THE PAPER January 11, 2012
Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Local photographer captures
surprise homecoming for military family by Danielle Swan DSmith@thepaperofwabash.com
As a photographer, Amy Brown, Bella Bloom Fotos, is no stranger to capturing pivotal moments in the lives of her clients. Over the holidays, she was given the opportunity to capture one such moment for Raymond and Caitlyn Wilson and their five-month-old son. Caitlyn, a Wabash High School graduate, is a member of the Army National Guard. She currently resides in Fort Wayne, where she attends Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne. Raymond is an active duty Marine, currently deployed on a 24-month tour in Japan. The couple married on Aug. 13, 2011, just two weeks after the birth of their son, Paxsten. “Raymond was able to do recruiter’s assistance and come home for the birth,” Caitlyn explained. “About two and a half to three weeks after the baby was born, he left and that was the last time he saw him.” This year would be the Wilsons’ first Christmas as a family, and they had hoped to spend it together. The request process began in October. “I put in my leave request, which isn’t guaranteed or anything, but I put it in saying I’d like to take the days off and go back to the states to visit with my wife and son,” Raymond said. The request was approved in mid-November, but Raymond did not tell Caitlyn. “I was pretty upset about it. In my mind, I was positive he wasn’t coming home,” Caitlyn said. Since she would not be spending Christmas with her new husband, Caitlyn hired Bella Bloom Fotos to take pictures of her and Paxsten to send to Raymond for Christmas. “We took the photos and I posted them on Facebook and she talked to Raymond and the next day he called me,” Amy said. Raymond wanted to set up an appointment for family photos during the short time that he would be home, but he did not want to risk the surprise of his homecoming being leaked to Caitlyn. “I got Amy’s voicemail a few times and had to keep calling, I didn’t want to take the chance of leaving a voicemail and her accidentally calling Caitlyn back,” he said. When Raymond and Amy made contact, an elaborate scheme was concocted. “I asked him how he was going to surprise her and he said he didn’t know, so I said ‘Why don’t we do it here?” Amy said. Shortly thereafter, Amy called Caitlyn with an offer. She asked if Caitlyn would be interested in doing a promotional photo shoot for an upcoming fictional military special. Raymond’s plane was set to land at 8 a.m. on Dec. 22, so Amy asked if Caitlyn could come at 11 a.m. that day. When everything was set in stone, Amy sent a message to Raymond that said: “She’s in.” During the following weeks, anticipation mounted as Amy and Raymond kept their secret. Amy listened as Caitlyn discussed, on Facebook, the fact that she would not be seeing her husband until May. “She had no idea we were already planning this and that it wasn’t going to be May, it was going to be a couple weeks,” Amy said. “It made the anticipation stronger, but it also made more pressure. There’s a lot of pressure in pulling off a surprise like that. One little thing could throw the whole thing off.” Amy and her assistant, Hayley, choreographed Raymond’s arrival, developed code words and arranged the room so that they would be prepared to photograph and video the emotional event. It began to play out on the morning of Dec. 21 when Raymond boarded his first plane at Okinawa, Japan. From there, he flew to Tokyo, Japan, and then to Los Angeles, Calif., before finally arriving at Fort Wayne International Airport on Dec. 22 at 8 a.m. In order to guard the surprise, Raymond had to do some planning for the 26hour flight, during which he would be out of contact with Caitlyn. He and Caitlyn usually made contact via Skype, a video chatting program, every day (continued on page 2)
Index Classifieds ....................21-23
Weekly Reports ..............9-11
D&E ..................................15
Community News 13, 14 & 18
AMY BROWN, Bella Bloom Fotos, had the opportunity to photograph the emotional, surprise homecoming of Raymond Wilson, a Marine stationed in Japan. Wilson came home for Christmas as a surprise to his wife, Caitlyn, and five-monthold son, Paxsten. (photo courtesy of Bella Bloom Fotos)
In Memoriam Vincent Sweeney, 87 Barbara Barkley, 84 Stephen Driscoll, 68 Jean Knable, 80 Terry Blackburn, 62 June Dennis, 78 Carol Barnett, 83 Jennie Weber, 96 Thurl Fuller, 88 Jake Runyon, 67 Ann Hoefer, 86 Robert Partridge, 91
Vol. 34, No. 43 Gerald Seifert, 82
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