Tommy J Joliet

Tom Joliet Bio 2017 In 1951 I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lived in an orphanage until my 1st birthday. The Joliet’s adopted me and my sister Kathy (who died in her 40s). We moved to Reseda and I attended 1st through 8th grade at St. Catherine’s. I attended Crespi H.S. for half a year, then moved to Huntington Beach, an absolute dream for a wanna be surfer from the valley! After HBHS I left home to seek my destiny while surfing in Maui. I realized that odd jobs in construction would not pay for college so I joined the U.S. Army from Wailuku to get surgical tech training and 4 years of college paid by the GI Bill. Three year's later, the Army would ship me back to Hawaii to start school. Army Basic was at Fort Ord, CA, and I was sent to Advanced Combat Medic/Operating Room Technician training at Ft. Sam Houston, TX. (There I married my pregnant girlfriend from high school, who later miscarried.) My on-the-job surgical skills were practiced at Ft. Sill, OK, then put to use at the 24TH EVAC Hospital, Long Binh, Vietnam. I learned to sew stitching soldier's wounds. I won't detail the mass casualty triage or medevac situations, but I did catch choppers to surf in the South China Sea at Vung Tau with the Aussies who were based there, where the sea snakes were plentiful! Ft. Carson, CO was my final station in the Army where I spent the winter learning to ski while passing instruments in surgery at Renolds Army Hospital. The changes in me from the war led to my divorce. Maui Community College was the perfect place to work out some of my PTSD. I led hikers through Haleakala Volcano, surfed, spear fished, played tennis and guitar. I also hitchhiked across the Pacific on the world's fastest trimaran (capable of doing 40 knots per hour) from Honolulu to Malibu.  At the Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa, I majored in Speech Communications, secondary education. I also parachuted over the North Shore and spent 2 ½ months in the summer of ‘76 hitchhiking through Europe and North Africa with a surfboard as tall as me. I was the staff cartoonist for the University of Hawaii newspaper. While at UH, I worked for "E Noa Tours" on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu narrating Hawaiian culture, language, celestial navigation, traditions, flora, fauna and history for small groups on Circle Island Beach and Waterfall Tours, Pearl Harbor, Byodo In Temple, Glass-bottom Boat, Diamond Head Crater and Honolulu City Tours. A job in Hollywood writing scripts and imagineering amusement park rides moved me back to California. However, it cost me more money than I made do to the speculative nature of the business. My cartooning ability got me some jobs storyboarding TV commercials. My Army surgical training got me a job at South Coast Medical Center and a tiny home in Treasure Island where I met my wonderful soul mate, Gayle, and got married on the beach, March 24, 1984, accompanied by the spouts of migrating whales! She convinced me to finish my teaching credential to become a teacher. While attending UC Irvine taking Global Peace and Conflict Studies, Gayle and I participated in the cross country "Great Peace March" from L.A. to D.C. for Global Nuclear Disarmament. My BA is in Social Ecology from UCI. To help pay for school, I was a wilderness adventure guide for "Pacific Adventures". I outfitted, drove, cooked and led tours for clients in Baja, Santa Catalina, the Mohave Desert, Grand Canyon, Maui, etc.  I led group adventures that included hiking, snorkeling, volleyball, surfing, canoeing, kayaking, white water rafting, bicycling, sailing, hot-air ballooning, glider flying, and learned to cook gourmet food while camping. I taught in the Capistrano School District with Elementary and Secondary Credentials from National University and earned my Masters in Secondary Education from CS San Bernardino while teaching History/P.E. to 6 - 8Th graders. I helped start a surf team program and coached the golf teams. In June of 2007 I was Teacher of the Year and retired with Gayle. Since then we have been traveling the world and have journeyed to all seven continents. Our summers are spent in the Sierra at a cabin by Huntington Lake. I am a ukulele instructor at the Susi Q and the Laguna Beach Youth Shelter, and a volunteer co-hosted of The Radio Neighboring Show with Cindy Obrand for four years on public radio KX FM 104.7 FM in Laguna. October, 2017 my solo “Laguna Tropical Surf” show launched on Wednesday nights, 5-6. The show is now 2 hours on Sundays evenings, 5 to 7, on the new KXFMradio.org, 104.7. I love to play guitar at beach bonfires, longboard, golf, play paddle tennis, hike the Sierra and ocean kayak with Gayle. As members of the garden committee, Gayle and I have helped build and maintain the South Laguna Community Park. Gayle's daughter, Michelle, is earning her Masters in Technology at C. S. Fullerton. Gayle and I wrote and illustrated "ALANi and the GIANT KELP ELF", a children's story about the Marine Protected Area in Laguna Beach. I am an instructor in the Laguna Beach Ukulele Academy and a member of musical groups, The South Laguna Garden Band and Four Stringerz.