Targets & practice

Asian thought inspired storyteller, marksman, bonsai artist

BY ELLEN GILLETTE

Palm Bay’s Tom Kehoe got his college degree in journalism, but he has spent a lifetime learning Asian philosophy: its ethics, aesthetics and focus on living in harmony with nature.

His hometown of Martinsville, New Jersey, didn’t have a hospital so Kehoe was born in nearby New Brunswick. After his parents divorced when he was 1, he was raised primarily by his grandmother. Times were tough and money was tight, but the area was great for little boys who loved to explore. 

“If you go up the edge of a mountain, you’re suddenly in suburban New Jersey,” he said, “But there were cows and horses, a garden. Today it’s all McMansions.”

Kehoe and his friends played along stone roads and found lead balls embedded in old trees. “When I was in college, some archaeologist ‘discovered’ it. Turns out it was George Washington’s military academy, where he trained his troops.”