So
who is this Josh person, anyway?
I was born and raised on Vashon
Island, Washington, a semi-rural island in Puget Sound,
between Seattle and Tacoma. An island with a fairly small
year-round population, Vashon was a place where, if you didn't
necessarily know everyone, you certainly knew someone else
who knew them; a small enough place that the only movie theater in
town congratulated my parents on the birth of twins by putting a
birth
announcement on their main marquee.
If you're interested, here are a few views
of Vashon and Maury Islands. (What's up on the Island these
days? Check out the new web edition of the Beachcomber,
our local weekly newspaper.) Also, check out the Vashon
Links page at FinchHaven.com.
While Vashon was always "home," I lived in Valsad,
Gujarat State, India, as a Rotary International Youth Exchange
student, 1984-85, and in Claremont, California, while attending
Claremont McKenna College,
1985-89.
After getting my BA in International Relations from CMC I
returned to Vashon and, apart from occasional vacations, lived
there until the fall of 2000.
In the spring of 2000, I fell head over heels in love with
Koralee Roup -- we first "met" on the international
bicycle touring mailing list, and then met in person on a ride
in Seattle. Our first date was the Seattle Bicycle Expo, of
course, and by fall we got engaged and I moved to her home in
Kent, Washington, just across the water and up the hill from
Vashon Island. (It's a small world -- my grandparents, Kay and
Put, lived in the same complex for a while when I was about
knee-high.
Moving off the island also meant I had to resign from my
position on the Vashon Maury
Island Community Council. After three generations of Island
busibodies, my family has for now stopped poking our noses into
everyone's business. I still maintain an active interest in Vashon
Island -- it's still home to my father and one of my brothers, and
I have quite a few friends on the island.
Koralee and I were married in February, 2001, a year after that
first date. We had to miss the Bike Expo that year.
The year 2001 brought us a huge change: the birth our twin
sons, Morgan and Derek, in November. The boys arrived a bit early,
at 36 weeks, and spent some time in the Neonatal ICU at the
University of Washington, but soon they were home and doing well,
making messes and taking more time than seemed humanly possible.
In the summer of 2004, after an offhand question to a client
who happens to be a realtor, Koralee and I bought a house that has
everything we had decided our dream house should have:
Now we just have to spend a few years updating this and
that.... If you happen to be cycling through The
City of Pacific this summer, you'll probably see us toiling
away by the trailhead.
I've gotten over having to leave the Vashon Community Council.
In its place, since moving to Pacific, I've been a planning
commissioner and park board member, and now serve on the City
Council.
Professionally, for eleven years after college I was lucky to
work as a securities analyst for a private investment company, I.
S. Wolfe & Partners, headquartered in a secluded home on Maury
Island. In my years working with Irving I went from the junior
analyst to managing the daily trading activity of the Partnership.
Sadly, the sudden death of Irving Wolfe, shortly before Koralee
and I were married, led to the liquidation of the partnership in
mid-2001. I remained with the Partnership during its liquidation,
helping Irving's family and friends deal with this difficult time.
With the investment industry reeling in 2001, and not wanting
to uproot the family to take offers elsewhere, I decided to try
the old family business of insurance. (My great-grandfather came
to the Washington Territory selling insurance, writing binders
longhand on horseback.) I enjoyed being an insurance agent, and
grew a profitable little agency in downtown Auburn. But as the
years went on, I found it harder to achieve work/life balance with
growing children and evening hours.
By late 2007, it was time for a change, and I accepted a
position as a writer and marketing consultant for a life insurance
company. Believe it or not, life insurance can be interesting,
even fascinating. But don't worry, I'm no Ned Ryerson
(“Groundhog Day”). I can go to a dinner party and not
talk about life insurance all night, unless you make the mistake
of asking me about it....
Other Tidbits
Besides being a financial analyst, insurance agent, writer, and
marketing consultant, I've occasionally been a photography
instructor and a professional photographer. My photography is
primarily amateur – making pictures of subjects that
interest me, simply because I enjoy the creative outlet. But I do
still occasionally license my work, shoot for hire, or give
lessons. See the photo pages link below for more on my
photography.
- In case you're wondering if I'm the same Josh you knew under
some other email address in the past, here's a list of old
email and web addresses for Joshua Putnam.
This page written by Josh
Putnam. Please feel free to email questions, comments,
corrections, suggestions, etc.
Josh Putnam's
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