Lavagal

Aloha!

I live in Hawaii Kai, Oahu, in a peaceful neighborhood that is flanked by Koko Head, which juts into the ocean, and Koko Crater, which features a challenging vertical climb on its southern side and a crater that houses stables for horses and a xeriscape garden. I write for a living. I take on various free-lance writing assignments while also working as a writer for a local company.

I enjoy cooking, hence I’m on my way to becoming a life-long Weight Watchers member. That also explains while you’ll find me arriving at 4 a.m. most mornings at 24 Hour Fitness in Hawaii Kai for a grueling elliptical session followed by abs and arms work. I enjoy surfing, but hardly ever get to go out any more. I’d love to learn to Stand-Up Paddle,”SUP,” but, the equipment is quite costly. Someday!

I’m a mom and a wife and those roles are the most important of all. I play online Scrabble with my mom nearly every day.

I grew up in Southern New Jersey and attended St. Peter’s School in Riverside, and Holy Cross High in Delran, class of 1976. I joined the U.S. Air Force in 1979, which took me to Texas and California before I was stationed at Hickam AFB in Honolulu in 1981. I’ve been in Hawaii ever since. I was a computer operator in the service, and worked on the first NASA Shuttle flights back in 1980 while at Edwards AFB in California.

I love living in Hawaii and raising my children here. I do what I can to keep Hawaii a lovely place by reflecting the Aloha Spirit in all that I do.

I’ve lived in Hawaii since 1981, when the U.S.A.F. transferred me from Edwards Air Force Base to Hickam. I was a computer operator, had a SCI clearance, and monitored data that was gathered by U2 aircraft that hovered over the crumbling communist block and the Middle East. Ronald Reagan was president and I knew how close we were to imploding the planet than he was.

Unlike many of my military colleagues, I embraced Hawaii and never wanted to leave. An avid swimmer and lifeguard, I learned to surf and windsurf, ate my first bites of sushi without flinching, and made many friends. When the U.S.A.F. provided me orders to Sunnyvalle, California, I opted for an Honorable Discharge and got a job working on the same computers for Kaiser Permanente. A few years later I took a casual clerk position at The Honolulu Advertiser, met my future husband, and finished college at the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a degree in journalism.

Not only did I work at The Honolulu Advertiser, I also worked as a business reporter at Pacific Business News. My dabblings within the field of public relations were disastrous, but, I learned enough to know how to do pro bono PR for nonprofits, just to help out and save them money because engaging a PR firm is expensive.