nanilaie.info

First, let me pay tribute to all those currently serving and who have served in the military, especially including my dad, the late F. W. “Mike” Foley — who met my mom while he was stationed at the U.S. Army’s Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was also a member of the motorcycle honor guard when President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 30, 1935; and my brothers-in-law, Jimmy and the late Eddie McShane, who served in the U.S. Army in Viet Nam.

Next, let me note that I appreciate the service and sacrifice of all those in the military, but I was never one of them. Coming of age during the Viet Nam war, however, I came close a couple of times, and was willing to serve if called . . . which forms the basis of my following recollections:

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People from all over the world have been praying for and following the story of Gavin David Bruce Norton, the eight-week old son of Richie Norton and his wife, Natalie Link Norton, who was born in Hawaii on October 24, 2009 and died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on January 7, 2010. [The picture at upper left, taken of Natalie and Gavin by Richie...and many more examples of Natalie's family and wedding photography can be seen on her blog, Picks & Kicks, at http://www.natalienortonphoto.com/].

The Nortons and their beautiful young family have many friends, and many thousands of others around the globe became aware of the medical challenges baby Gavin faced through Natalie’s contributions and links on her Digital Photography School web site — http://digital-photography-school.com/author/aloha . . . while only a few hundred of us were able to gather in the Laie 4th Ward chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this morning, January 13, 2010, to take part in the deeply touching experience of baby Gavin’s funeral.

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I’ve been a freelance mass communications specialist for the past eight-plus years, and I can honestly say I love what I do — especially working with the relatively new digital media. The majority of my work over most of these years, however, has usually centered on writing and often illustrating my articles with pictures I’ve taken.

Writing and photography (along with my other skills) have enabled my family and I to live for many years and work close to home in Laie, a place I truly love. In fact, most of my freelance work is done in my home office . . . but over the years my work has also taken me far afield. For example, I’ve done assignments throughout Hawaii, the U.S. mainland, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, China, Mongolia and Korea. Some of my other work has also taken me throughout the Pacific islands and various parts of Asia.

I’ve done stories on a wide variety of subjects and people of very diverse backgrounds, such as my earlier blog entries on Margaret Mead (http://nanilaie.info/?p=404) and Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (http://nanilaie.info/?p=327).

Recently, since it appears that my writing days for BYU–Hawaii may have come to a close sooner than I expected, I’ve been going through my old assignments, and thought you might enjoy reading (again, for a number of you) about a few of the intriguing people I’ve met, the places I’ve visited and subjects I’ve explored through my writing for this unique university which has had such a profound affect on my life. I encourage you to click through the links below for more information on…

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