Today I honor and remember with love the life of Don Calamar, a combat photographer and Silver Medalist who survived the Invasion of Normandy  also known as D-Day.  Don, was my first photography and photojournalist instructor and sometimes father figure.   I remember  his soft spoken manner. Don taught more by example.  He was unrelenting kind.  I remember this the most about him.

His later years were devoted to family, photography instruction, alternative energy, and peace activism.  Don was a positive influence in my life.

Always the educator, on one occasion after a family meal, Don and his wife Pat, were so excited to share with me how they prepared our dinner.  Guiding me to their backyard for cookies and tea, like eager school children, they unveiled the solar cooker they constructed in their garden backyard.

Don was one of the founding members of Santa Barbara Veterans for Peace and Arlington West.

I am so very grateful to have had a person like Don in my life, especially as a guiding force in my photojournalism career. Thank you for reading this tribute; a testimony to how one life can make an enduring difference in the lives of others.

I miss his goodness.