Upbringing must count: Judge's children fulfill overseas commitments

[darrels joy]

Upbringing must count: Judge's children fulfill overseas commitments

It was a casual "how's your family doing" question.

"My daughter is back from her stint in the Peace Corps, and my son is in the Army in South Korea but has volunteered for duty in Iraq," Las Vegas Municipal Judge Betsy Kolkoski answered.

Then she asked me what the verdict had been with Steven Gazlay.

Gazlay, thought by authorities to be a leader of the 311 Boyz, was found guilty of a felony that day. His sad face was blazoned all over television and newspapers.

Much has been written about him and other teenagers whose idea of fun was to videotape fights and beatings.

Betsy Kolkoski's kids will never receive that kind of news coverage.

Her nonchalant answer kept me wondering: Isn't it unusual that both Kolkoski's adult children chose work involving sacrifice for others?

Kevin, a U.S. Army private, answered my questions by e-mail, a formal response that his mother said doesn't capture his sense of fun.

"To answer your first question as to why I have chosen work that involves public service I would have to say the answer is twofold.

"The first reason was the attack on September 11. As a single man, not doing anything else of great importance, joining up and doing my best to contribute to our efforts in the War on Terror just seemed right.

"Second was a desire to do something other than a conventional desk job and the infantry offered that for me," Kevin wrote.

"To be quite honest I don't believe my sister and I are the least bit unusual in the choices we have made.

"I believe that overall people from my generation are looking to take part in something bigger than themselves.

"The satisfaction derived from participating in a larger endeavor is something I think my sister has found with the Peace Corps just as I have found it in the infantry."

Kevin is 29, and this is his first Christmas away from his family.

Claire is 27, and she spent the past two Christmases in Samoa.

Her Peace Corps assignment was teaching computer skills to Samoan customs officers. It's one way to keep Samoans from leaving their country for better jobs, part of the corps' mission to stop the "Third World brain drain," she explained.

Claire is more serious and more academic than her older brother, who is more happy-go-lucky, their mother said.

Claire, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame's engineering school, worked at Nellis Air Force Base in a civilian job for three years before deciding it wasn't satisfying and applied to the Peace Corps.

Her 27-month stint in the Peace Corps ended in September. Enthusiastically, she described the lifestyle and cultural values of the Samoan family, who typically live 10 to a house and sleep in a room smaller than most of our living rooms.

Claire laughed as she described the pecking order for eating. Children eat last, and the younger ones wave the flies off the adults as they eat. (Share that tradition with your kids today!)

Family upbringing must count for something in Claire's and Kevin's choices.

Betsy and Richard Kolkoski married late and had their children when they were in their early 30s. She formerly worked for the Division of Aging Services; her husband works at Nellis Air Force Base as a civilian attorney. They raised their children to be independent.

Claire next wants to teach English as a second language in Eastern Europe and combine that with her computer skills.

Her mom admitted she would prefer Claire not move abroad again. "But I've come to accept it. Both kids have good values."

Just as Claire had been in 2002, in his e-mail about his Christmas plans, Kevin was upbeat: "As for my Christmas here it will be spent celebrating the birth of Christ with other men from my unit.

"We are blessed with an excellent and sincere chaplain who will be performing a worship service on Christmas Eve.

"Christmas Day I'll probably open the gifts that my friends and family were gracious enough to send me and then eat a dinner prepared in our dining hall.

"The only thing missing will be my family."

311 Boyz' Steven Gazlay will be home for Christmas this year.


Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.

[usmcsgt65]

A little background to the Judge's Kids. We had on going story about middle to upper class kids forming a gang (called themselves the 911 boys), and a couple of scandals dealing with local politicians.