by Dr. Iain
Corness
If
ever there was a man who fitted the definition of ‘gregarious’, it is
Jerry Carpenter. He is chairman of the Pattaya Sports Club (PSC) golf
section, a position for people fond of company. I caught up with Jerry
after one of the PSC golf tournaments, and it was a case of tearing him
away from people who wanted to be with and around him, with libations
being the loosener of tongues, after a long hot day on the golf course.
Jerry was born in Chelsea, England and was an only
child. “I was enough trouble!” His father had his own electrical
business and became the stage manager of Kings Theatre in Hammersmith. Mum
was also involved, selling the refreshments at interval, and this
theatrical background did give Jerry a lasting interest in true theatre.
Real treading the boards type theatre. “I became an aficionado,” said
Jerry. “I really began to understand the theatre.” Perhaps this was
his early grounding in keeping people entertained. Jerry these days really
knows how to play to his audiences!
At school he was a true all-rounder. Good in the
subjects he liked, as well as being an athlete, competing in swimming,
rugby, track and field and rowing. When he left school, WW II was still in
everyone’s mind and National Service was a compulsory part of all young
men’s lives. However, the British government was offering better deals
for those who signed up for longer, and so Jerry signed on the dotted
line, for five years with the Royal Air Force, to be an electrical
technician.
The RAF introduced him to travel, as well as the
developing electronics, which he studied at night school, as the RAF gave
the young enrolled men the opportunity of further education. He also spent
some time in Hawaii, Cyprus, Algeria, Canada and the Middle East. “I
became a pretty savvy technician,” said Jerry.
As the time came to leave the RAF, Jerry decided that
he wanted to be based in America, and the warmth of California was
attractive. Unfortunately, it was not quite so easy to get into the US,
but Canada was an easy stepping stone, so Jerry migrated to Canada.
He took a job with a company involved in defence
avionics, whose head office was in Los Angeles. This was the beginning.
“I had achieved my (primary) goal where I could utilize my talents to
form a career,” he said.
That career moved from the technical side and into
sales, and moved Jerry out of cold Canada and into sunny California. He
also began to forge relationships in Asia that were to stand him in good
stead for the rest of his life.
He then began a period of his working life where that
Asian connection began to become even more important, and in fact
dominated his life. He was head-hunted by a group that was involved in
arms, weaponry and strategic defence. They knew that Jerry worked well in
Asia and had the contacts. He packed his bags and became their man in
Asia, while maintaining, on paper at least, his residence in California.
“Sometimes I was away from California for 10 months in one stretch, and
other times I might only be away for three months, but had to leave again
after only a couple of days of being home. I did a huge amount of travel.
The airlines loved me!”
He continued in the defence industry, being head-hunted
again (more than once), but eventually his original company made him an
offer he couldn’t refuse. “Whatever you want, you’ve got,” they
said. “I want Asia,” said Jerry, and it was his.
He opened offices all over Asia, but eventually made
his own head office in Bangkok. At this juncture in the interview I asked
Jerry just what it was about Asia that he related to so well. According to
Jerry, it was the other way round. It was the fact that the Asian people
accepted him. One reason for his acceptance, said Jerry, was his honesty
in dealing with them, so that his contacts all trusted him. “Reality and
truth. I never ‘dudded’ (euphemism) anyone in my life. My word was my
guarantee, and it still is,” he said emphatically.
Eventually he could see that Thailand was going to
become his home after he retired, and he began to plan for that period in
his life. He joined golf clubs, though still describing himself as a
“mediocre” golfer. He even joined the Pattaya Sports Club (PSC) in the
late 80’s as it was organizing regular tournaments and he would come
down from Bangkok. He began to put some money into investments and began
dabbling in the stock market. “I had made millions for my company, but
not millions for myself. It was time to develop investment strategies.”
He retired, as he put it, “on the cusp of the
economic crash. I had had huge plans, but I had to rethink my ideas.
Things were going seriously negative.” Having a belief in the
marketplace, he did not try to extricate himself and fire sale his
investments. He knew that the market would take care of itself, and his
perseverance has undoubtedly paid off.
Following retiring he then moved to Pattaya, with the
activities of the PSC being a major draw card for this region, for Jerry,
the “mediocre” golfer. For a man who likes mates around him, the PSC
offered all that and he has over the years been vice president, and now
the golf chairman.
I asked Jerry what further aims did he have in life,
and he began to tell me all about the PSC again, and what it stood for,
and how it functioned. I repeated my question, insisting that this time I
wanted Jerry Carpenter’s ambition. “Break 80,” was the reply. At
that, the interview was over as he had to return to his golfing mates, and
another round at the 19th. Jerry is enjoying his retirement!
