Norman Thompson, Laie, HI: an interview by Savani Aupiu, 5 September 2009

Transcript (26 pages) of an interview by Savani Aupiu with Norman Thompson at Hawaii on 15 September 2009. Part of the Pacific Islanders Oral History Project, Everett Cooley Collection tape no. U-2013

Norman Thompson was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is married with two children. He currently lives in Hawaii and attends BYU Hawaii, where he majors in English and minors in political science. He is part Maori, part Hawaiian, and part Samoan. His father's family is from Samoa but he grew up in California and Hawaii. His mother is from New Zealand. His parents are divorced. He is the oldest of three brothers and one sister. Norman talks about his parents' divorce. Because he was the oldest he was more aware than his siblings of what was happening. He became a father figure to his younger brothers and sister. Norman now sees the benefit of staying with his mom after the divorce. She remained active in the Mormon Church and he became more involved with the religion while living with her. He identifies most with Hawaiian culture because he was raised in Hawaii. His family would spend all their time at the beach. Norman loved to surf. He grew up as part of the Laie Boys, a group of friends who grew up together in Laie. Norman's father was a singer in Hawaii. He became popular singing reggae songs and eventually got a record deal. He has recorded six albums. He feels that his parents did the minimum when it came to his education. They supported and encouraged him, but he feels he did not gain the practical knowledge he would have liked to gain, and he was not encouraged to aspire to anything more than finding a good job. After he graduated high school, Norman went to BYU Hawaii. He did not do very well there and decided to go on a mission in West Virginia for the Mormon Church in order to straighten himself out. He had to prepare to go on his mission on his own. His father was not very supportive and his mother did not do much to help him with the process. He tells the story of how he and his wife met. He kept seeing her on BYU Hawaii campus because he was doing construction work there at the time. He found out who she was and got her number and called her every day after that. Norman's goal is to finish his Bachelor's degree and go on to law school. He wants to become a better spiritual example for his children. He would like to stay in Hawaii but knows that it might be more financially sound to move to the States and buy a house. Project: Pacific Islanders. Interviewer: Savani Aupia