Reporter-News Archives Monday, December 22, 1997 Homesick airman spends Christmas holidays cheering others By ROY A. JONES II Regional Editor HAWLEY - The Christmas holidays read like a horror story for Stephen King. Not that Stephen King. The writer-filmmaker has his millions and his Oscars to keep him company. We're talking about Air Force Senior Airman Stephen King, a 1992 graduate of Hawley High School. King has been in the Air Force for only two years, but he is now spending his third straight Christmas away from his family. This "horror" story has a happy ending, however. The 22-year-old King is making the most of his holidays by manning a 24-hour holiday "Heartline" so that other lonely airmen stationed with him in South Korea will have someone to talk to." "He said he gets a few who are really upset, but mostly they are calling for information about all the activities that the Air Force tries to have for the folks who are stationed that far from home at Christmas," his wife, Stacie, said Saturday. "He'd rather be home, of course, but he's taking it well," she said. "We knew when he went in that there would be remote tours, and that we would have to spend some holidays apart, but we were both stuck in dead-end jobs and we're committed to making it work," she said. The Kings have been married for three years and have a two-year-old son, Doug. On what would have been the couple's first Christmas together, he was stuck in basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. Although he was only in San Antonio, he couldn't come home so he might as well have been in Saudi Arabia. Doug was born the next year and for the baby's first Christmas, dad was in, you guessed it, Saudi Arabia. King got home last January, however, so the family got to celebrate a belated Christmas. It looked like this Christmas would find the family of three at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, however, "on Sept. 19, we put him on the plane for a year in Korea," Stacie said. "Doug was really too little last Christmas, but this year all I hear is 'I want Daddy!' " she said. In an article published in a recent issue of <I>Pacific Stars and Stripes,<I> the newspaper for service members stationed abroad, King said he enjoys helping others at Christmas. "Everyone needs family, so we sort of create one with the people we work with," he explained. "The hotline is completely anonymous if you like. It's all confidential. You can go to your room and call, just get things off your chest." "Mainly," he added, "we're just here to listen." One key to loneliness, he's found, is "staying busy." King said he expects to work on the hotline through Jan. 5. If nobody calls, he said, he'll just write his Christmas cards and study for a test. He's taking college correspondence courses, pursuing a degree in business. "I've never got nothing to do," he said. Mrs. King is the former Stacie Rutherford, daughter of Kathie Rutherford of Anson and the late Larry Rutherford. She's a 1993 graduate of Anson High School. She and Doug live with her mother, and she works at an Abilene fast food restaurant while King is overseas. On Saturday, Doug was eagerly opening some of his presents from his Dad at his first of three Christmas celebrations. Saturday it was with Stacie's mom, where another service member was also missing from the family circle. Stacie's brother, William Rutherford, a 1997 graduate of Anson High School, is a Navy airman recruit spending his first Christmas away from home. He's stationed at Newport News, Va. On Christmas Eve, Stacie and Doug will celebrate with Doug's great-grandparents, Pete and Winnie Rutherford in Santa Anna. Then on Christmas Day they'll celebrate in Hawley with Stephen's parents, Harry and Patti King - who are also missing another serviceman-son, Army Sgt. Rodney King, 25, another Hawley High School graduate who is now a paratrooper stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. "We'll have a good time, but it would be better if Stephen was here. We're talking lots of pictures for him," she said Saturday. Thanks to an Air Force "Hearts Apart" program, she and Doug can talk to King for 15 minutes, twice a month, for free - through a satellite phone hookup arranged by Dyess Air Force Base. Also, King is entitled to six 10-minute calls per month "so we talk every Sunday and Wednesday morning and at one other time during the month," she said. After his Korean tour is completed, King anticipates being assigned to Ellsworth AFB, S.D. He currently loads bombs on F-16 fighter jets but will be transitioning to the B-1B bomber when he returns to the states. That sets up the possibility that King might even be transferred to Dyess one of these days. "Now that would be a great Christmas present," Stacie said. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: Enter their email address below: texnews.com Reporter OnLine Local Sports Texas Sports Copyright ©1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications