Feature Image:
Norman G. Kholos
December 30, 1932 – January 12, 2009
Memorial Day is set aside nationally for reflection, and Father’s Day is a time to celebrate our Dads. Emily Sims, AZPA board member, recently met Diane Kholos Wysocki who has spent time reflecting on her father, Norman G. Kholos, and his service to our country through the letters and photographs he sent home from his time in Da Nang, South Vietnam. He also served in the Korean War. Sims, who is also a veteran, felt a real bond to Wysocki and was beyond impressed with Diane and her writing and wanted to share these photographs and memories with AZPA members. It was through this work that Emily realized how much she shared with Diane, most importantly their mutual love of photography. Here is a short excerpt of his letters from Wysocki’s current project Letters from DaNang: Learning about Vietnam Through My Father’s Eyes by Diane Kholos Wysocki. Much thanks to Emily for this wonderful tribute.
Diane and her father the day he deployed in February 1970.
The Photo Hobby Lab
Dad always loved photography which sometimes annoyed his family. He seemed to always have a camera in his hand. In Da Nang, there was a lab where he could go and develop his photos. It also had air conditioning and Dad spent a lot of time there. The majority of his pictures are ones he developed.
Nov 20, 1970
“This is my day off and I spent most of it at the hobby shop finishing up the rest of the pictures from the R&R. So far, the two I took of you came out lousy. I don’t know whether you are able to blur them yourself or whether I self-consciously get them out of focus because I know you don’t like them taken. Which reminds me, did you take home the bamboo tweezers that I bought for the darkroom”
Bookstore
May 25, 1970
“About the cartoon. I made a picture of it and have already sent you copies of it. If you want more I can make them. I have sent it to my dad but was kind of afraid to send it to your sister. Do you think I should?”
Dec 10, 1970
“Tomorrow is (today) my day off I guess I will spend a couple of hours at the movie seeing “The Hawaiians” with Charlton Heston. Then over to the Hobby shop to make some pictures of airplanes. I borrowed some negatives from one of the guys. We will just have to keep Jerry around for models. If there is one thing that I have always been lousy at it is models. Do me a favor. Check the phone book and see if there is such a thing as a photo hobby shop in Denver. Just an interesting thought.”
Dec 11, 1970
“It has been a wasted day. Jackie and I went to the main compound this morning for him to clear finance and for me to try out my new movie camera. Then we went to the movie and saw “The Hawaiians.” I didn’t like it too much. After the movie I went over to the Photo Hobby shop and made some prints of airplanes.”
Plane on Flight Line
Dec 12, 1970
“Not a lot going on here except that the weather was pretty nice today and I got a chance to use my movie camera. I have got to take at least a couple of rolls of film with it to get used to it. By the way, did I mention that it uses the cartridge type film?”
Dec 22, 1970
“I am sure glad you weren’t unhappy about the camera. I just couldn’t pass it up. It is pretty nice. I have taken a roll and a half of film with it already. I will have to send them in for developing but I am kind of weary about it now that I may not be here to receive them. They could get lost. As you have probably noticed the projectors and screens in the catalog are pretty expensive. I think we will be able to do better at a garage sale. About the hobby shop, well you know me, always thinking of the easy way out. As I already stated I don’t have any plans. But it doesn’t hurt to keep your eyes open. With more and more time off, hobbies are getting to be a big thing. Even here with no real facilities and very little black and white film being available the hobby shop is always full.”
Dad was correct. Hobbies were becoming a big deal. When he came home, two things happened over the years. The first was that he opened a Photo Hobby Lab in Denver, Colorado on the corner of Leetsdale and Holly. It was right between our home and George Washington High School where my siblings and I went to high school. Customers would pay for their time to use the darkroom by the hour, and Dad sold everything they would need. I just remember it was great being able to visit on the way home from school.
Note: Diane eventually left home to begin her own career. The extra bedroom in her parents’ home was turned into a darkroom so when she got home to visit she says she slept on the couch!
Dr. Diane Kholos Wysocki
Contributing Writer
I was a late bloomer. I started my college career at a junior college in 1986 when I was 31. I had two small children at the time. I loved my time at a junior college and it helped pave the way for what was to come. I then went to Arizona State University and graduated in 1990 with a Psychology major and a Sociology minor. I thought I wanted to be a therapist, but instead fell in love with research. I then transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara in Sociology and Gender Studies, with my two sons who were in elementary school at the time. I received my MA in 1992 and my PhD in 1996.
I then began my job in a tenure track position at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK). The classes I taught included Introduction to Sociology, Research Methods, Sociology of Sex and Gender, and Sociology of Health and Illness. All of my classes counted for Gender Studies credit. In 2013, I retired as Professor Emerita.
I currently live in Arizona with two Chihuahuas – Bella and Tanner. Oh, BTW. Those two boys… they both graduated from UNK. One is a supervisor for Child Protective Services and has given me three grandkids. The other has his own business and so far only has given me granddogs. I continue to write and publish about my research.
Contact Diane