ANTHEM
– Hawaii, Singapore, Tokyo, Anthem... Anthem?
Rear
Admiral Ronald Tucker called the U.S. Navy home for almost
33 years, but now his home is Anthem.
Tucker’s
assignments included Commander of the Logistics Group
for the Western Pacific and the first Flag Officer assigned
to establish a U.S. Navy presence in Singapore.
A
few years after attending officer candidate’s school and
graduating from California State University at Northridge
in 1963, he met his wife, Christy, then a flight attendant
on vacation in Hawaii.
“I
kept getting good jobs and kept going to sea; then I met
a woman who liked the life,” Tucker said. “We moved 23
times as a couple.”
In
2001, they bought a lot for a house in the Anthem Country
Club. “We purchased the lot on a Friday, and on the following
Monday we left for Tokyo.”
He
explained they had just sold a house in Phoenix and were
planning to move to Tokyo. He had taken a position with
Bechtel Corporation as Country Manager in Japan, just
before the terrorist attacks of 9/11 took place. They
bought the Anthem home site hurriedly because they were
nervous about the uncertainty in the world and didn’t
want to leave the country without owning any property.
The
house was built and remained vacant for a year until the
couple returned to Anthem to retire in late 2003.
“We
both like Anthem very much and enjoy the Country Club
life,” Tucker said, adding they are members of the golf
club and both enjoy charity work.
He
is currently co‑chairman of the Arizona Coordinating
Committee of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund, which is
collecting donations to replace the USS Arizona Memorial
Visitors Center
and Veterans Museum at Pearl Harbor.
Christy
is a volunteer with Horses Help, an organization that
gives disabled individuals the opportunity to ride horses.
She also donates her time to Family Attic, a Christian
discount store located in the Valley.
Admiral
Tucker related that one reason he got involved with the
memorial fund was because from 1986‑1989 he commanded
the Naval Station at Pearl Harbor and the battleship USS
New Jersey from 1989‑1991.
“The
memorial and center is in desperate condition and sinking
into the ground,” he said. “It’s a huge tourist attraction.”
The structure was designed to accommodate 750,000 visitors
but today an average of 1.6 million people visit each
year.
“The
attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, was the first
9/11,” he added.
His
command in Singapore was in part a diplomatic mission.
The United States was asked to
leave the Philippines in 1991‑1992 but, at the same
time, Singapore invited the U.S. to establish a presence
there.
As
commander of the Naval Logistics Group, his mission was
to “keep good military relations”
with all Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia,
Thailand, Malaysia and Australia, as well as provide logistics
support to the Navy’s Seventh Fleet.
“The
fleet’s presence provided a measure of stability to the
region,” Tucker said. “The biggest challenge was getting
to know the host country and making them comfortable with
our presence, assuring them we wanted to establish and
maintain a stabilizing presence.”
Singapore
was wise to place U.S. Naval presence between the
two Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, he stated.
“Singapore,
a city state of 250 square miles, came further faster
than any other Southeast Asian city that I am aware of.
It’s highly organized, highly sophisticated, and highly
civilized.
“In
the 1960s, it was an undeveloped typical Third World country,
but in 25 years Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew turned it
into a center of business and commerce. Singapore was,
and is now, a modern miracle of civilization.”
After
retiring from the Navy, he went to work for Bechtel first
as vice president of the Asia Pacific Region in Hong Kong,
then as general manager of the corporation’s Phoenix Service
Center and, later, as manager of the company’s interests
in Japan.
In
1997, the Asian currencies “hit a big pot hole when Thailand’s
currency, the Baht, crashed. This brought everything to
a halt,” he said, adding the company consolidated its
human resources and accounting services and offered him
the Phoenix position.
That’s
how the couple came to live in Anthem, he explained, after
they started taking drives into the area in 1999.
Admiral
Tucker also currently serves on the Anthem Country Club
Homeowners Association board of directors.
For
more information about the Pearl Harbor Memorial Fund,
visit www.pearlharbormemorial.com.
