Our first year of marriage was a test. Laura attended Seattle Pacific College working toward her R.N. while I flew helicopters in Vietnam. I returned home in January of 1969 and was assigned to Sembach Air Force Base in Germany. This was our first home together. By 1970, I was due to muster out of the Army. We flew back to Edmonds, and both picked up where we left off with our college educations.  

 

In 1972 we both graduated, Laura earning her coveted R.N. and be ready to teach Science. She began work at Stevens Memorial Hospital in Edmonds. I started teaching at Kellogg Middle School in the Shoreline School District. I joined a local Army Aviation Reserve unit and continued to fly. The stage was now set for an extraordinary four decades! 

 

We pursued our professions for the next 13 years, and then in the summer of 1985, everything changed with Mike’s involvement with NASA and the Teacher in Space Project. We decided to move into a condo to free up our time. Teaching, flying, and nursing occupied our time, along with hitting the national speaking circuit. We also ran successful wedding photography and catering service.

 

We moved to Honolulu in 1994 to help start up a tour submarine company. Laura started work at Kapiolani Medical Center. This started our 16-year life in Hawaii. We bought a nice condo and enjoyed the island life until moving back to Edmonds in August of 2010 to take care of Laura's father.  We both retired in September 2011.  After Laura’s father passed away in August 2014, we began house hunting and found a lovely lakefront home in Shelton. We moved in on October 28, 2014.

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. Laura and I chose professions where something beyond education and experience took us into the work of giving, nursing in Laura's case, and teaching in mine. I believe there has to be a giving gene passed down through the generations that enables this.