The summer vacation season has a way of bringing old friends and family back to their roots. That’s what happened at the Mercer Island Reporter office on July 2, when former Sports Editor Ethan Fowler stopped by for a walk down memory lane.

From 1996 to 2000, the Kirkland-raised Fowler plied his trade at the Reporter’s office on S.E. 30th Street. After taking a newspaper job in Virginia, he wound up at the Albany Herald in Albany, Ga. But he fondly remembered Mercer Island. On vacation with his family and visiting relatives, Fowler couldn’t resist a quick stop to the place he once called home.

“I loved it here,” Fowler said. “Of all the places I used to work, this was my favorite paper.”

He enjoyed the Reporter so much that he invited a number of local coaches and athletes to his wedding in 1999. His wife, Mardene, was remarkably understanding, Fowler said.

“I’d see the [coaches and players] all the time. It seemed like the right thing to do,” he said.

Fowler, who recently celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary in June, brought his two sons, Braden and Kincade, to see photos on the Reporter’s office walls. Many chronicled great Islander sports teams of the past that he once covered.

Now an education reporter, Fowler still has the knack for getting inside a great sports story. Earlier this year, the journalist’s first book was published by Review & Herald Publishing. The paperback, “Brushed Back: The Story of Trevor Bullock,” tells the story of a troubled baseball player who finds redemption in love and religion. It was co-authored by his wife.