In Memory of Robert Tammen

Readers, I am so sorry to announce the news that Robert Tammen passed away last week. Robert was Ronald Tammen’s youngest brother, and the last living member of Ron’s immediate family. He was only 7 years old when Ron disappeared, so he didn’t have many memories of his big brother. Nevertheless, he, like Marcia, never stopped looking for Ron and wondering what might have happened to him. He was a frequent visitor to this website, and an occasional commenter as well. His comments were always insightful. Every so often, he’d email or call me with a new detail about his father or one of his brothers that he’d suddenly recalled, which was always welcome too. It was Robert who’d first told me about how Ron used to carry around a pack of cigarettes even though he didn’t smoke. As you can imagine, this is a huge, heartbreaking loss.

I first met Robert Tammen on Wednesday, October 10, 2012. We met on Crete, a gorgeous Greek island that he’d called home for many years as part of his lifelong career with the U.S. Air Force. He suggested that we meet at Mama’s Place, an open-air restaurant on Stavros Beach, where they filmed the last scene of Zorba the Greek. The restaurant was a short drive from the beautiful home he and his wife—who was also Greek—shared on a hillside covered with olive trees and brilliant pink-flowered shrubs. 

It always amazes me when two people who live on different sides of the globe are able to set an 11 a.m. appointment and actually keep it. The day was sunny with a light breeze. The sky was—well, to be honest, I don’t think we have that color of blue in the States. Certainly, not in Ohio. Robert had been afraid that it would rain and that we’d have to change our plans—it had stormed severely the night before—but that wasn’t necessary. It was perfect.

With the Sea of Crete as a backdrop, we sat down at a table and ordered a couple beers. Mind you, this was 2012, so I still had a lot to learn about Ron’s case. Nevertheless, I’d managed to uncover a few surprising details by then and I had a bunch of questions I wanted to run by him. I asked him if he had any idea why Ron was fingerprinted as a child. I asked him if he remembered Ron having dissociative episodes in which he forgot who he was and went wandering. I asked him if he remembered an incident occurring one summer day in 1952—described in a letter as THAT day by Mr. Tammen—when Ron was on the clock working for the city of Maple Heights. I asked him if he thought Ron might have been gay.

He gave each some thought and answered no, no, no, and maybe.

I recited all the theories that had been raised over the years, and asked him what he thought about each. Some he said were feasible; others he considered far-fetched.

We talked about other topics too…about four hours’ worth in all.

So this week, as I was reflecting on what to write about Robert, I decided to revisit that conversation, just to see how things may have changed since that day. Near the end, probably well into our third hour, I asked Robert what he thought had happened to Ron. 

Paint me a picture, I said.

I still can’t believe what he said in response. It was nearly 12 years ago, and I was still two years away from finding key documents that support my running theory that Tammen’s former psychology professor, St. Clair Switzer, was recruited by the CIA for Project Artichoke, and he likely had something to do with Ron’s disappearance. Even so, Robert pretty much hit the nail on the head. 

Here’s a short excerpt of that conversation that you can listen to as well as read the transcript.

Excerpt of an interview with Robert Tammen

10/10/2012

JW: So…I guess…paint for me, and I know you’ve been kind of going through this. Paint for me the scenario that you see, right now, where do you think what happened…in your mind?

RT: In my mind?  One of two things. FBI or CIA got him. CIA? Sent him overseas and he became a spy. FBI? I don’t know what they would have done…States, here? I don’t know. That’s what I consider…

JW: In the book Oblivion, [Richard Cox] did become a spy. He died at NIH, which is wild. He had cancer, and he died at our clinical center, which was like, oh my God! But, the FBI was involved, because they were looking for him, because he was a West Point student. That never happens. And then because he joined the CIA, they were called off. So basically they were like right on his heels and they were called off. And I just wondered if that’s the same kind of thing…Did J. Edgar…

RT: Yeah, those are the only two things that I can think of. I don’t know what else he would have…I don’t see anything else that he would just arbitrarily go off.

JW: He was too responsible.

RT:  What would he have done?

JW: I know. Like you said, he was..

RT: Like I say, it’s kind of hard to believe…I can see him staging the room.

JW: Yeah.

RT: But why would you leave your wallet? Your keys, your bass fiddle? I mean that was his money maker.

JW: Yeah, your toothbrush…

RT: And why would he leave the car? Come on, if it’s a staged thing, at least you would take the vehicle. Nothing else. Fine, leave your IDs. But that’s why it’s either got to be…to me, I lean toward the CIA because they would tell you, “just leave your stuff there.” FBI wouldn’t, “no, take your IDs and everything like that. We’ll destroy it.” CIA would just say, walk away from it, and…

JW: We’ll handle it.

RT: But, you know, even when you have temporary lapses of memory, you forget stuff, you don’t forget important stuff like that. And if you do, you go back to get it. Right? Those are the only two scenarios that I can see. He wouldn’t just walk off arbitrarily. And go where?

JW: Right. No body’s been found. I mean it’s like, how can you…?

RT: I know. And at that time, you know the weather wasn’t that great. In fact, it was a little bit chilly, wasn’t it?

JW: It was cold. It was snowing. 

RT: So, you mean to tell me that the weather elements, stuff like that, wouldn’t get to him? So…somebody was waiting for him somewhere. Yet how many claims were there even a couple days afterwards that they said that they saw him? Like that woman who said he knocked on the door? When was that?

JW: That was around midnight, that night.

RT: Midnight. But I remember…wasn’t there a couple days later that somebody said they thought they saw him somewhere?

JW: There were, yeah, like hitchhiking…

RT: Up in Hamilton, or some place like that?

JW: Right. Exactly. They disproved those, or they said they did. But if she saw him, that’s what bugs me, because if it was the CIA…

RT: Right, you said Hamilton earlier with this woman [the older woman]. And I’m wondering…hmmm….and nobody knows who this…they don’t know her name, or anything like that?

JW: Nothing.

RT: Maybe she was involved.

JW: Right. I looked to see if there was a missing…anything of a missing woman back in that rough time, and I’m not finding that.

RT: Of course, it doesn’t have to be a missing woman.

JW: Yeah? Exactly. Not if she was a go-between…

RT: If she’s part of the government and doing anything that’s….they’ll never report her missing or anything like that. She’ll be covered. She’s Miss so-and-so from here, or anything like that, but she’s not missing, so. That could be a possibility. But I still think the FBI or CIA were involved.

Note: the woman Robert is speaking of is someone from Hamilton or Middletown that Ron’s freshman roommate had told me about. He said that she was an “older woman” who used to visit Ron as a freshman and drive him places in her car. At this point, I hadn’t yet learned about a woman from Hamilton who’d allegedly driven Ron away from Fisher Hall the night of his disappearance.

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Over the years, people have asked me what members of the Tammen family have thought about my research and the direction in which it’s been heading. Not only was Robert Tammen receptive to my findings, he was thinking along these lines way before me. 

May he rest in peace.