Clark Baker:  

Life My closest friends in grade school were probably Kevin Kasowski and Keith Moore. I met them both on the first day of kindergarten. While doing some classwork on June 6, 1966, I noticed how the numbers lined up on the paper... 6-6-66. I was eight and the numbers stuck in my mind. Shortly thereafter, I calculated that I would be a two-year Marine on 7-7-77, and eight-year LAPD veteran on 8-8-88, and a year from retirement on 9-9-99. At the time, those years seemed so far away. I achieved my goals and became a helicopter pilot and scuba divemaster along the way. How did those years pass so quickly? The latest photo was taken over Christmas in NYC. My daughter Vanessa (22) is hugging me and my son, Cliff (17). My wife, Carol is a corporate exec and, like me, is semi-retired. We're blessed with friends and family. I was working on Phi Phi Island, Thailand, as a divemaster last year at this time. Although all of my fellow divers survived the tsunami, all of them put in some long hours and I was glad to have missed the ...Expand for more