Kevin Vaillancourt:  

After graduation and some time in the U.S. Navy, I returned to L.A. and began college at Fullerton College while working nights at Disneyland, waiting tables at the Blue Bayou. While at Fullerton, I attended a year abroad studying in Paris, setting off a life-long love for France. In 1989, I transferred up to Cal (U.C. Berkeley) where I continued my studies in French History, with the idea of becoming a professor. I also continued to support myself by waiting tables night and day, mostly at upscale steakhouses. In 1992, my sister, Monette, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just a few weeks to live. She died in November of that year. In many ways, her death changed everything for our small family; we never have really recovered. We miss her every day. I graduated from Cal in 1993, and with the aid of two professors came very close to attending grad school at either Chicago or Princeton. I decided against it given the additional time and money it would take to get the PhD, given that the two-years-to-graduation upon transfer ended up taking four due to the extremely high cost of living in the Bay Area. Instead, I returned home in more ways than one, taking a job in the Production Management office in Disneyland's Entertainment Division. It was fantastic to return to Disneyland, this time in a suit-and-tie role keeping track of expenses and progress on hundreds of Disney live entertainment events from Main Street to far-off Hong Kong. While at Disney, I was introduced to Melissa, the woman who would shortly thereafter become my wife. In 1998, we began planning to start a family and decided, on financial and social atmosphere grounds, to relocate to Melissa's native Oregon. We moved to Portland late that year. With an eye towards supporting a young family, I entered law school at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, commuting down from Portland daily for classes while Melissa worked as a social worker for the county. Our first child,...Expand for more