Alan Meaux:  

We moved to Hawaii from Wheaton, Maryland the summer of 1961 to my dad's new assignment as a captain of the U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender Planetree. I attended Maunawili Elementary in Kailua from 1961-63 then to Kailua Intermediate for a few weeks in August and September of 1963 before moving to Seattle, dad was stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters, in September of 1963 where I went to Queen Anne High School as a 7th grader which was quite intimidating as many of you probably felt. So in 1964 we went to the new Worth McClure Junior High until 1966 then back to Queen Anne for the 66-67 school year. My dad was transferred back to Hawaii in April of 1967 to be the captain of the USCG cutter Chautauqua. So my mom, brother Wayne and sister Janis stayed until school was finished. Wayne suffered a serious accident to his left hand so dad was notified and he flew back to see Wayne. Before the accident Wayne and I were supposed to stay onboard the Chautauqua as part of the crew for the 6 week cruise to Ocean Station Victor which was half way between Japan and Midway Island. Since Wayne couldn't travel I flew back to Hawaii with dad and since he hadn't found a house to live in we stayed on board the ship until we left for OS Victor and a month long patrol there. After the cruise the remaining family joined us in our new home in Kailua across the street from the beach. I attended and graduated from Kailua H.S. in 1969. I was on the State championship soccer team ( 11-1-1 ) as a goalie. As dad had kept Illinois as his State of residence I moved in with his mom in Joliet and paid in-state tuition to attend Joliet Junior College from 1969-71 majoring in Electronics Technology. From there I attended Bradley university in Peoria for a semester. I realized electronics wasn't my thing so I moved back in with my parents now living in Maryland just outside the SE corner of Washington D.C. Dad was now a Captain and was stationed at CG Headquarters in D.C. I had various jobs in the automotive trade in D.C. and Maryland. I was fortunate to have purchased my dream car from a guy in Richmond, Virginia. His wife said he had to get rid of his boat or his car so I bought his modified race car, a 1960 Corvette that was barely street legal. That was the same year the movie American Graffiti came out and my car would have fit right in next to the Corvette parked at Mel's Diner which was the same body style. I attended the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Graduate School where I had a photography class at Walter Reed Army Hospital in D.C. In 1974 Dad retired from the Coast Guard and moved to Oak Harbor, Washington on Whidbey Island near the local Naval Air Station. I stayed in Maryland for a few months then in August of 1974 I moved in with a Bradley soccer teammate who lived in Connecticut. I had to sell the vette and bought a van in order to haul my belongings, tools and my 250cc Suzuki motorcycle up to Connecticut. I immediately got a job in the automotive field in Hartford but due to the gas crisis I was eventually laid off. So I decided to go to Oak Harbor and look for work in August of 1975. So I loaded up my van. This time I had to motorcycles to haul. Once there automotive jobs were not available. I contacted Wayne who was living near Moscow, Idaho having attended the University of Idaho for a few years. I moved in with him and started work as a framing car...Expand for more