hours from now, the Lions are playing

1388
01:12:17.319 --> 01:12:20.079
first playoff game of the year, okay for them, first.

1389
01:12:19.920 --> 01:12:22.279
Place, Like how many games left until the super Bowl?

1390
01:12:22.319 --> 01:12:23.079
Always get so if.

1391
01:12:23.000 --> 01:12:25.760
They win this weekend, they'll play again next weekend. If

1392
01:12:25.800 --> 01:12:28.279
they win next weekend, they will go to the super Bowl.

1393
01:12:28.640 --> 01:12:30.520
So really they've just got to win to two games

1394
01:12:30.760 --> 01:12:31.840
they got to skip.

1395
01:12:31.640 --> 01:12:35.079
The first week. Yes, the playoffs okay, sorry, a big night.

1396
01:12:35.199 --> 01:12:36.159
Yes, very exciting.

1397
01:12:36.800 --> 01:12:39.680
You do have your Lions Allions sweatshirt on, of course

1398
01:12:39.720 --> 01:12:43.600
I do. Yeah. Interesting fact for Christmas, you've got two

1399
01:12:43.600 --> 01:12:46.600
different Lion shirts and you wanted to return both of them.

1400
01:12:46.800 --> 01:12:48.680
Yeah. I just love this one that I have so much,

1401
01:12:48.720 --> 01:12:52.680
and you know, I don't really need that many Lions shirts.

1402
01:12:53.000 --> 01:12:54.760
Well one of well one of them was too small

1403
01:12:54.800 --> 01:12:55.920
and the other one was kind of ugly.

1404
01:12:56.600 --> 01:13:00.439
Yeah, that was really good. Yes, that was also that

1405
01:13:00.520 --> 01:13:01.359
was important as well.

1406
01:13:02.000 --> 01:13:03.760
Well. I know we left today's episode on a bit

1407
01:13:03.760 --> 01:13:06.560
of a cliffhanger, but here's the good news. If you'd

1408
01:13:06.600 --> 01:13:08.479
like to hear all three parts right now, you can

1409
01:13:08.640 --> 01:13:12.279
join us on Patreon dot com slash Lovemrykill. We have

1410
01:13:12.399 --> 01:13:15.239
one tier five dollars a month. You get early ad

1411
01:13:15.279 --> 01:13:18.159
free access plus a monthly bonus episode.

1412
01:13:18.439 --> 01:13:20.439
Thank you so much for listening, and thank you for

1413
01:13:20.479 --> 01:13:24.319
your support. We appreciate it very much. Please rate, review,

1414
01:13:24.439 --> 01:13:27.840
follow and subscribe, find us on social media, or send

1415
01:13:27.920 --> 01:13:32.000
us an email at Lovemarykill at gmail dot com.

1416
01:13:32.119 --> 01:13:35.079
Until next time, don't kill your husband and don't kill

1417
01:13:35.079 --> 01:14:05.279
your wife.

1418
01:14:07.279 --> 01:14:11.159
Accompany the comp