Garretsons - Hawaii - June 1985 - Age 10

We all enjoyed our three years in Hawaii. We were so fortunate in being able to live in so many wonderful places, but that didn't mean Leif enjoyed posing for family photos. This photo was taken either before or after Peter Anthony was in a performance of the Hawaii Youth Chorus, in which he sang. He's wearing his chorus uniform. Leif is expressing his disgust with having to stand still and have a photo taken, and he is wearing his signature black leather Members Only jacket. I think I've mentioned before that he loved this jacket and wore it no matter how hot it was.

We lived in Hawaii, at Red Hill, in a military housing area, from the summer of 1983 to the summer of 1986, in a town house. The back of the house faced Pearl Harbor and Pearl City, and we got a beautiful view of the lights at night from our lanai, a porch which went across the back of the house. Leif went to the Red Hill Elementary School for grades 3-5 and his best friends in Hawaii were named Michael and Joey. We lost contact with them when we moved to Chicago in August 1986.

While we were there, Peter W. worked at US CINCPAC (Pacific Command) in the JAG Office at Camp Smith. Jerri was a student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and got her MEd in Educational Technology there. Peter Anthony completed his freshman, sophomore and junior years of high school at Moanalua High School.

Leif was interested in GI Joe figures and vehicles, Star Wars, Star Trek, space, guns and weapons, and especially cars. He was one of a group of gifted underachieving boys that were selected for a special class to motivate them, and it was very successful, at least for that class. :)

Hawaii was really the last time that Leif was a "little" boy. By the time we moved to Chicago in the summer of 1986, he was shooting up in height, and he had always been the tallest on in his classes to that point.