Under the Radar During Camelot: My Front Row Seat to History
My memoir does not represent a life lived within the box.  My life began in Pennsylvania, however my mother divorced and we  moved to Ft. Lauderdale where I schooled and spent summers on my  grandparent’ s farm in Warriors Mark, very near Penn State. I was a Kappa Alpha Theta at Florida State University, and graduated  with a degree in journalism.  However, it took me more than fifty years  to get around to actually writing a book. After moving to Alexandria, Virginia,  I worked for a few months at the  Pentagon. I was happy to be hired to work on Capitol Hill and lived a few  blocks off Pennsylvania where I actually took the trolley up to the Hill. As a congressional secretary to Senator George Smathers on Capitol Hill, I soon came to know the powerful in Washington, including 5 presidents.  Being Miss Florida State University and Homecoming Queen and LIFE  Magazine doing a feature on me was inconsequential excepting it created  more challenges for me as a working woman on “The Hill” in the sixties. Attractive women in those days could not declare sexual harassment  and it was quite necessary for us to fend for ourselves.   I dated several accomplished men including a Congressman and a General, which offered me the opportunity to attend grand functions and balls as  well as embassy parties.  I worked and traveled in the 1960 campaign for  President Kennedy and thoroughly enjoyed it. After a vacation in Europe, I decided to take a year away from D.C. and  fly for Pan Am to see the world.   JFK had me assigned to the White House  Press Charters, which PAA was awarded and I ended up flying with 3  presidents. I witnessed history in the making all over the world. I stood at the bottom of the ramp of Air Force One as President Kennedy’s coffin was being carried up to the back cabin in Dallas and watched Jackie in her  catatonic state.  I knew then that I would probably not return to Washington. My five year relationship with JFK was quite unusual. I spent many  occasions with him I never acquiesced to an affair, which is why my book  reveals a story that relates directly to the assassination itself.  I remained with the airline and enjoyed the motorcades and functions with  President Johnson and Nixon, which included us due to being part of the “Presidential Party”. I received more than my share of marriage proposals and finally married the CEO of an aircraft company.   I feel now that a star danced the night I was born.