This is a page of "many colors" - Kalakoa. Many different topics and photos are presented here by class members whose main purpose is to share with others. Contact the Site Administrator if you want to add to the tapestry of this page.
THE QUEEN’S GARDEN PARTY
Every summer, The Queen invites more than 30,000 people from all walks of life to Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace and Holyroodhouse (The Queen’s residence in Scotland). The parties are conducted to recognize and reward public service.
Kaori O’Connor, a member of the Class of ’63, a resident of London, recently attended the party held on May 25m 2022, as a guest of an acquaintance who was an invitee.
Excerpts from emails between Kaori and John Chong provide information about Kaori’s experience. Photos are courtesy of Kaori.
KAORI: (email to John, May 19)
Hi, I thought you would find this interesting. I am going to a Garden Party at the Palace.
They hold three of them every year - only not for the last two years because of covid. To be invited you have done good works - charity, achievements in business and the arts and so on. I haven’t done them! I am going as the guest of a friend who does a lot for charity and the theatrical arts.
The invite says Lynne because it has to be the same as what is on your passport.
You have to get all dressed up, including a hat. You can also wear national dress and
for one mad moment I was tempted to wear a muumuu, but thought they might not
understand.
You get to see the private gardens, and maybe get introduced to a royal, and you
get tea and cakes in the royal tea tent.
It’s next week! Hope it doesn’t rain.
KAORI: (email to John, May 25)
It was raining and windy when I left home, and I had to wear a fascinator instead of a big hat. So I am sending you this pic of Prince William’s wife in her amazing hat.
K
Kaori O’Connor, a member of the Class of ’63, a resident of London, recently attended the party held on May 25m 2022, as a guest of an acquaintance who was an invitee.
Excerpts from emails between Kaori and John Chong provide information about Kaori’s experience. Photos are courtesy of Kaori.
KAORI: (email to John, May 19)
Hi, I thought you would find this interesting. I am going to a Garden Party at the Palace.
They hold three of them every year - only not for the last two years because of covid. To be invited you have done good works - charity, achievements in business and the arts and so on. I haven’t done them! I am going as the guest of a friend who does a lot for charity and the theatrical arts.
The invite says Lynne because it has to be the same as what is on your passport.
You have to get all dressed up, including a hat. You can also wear national dress and
for one mad moment I was tempted to wear a muumuu, but thought they might not
understand.
You get to see the private gardens, and maybe get introduced to a royal, and you
get tea and cakes in the royal tea tent.
It’s next week! Hope it doesn’t rain.
KAORI: (email to John, May 25)
It was raining and windy when I left home, and I had to wear a fascinator instead of a big hat. So I am sending you this pic of Prince William’s wife in her amazing hat.
K
JOHN: (email to Kaori, May 26)
Hiya Doc:
Seems like you had a good time.
Don't hear anything on Catherine....and I suppose that's a good thing from a Royal perspective.
The Smithsonian channel has / had an "Elizabeth" series going on. I've viewed 4 of them so far. Not sure if there will be more but it was very informative. We don't get much more than the sensationalized news when it comes to the Commonwealth.
Looks like the weather cleared up and I never knew what a fascinator was. I had to look it up!
You look great but your Hawaiian pendant doesn't show.
Thanks for sending the photos...
Malama Pono and Cheerio...
jc
KAORI: (email response to John, May 26)
Pendant underneath dress at that stage, somehow. But it was there,
and when I was asked where I was from, I said HAWAII everyone
was very impressed. Lots of aloha for our islands here.
The Garden Party was brilliantly organized, the men in top hats are
the very posh version of escorts/ushers, they look elegant and keep everything
as it should be without seeming to.
I left out the food. Finger sandwiches: smoked salmon and cucumber,
ham and tomato, egg and cress, chicken caesar wrap. Chocolate
cake, scone and strawberry jam, fruit cake, small iced cakes, almond
tart. Vanilla or chocolate cr cream. Tea, coffee, lemonade.
Very elaborate. We all think that after the present Queen passes, the
parties will be discontinued. Yesterday’s could be the last.
There are two bands playing alternately in different parts of the
palace grounds. Made me think of Iolani and Hawaii Ponoi9.
A fascinator is mounted on a headband , impossible to blow off in the
wind..
The entire front of the palace is like a building site, they are building
stands and stages for the big concert/celebration that will be held for
the Jubilee the week after next.
Yes can share pictures with Miles.
Hiya Doc:
Seems like you had a good time.
Don't hear anything on Catherine....and I suppose that's a good thing from a Royal perspective.
The Smithsonian channel has / had an "Elizabeth" series going on. I've viewed 4 of them so far. Not sure if there will be more but it was very informative. We don't get much more than the sensationalized news when it comes to the Commonwealth.
Looks like the weather cleared up and I never knew what a fascinator was. I had to look it up!
You look great but your Hawaiian pendant doesn't show.
Thanks for sending the photos...
Malama Pono and Cheerio...
jc
KAORI: (email response to John, May 26)
Pendant underneath dress at that stage, somehow. But it was there,
and when I was asked where I was from, I said HAWAII everyone
was very impressed. Lots of aloha for our islands here.
The Garden Party was brilliantly organized, the men in top hats are
the very posh version of escorts/ushers, they look elegant and keep everything
as it should be without seeming to.
I left out the food. Finger sandwiches: smoked salmon and cucumber,
ham and tomato, egg and cress, chicken caesar wrap. Chocolate
cake, scone and strawberry jam, fruit cake, small iced cakes, almond
tart. Vanilla or chocolate cr cream. Tea, coffee, lemonade.
Very elaborate. We all think that after the present Queen passes, the
parties will be discontinued. Yesterday’s could be the last.
There are two bands playing alternately in different parts of the
palace grounds. Made me think of Iolani and Hawaii Ponoi9.
A fascinator is mounted on a headband , impossible to blow off in the
wind..
The entire front of the palace is like a building site, they are building
stands and stages for the big concert/celebration that will be held for
the Jubilee the week after next.
Yes can share pictures with Miles.
This is a link to an article with additional pictures from the May 25 event - https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/g40104919/kate-middleton-prince-william-buckingham-palace-garden-party-photos-2022/ - more pictures of party
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Seaweed
When you eat sushi or a Spam musubi, do you think about the nori that is part of the dish?
Kaori O’Connor’s recent book, Seaweed, provides information about the seaweed you ate. “Combining myth, magic and science, Kaori O’Connor introduces readers to some of the 10,000 kinds of seaweed that grow on our planet, demonstrating how seaweed is both one of the world’s last great renewable resources and a culinary treasure ready for rediscovery.
There are many interesting bits of information about seaweed contained in the book. Learn how seaweed was used in different parts of the world at different times in history. Some might be interested to read about “one kind of seaweed found in the Caribbean and elsewhere - Chondrus crispus - has gained wide renown as an aphrodisiac when prepared in the Caribbean manner.” See page 105 in the section titled Irish Moss - The Caribbean Aphrodisiac.
Seaweed is the most recent of Kaori’s books. She writes books on a variety of topics as seen in some of the titles: The Never-ending Feast; The English Breakfast: The Biography of a National Meal and Lycra: How a Fiber Shaped America. Among her books are The Hawaiian Luau and Pineapple: A Global History. The Hawaiian Luau won the Sophie Coe Prize in Food History in 2009. The Sophie Coe Prize is the longest-running and most generous prize for writing in food history in the English language.
Keep writing Kaori!
Kaori O’Connor’s recent book, Seaweed, provides information about the seaweed you ate. “Combining myth, magic and science, Kaori O’Connor introduces readers to some of the 10,000 kinds of seaweed that grow on our planet, demonstrating how seaweed is both one of the world’s last great renewable resources and a culinary treasure ready for rediscovery.
There are many interesting bits of information about seaweed contained in the book. Learn how seaweed was used in different parts of the world at different times in history. Some might be interested to read about “one kind of seaweed found in the Caribbean and elsewhere - Chondrus crispus - has gained wide renown as an aphrodisiac when prepared in the Caribbean manner.” See page 105 in the section titled Irish Moss - The Caribbean Aphrodisiac.
Seaweed is the most recent of Kaori’s books. She writes books on a variety of topics as seen in some of the titles: The Never-ending Feast; The English Breakfast: The Biography of a National Meal and Lycra: How a Fiber Shaped America. Among her books are The Hawaiian Luau and Pineapple: A Global History. The Hawaiian Luau won the Sophie Coe Prize in Food History in 2009. The Sophie Coe Prize is the longest-running and most generous prize for writing in food history in the English language.
Keep writing Kaori!
Not in My Backyard!
We’ve all heard the saying “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. This year that “straw” consisted of three different four-legged animals who decided that our backyard was a good source of recreation and food for their nocturnal adventures.
After a Winter of cold and dreary weather where the only greenery you see consists of the evergreens in the neighbor’s yard, we look forward to the Spring and Summer where our backyard is a mixture of color from a variety of plants and flowers. A mixture of perennials and annuals provide an entire season of color and fragrance to enjoy before the onset of Fall. My involvement in making this happen is minimal…if providing moral support is called involvement. All of the work and planning is done by Linda, my spouse.
After a Winter of cold and dreary weather where the only greenery you see consists of the evergreens in the neighbor’s yard, we look forward to the Spring and Summer where our backyard is a mixture of color from a variety of plants and flowers. A mixture of perennials and annuals provide an entire season of color and fragrance to enjoy before the onset of Fall. My involvement in making this happen is minimal…if providing moral support is called involvement. All of the work and planning is done by Linda, my spouse.
This year was a little different from the past. We noticed more bulbs that were dug out of the ground and eaten and the strawberry patch was being trampled by larger animals. Plus, our nocturnal visitors left their calling cards and didn’t have the decency to bring their plastic bags to take their deposits when they left.
Shooting and/or poisoning animals is prohibited within our township limits so that wasn’t an option. Besides, what do you do with the carcass if you did shoot or poison?
So, we had to call an animal trapper. Several years ago we had to use a trapper when we heard strange noises in the attic and found out that a family of raccoons had chewed through a soffit and made their winter home in our attic.
Traps are set in places the animals are likely to visit during the night. Traps are metal cages with a hinged door that snaps shut when the animal enters the trap to get at the bait. Different types of bait was used - peanut butter, cabbage leaves, fruits, etc. Size of the trap is dependent on the size of the animals you expect to trap. I’ve seen raccoons in our compost area that were larger than the opening to a 30-gallon trash can. Our traps were approximately 30 X 12 X 12.
The first thing we did in the morning after putting the coffee pot on, was to check the traps. If we caught anything, we then called the trapper who came by later in the day to pickup the animal. The animals were taken away and released - it was all very humane.
In less than a month, we trapped: 9 raccoons; 2 skunks; 1 possum.
Shooting and/or poisoning animals is prohibited within our township limits so that wasn’t an option. Besides, what do you do with the carcass if you did shoot or poison?
So, we had to call an animal trapper. Several years ago we had to use a trapper when we heard strange noises in the attic and found out that a family of raccoons had chewed through a soffit and made their winter home in our attic.
Traps are set in places the animals are likely to visit during the night. Traps are metal cages with a hinged door that snaps shut when the animal enters the trap to get at the bait. Different types of bait was used - peanut butter, cabbage leaves, fruits, etc. Size of the trap is dependent on the size of the animals you expect to trap. I’ve seen raccoons in our compost area that were larger than the opening to a 30-gallon trash can. Our traps were approximately 30 X 12 X 12.
The first thing we did in the morning after putting the coffee pot on, was to check the traps. If we caught anything, we then called the trapper who came by later in the day to pickup the animal. The animals were taken away and released - it was all very humane.
In less than a month, we trapped: 9 raccoons; 2 skunks; 1 possum.
Lucky you live Hawaii if you like to garden. All you have to put up with are the mongoose and African snails!
Addicted at Eight
I am a baseball addict. I was eight-years old when I got hooked. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. I spent the summer of 1953 with my uncle’s family on Kauai and tagged along with my uncle as he coached a Pony League team during the summer. The boys on the team were older than I was and they took me under their wing and taught me how to play baseball.
Kids’ baseball in the 1950’s was not as organized and intense as youth sports are today. Equipment was old and hard to come by…nothing was ever discarded because stitching became unraveled or tears appeared in the leather glove. Baseball spikes were non-existent…those who could afford shoes wore sneakers while most of us played barefoot. We did have leather ball gloves…they were as flat as pancakes and fingers of the glove were not connected. I still remember my J.C. Higgins Andy Pafko glove. Our uniforms consisted of jeans and a silk-screened T-shirt with the insignia of the Chicago Cubs because we were the Hanapepe Cubs. Amazingly, the logo we had in 1953 is still being used the National League Chicago Cubs.
Kids’ baseball in the 1950’s was not as organized and intense as youth sports are today. Equipment was old and hard to come by…nothing was ever discarded because stitching became unraveled or tears appeared in the leather glove. Baseball spikes were non-existent…those who could afford shoes wore sneakers while most of us played barefoot. We did have leather ball gloves…they were as flat as pancakes and fingers of the glove were not connected. I still remember my J.C. Higgins Andy Pafko glove. Our uniforms consisted of jeans and a silk-screened T-shirt with the insignia of the Chicago Cubs because we were the Hanapepe Cubs. Amazingly, the logo we had in 1953 is still being used the National League Chicago Cubs.
I was lucky because I was taught all the basic fundamentals by my uncle and the boys on the team - catch the ball with two hands; follow through on my throws; how to run the bases correctly; to throw to the cut-off man; to hook and pop-up slide into bases; how to hit and bunt; and the strategy of the game. I didn’t know anything about baseball and I was like a sponge at eight-years old by the time summer was over.
My addiction continued as I grew older. I played Little League, Pony League and high school baseball. The highlight of my baseball career occurred when I was ten-years old on Opening Day of the Kaneohe Little League in 1955 when I pitched a perfect game - no hits, no runs, 16 strikeouts! This was one year before Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series so the term “perfect game” wasn’t as popular when I did it.
My addiction continued as I grew older. I played Little League, Pony League and high school baseball. The highlight of my baseball career occurred when I was ten-years old on Opening Day of the Kaneohe Little League in 1955 when I pitched a perfect game - no hits, no runs, 16 strikeouts! This was one year before Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series so the term “perfect game” wasn’t as popular when I did it.
I still remember being at the Honolulu Airport crowd as the New York Yankees deplaned on their way to barnstorm Japan in the 1950’s. I saw stars such as Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Hank Bauer and others. Ellie Howard was the first Negro (African-American was not a term in those days) ball player I ever saw and thought he was the biggest ball player I had ever seen - every adult looked huge to a small boy.
Live television broadcasts of professional baseball games did not exist during my youth. I remember watching the Gillette Game of the Week every Saturday even though I knew all the details of the game as it had been taped earlier in the week. I read the Yankee game box scores every day and could recite the “stats” of every player. This was a much simpler task in those days because the metrics were limited. The sabermetrics used in today’s game are too complicated for me to understand. Plus, a lot of them require the use of higher math that UICSM didn’t prepare me to use.
My baseball career went into decline before I completed high school although I was on the high school team. My curve ball (I attempted to pitch) no longer curved and sometimes didn’t travel the entire distance from the mound to home plate. I don’t have any memories of game-saving hits, so I must not have hit very well. Also, by this time I had other interests than baseball.
Live television broadcasts of professional baseball games did not exist during my youth. I remember watching the Gillette Game of the Week every Saturday even though I knew all the details of the game as it had been taped earlier in the week. I read the Yankee game box scores every day and could recite the “stats” of every player. This was a much simpler task in those days because the metrics were limited. The sabermetrics used in today’s game are too complicated for me to understand. Plus, a lot of them require the use of higher math that UICSM didn’t prepare me to use.
My baseball career went into decline before I completed high school although I was on the high school team. My curve ball (I attempted to pitch) no longer curved and sometimes didn’t travel the entire distance from the mound to home plate. I don’t have any memories of game-saving hits, so I must not have hit very well. Also, by this time I had other interests than baseball.
Both my sons played baseball and enjoyed it. I resisted, and was successful, in not trying to re-live my baseball career through theirs. It was hard at times but I had seen the effect of what others who did this and realized that no one was happy.
I have two grandsons now and they are too young to decide whether they want to play baseball. However, I do everything I can to influence that a little with the hats, clothes, and toys that have a baseball flavor. I’ll be there if they want my help.
I have two grandsons now and they are too young to decide whether they want to play baseball. However, I do everything I can to influence that a little with the hats, clothes, and toys that have a baseball flavor. I’ll be there if they want my help.
I didn’t know that retirement would revive my active baseball career. The local park district sent me a letter and asked if I wanted to participate in a 65-year and older softball league. I jumped on that like a dog on a bone. For the past six years I’ve been playing 16-inch softball from May to September on Saturday and Tuesday mornings. Everyone is at least 65-years old and there are some players in their late 70’s and early 80’s - both men and women play. The quality of play at the game is a lot better than what I see at the T-ball league in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, as the years go by, what used to be home runs in years past, are only doubles and singles today.
One item on my bucket list was completed this Spring. I spent four days in Mesa, Arizona attending Spring Training games. I arrived at the Chicago Cubs training complex in the morning and watched the famous and unknown minor leaguers do calisthenics, take fielding and batting practice, and go through other fundamentals. I saw close-up what a ball player who earns $33 million a year does to earn that kind of money. The talent of all the players was obvious and what was more evident, was the difference between the super-star and the non-superstar. Everything the super-star did was obvious - they threw harder, faster, farther; balls off their bats had a different sound, went higher and farther; and they looked like super-stars. I was able to watch the Giants, Dodgers, Cubs, Brewers, and White Sox play during the trip and sometimes watched a game in the afternoon and traveled to another stadium to watch a night game.
My baseball life will be complete and my addiction cured, WHEN the Chicago Cubs win the World Series!!!!
A Golfer's Dream
What did Tiger Woods do at age six and Elsie McLean at age 102 do that Howard Yoshiura at age 69 also did?
You got it…they all scored a hole-in-one on the golf course! According to Golf Digest, the chance of an average player making a hole-in-one is 12,000 to 1.
Howie got his on December 30, 2014 at the Navy Marine golf course’s 145 yard 12th hole using a six iron. To be official, the shot has to be witnessed by other golfers. According to Howie, “it was especially memorable since I was golfing with a UHS Class of ’63 foursome, and they all witnessed it. It was a bummer cuz I couldn’t even see the ball flight due to my bad eyesight. My witnesses were Dennis Sugihara, Ken Chun, and Walt Fong.”
This was Howie’s first and only hold-in-one that he’s had and he said “considering that I’ve only been actively playing now for just over four years, and if I can continue to play for another ten years, I might have a shot at a couple more hole-in-ones. If my UICSM calculations are correct…it’s in the future.”
Here are some comments from those who witnessed Howie’s hole-in-one and classmates who golf with Howie:
Dennis Sugihara: It certainly was a beautiful day!! The shot was beautifully executed, high and directly on line with the pin. It bounced a couple of times and rolled into the hole! We were all yelling with excitement, except Yosh, who is blind and didn’t see it go in. As a aftermath, when we got to the 17th hole it started to drizzle. By the time we were finishing up on 18, the heavens opened up and we got drenched to the bone. I think God was p.o’d that Yosh made a hole-in-one. We left the course directly and never got our free drinks!
Ken “Bongo” Chun: Yep….poor Yosh did not see it drop! I believe that Sugi shot his low round of the year that day. Our score keeper could verify that. We also got drenched on the 18th hole and the parking lot turned into a lake. Howie drove Sugi and me so poor Howie’s beautiful 4-Runner interior was soaking wet from our drenched bodies. We didn’t get to settle our skins for the day so I’ll pay up in October if those 70 year olds remind me. Also Howie owes me a beer for that Ace. Fun times were had by all as always! Save those quarter Miles…..your classmates are ruthless.
Information from Howie about other classmates who have an “ace” on the links are:
- Walt Fong who has had four or five hole-in-ones in his golfing career. “According to him (Waller), he says after the first one, they kinda keep rolling into the hole with very little effort!”
- Vern “claims” to have had a hole-in-one that was “undocumented” at HIC a few years back (5-7 years ago). Only reason it was undocumented was that no one saw it (John Lee was in some bushes trying to find his ball off the tee) and other golfers they were playing with weren’t paying any attention and Vern was too short to see the ball on the green roll into the hole. He found his ball in the hole after 5-10 minutes looking all around the green to try to find it. Vern never reported it to the starter’s desk because he was too shy to claim it.
Staten Island Ferry - 1966
One of the subjects overheard during the reunion were experiences of those who went off-island to attend college. Evidently there were many different coping methods used to overcome the feelings of being homesick and adapting to being in new environments. It seems as if many of the guys wrote letters to a certain classmate (who shall remain nameless) detailing their feelings and experiences of being off-island.
Staten Island Ferry 1966 - Sandra Aoki (Ohara), Ricky AuHoy, Carolyn Watanabe (Adler)
“It was Christmas Break - Sandra, Wata and I can't remember who else met in NYC. I do know there were at least six girls staying in a room on the first floor of a no-star hotel on West 50th Street. I stayed upstairs since I was the only guy (the Iolani and Punahou guys had better places to stay). Merle Eguchi took the picture (she's in one of the other pictures). I think both Sandra and Wata felt sorry for me - 20 years old and my first Christmas away from home - so they invited me to join them."
Staten Island Ferry 1966 - Sandra Aoki (Ohara), Ricky AuHoy, Carolyn Watanabe (Adler)
“It was Christmas Break - Sandra, Wata and I can't remember who else met in NYC. I do know there were at least six girls staying in a room on the first floor of a no-star hotel on West 50th Street. I stayed upstairs since I was the only guy (the Iolani and Punahou guys had better places to stay). Merle Eguchi took the picture (she's in one of the other pictures). I think both Sandra and Wata felt sorry for me - 20 years old and my first Christmas away from home - so they invited me to join them."
Ansel Adams and Ann Reid's Mother
During her stay in Hawaii during the reunion, Ann took some time to visit the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Honolulu Museum of Art because she has a personal interest in the exhibit.
The exhibit is from 1958-59 photos Adams took here in Hawaii. I have a copy of the book the Bishop Bank (now First Hawaiian) bank put out. The reason I have a copy is because my mother's photo is in the book from when Adams took photos on Coconut Island. i have the copy she was given.
Much to my dismay, the photo of her was not in the exhibit. Guess photo of woman scientist is still too revolutionary, as it was in '58/'59. I fully expected to see the photo Ansel Adams took of my mother, Della Reid, in that exhibit because her photo is in the book of photos from which the exhibit is based.
So I found out the name of the person who chose the photos and sent her an email. Here is her reply:
Dear Dr. Slaby,
Thank you for your message! I love that photograph of your mother, and I'm so pleased that you took the time to write to me and tell me her story. We're collecting stories and memories about the subjects in all of the photographs, so your email is most welcome. Unfortunately, the picture was not included in the show due to spatial constraints. We had to limit ourselves largely to Adams's fine art prints from the Hawaii pictures, which meant that we regretfully had to pass on many, many important images. Strangely, Adams issued the photograph of the bank officers as a fine-art print, and it's generating a lot of comments along similar lines to yours!
Even though your mother's photograph is not in the show, her contributions to the fields of chemistry and marine biology at a time when there were even fewer women scientists than there are today is fascinating! And Adams clearly recognized this. Hers would make a perfect story for our weekly e-newsletter, which goes out to our entire membership. Would it be OK if our Director of Communications, Lesa Griffith, were to interview you? I copy her here by way of introduction.
Thank you again for contacting me! On a different note, my husband is also in patent law--he's an agent with a background in astrophysics!
Kind regards,
Theresa Papanikolas
The exhibit is from 1958-59 photos Adams took here in Hawaii. I have a copy of the book the Bishop Bank (now First Hawaiian) bank put out. The reason I have a copy is because my mother's photo is in the book from when Adams took photos on Coconut Island. i have the copy she was given.
Much to my dismay, the photo of her was not in the exhibit. Guess photo of woman scientist is still too revolutionary, as it was in '58/'59. I fully expected to see the photo Ansel Adams took of my mother, Della Reid, in that exhibit because her photo is in the book of photos from which the exhibit is based.
So I found out the name of the person who chose the photos and sent her an email. Here is her reply:
Dear Dr. Slaby,
Thank you for your message! I love that photograph of your mother, and I'm so pleased that you took the time to write to me and tell me her story. We're collecting stories and memories about the subjects in all of the photographs, so your email is most welcome. Unfortunately, the picture was not included in the show due to spatial constraints. We had to limit ourselves largely to Adams's fine art prints from the Hawaii pictures, which meant that we regretfully had to pass on many, many important images. Strangely, Adams issued the photograph of the bank officers as a fine-art print, and it's generating a lot of comments along similar lines to yours!
Even though your mother's photograph is not in the show, her contributions to the fields of chemistry and marine biology at a time when there were even fewer women scientists than there are today is fascinating! And Adams clearly recognized this. Hers would make a perfect story for our weekly e-newsletter, which goes out to our entire membership. Would it be OK if our Director of Communications, Lesa Griffith, were to interview you? I copy her here by way of introduction.
Thank you again for contacting me! On a different note, my husband is also in patent law--he's an agent with a background in astrophysics!
Kind regards,
Theresa Papanikolas
Things You Find In Common
Ann Reid (Slaby) and Kaori O’Connor have kept in touch through all these years and during a series of conversations this summer found out some things they have in common.
I had numerous email conversations with Kaori about the Rim Fire this summer that incinerated 402 square miles of forest lands outside and inside Yosemite National Park. The fire began on August 17, 2013 and is expected to be fully contained on October 27 2013.
The Rim Fire was a wildfire in the central Sierra Nevada region, in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties of California in the U.S. The fire started on August 17, 2013.[2] It was the third largest wildfire in California's history,[8] having burned 257,314 acres (402.053 sq mi; 1,041.31 km2),[2][9] and is the biggest wildfire on record in the Sierra Nevada. The fire was caused by a hunter's illegal fire that went out of control[10] and was named for its proximity to the Rim of the World vista point[11] in the Stanislaus National Forest.
An interesting coincidence arose in this extended conversation with Kaori. My grandfather, William Reid (1854-1935), was a physician and came to California after the Civil War with his 4 brothers (3 MD's and 1 pharmacist). In 1882 he became the county physician in charge of the county hospital in Mariposa county before Yosemite became a national park (1890).Yosemite is in Mariposa county. Kaori's Me Wuk (Mi Wok) Indian great grandmother lived in Yosemite Valley at that time. Kaori's great grand mother had married a white man and began using white man's medicine. Kaori and I figured my grandfather and her great grandmother might have met. At least it was fun to think so.
I had numerous email conversations with Kaori about the Rim Fire this summer that incinerated 402 square miles of forest lands outside and inside Yosemite National Park. The fire began on August 17, 2013 and is expected to be fully contained on October 27 2013.
The Rim Fire was a wildfire in the central Sierra Nevada region, in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties of California in the U.S. The fire started on August 17, 2013.[2] It was the third largest wildfire in California's history,[8] having burned 257,314 acres (402.053 sq mi; 1,041.31 km2),[2][9] and is the biggest wildfire on record in the Sierra Nevada. The fire was caused by a hunter's illegal fire that went out of control[10] and was named for its proximity to the Rim of the World vista point[11] in the Stanislaus National Forest.
An interesting coincidence arose in this extended conversation with Kaori. My grandfather, William Reid (1854-1935), was a physician and came to California after the Civil War with his 4 brothers (3 MD's and 1 pharmacist). In 1882 he became the county physician in charge of the county hospital in Mariposa county before Yosemite became a national park (1890).Yosemite is in Mariposa county. Kaori's Me Wuk (Mi Wok) Indian great grandmother lived in Yosemite Valley at that time. Kaori's great grand mother had married a white man and began using white man's medicine. Kaori and I figured my grandfather and her great grandmother might have met. At least it was fun to think so.
Where You Wen' Grad?
This article was written by Joan Clarke, Kailua '67 and appeared in the July 1994 Honolulu Magazine. The article has been shared among some members of the Class of '63 and we thought it would be good to share it with everyone. Although UHS is not one of the schools mentioned in the article, the information will bring back forgotten memories.
Shopping recently in San Francisco, Bank of Hawai’i executive Lee Carson was presenting her driver’s license to a sales clerk at Nordstrom’s for identification.
“Are you from Hawai’i?, asked the clerk, “So am I.”
“Where are you from?” Carson asked.
“Farrington.” replied the clerk.
Carson was surprised—not because the clerk answered with a high school rather than a place. She was surprised because the clerk didn’t fit her stereotype of the Farrington graduate.
“I expected pidgin when she said Farrington,: Carson said with a chuckle.
“This was a salesclerk who was poised and well spoken. And she was Japanese, she wasn’t a tita!”
Ask people from the islands where they’re from or where they went to school, and you’ll most likely get their high school—not their college or university, the answer most other Americans would give.
This curious practice goes hand-in-hand with the way we identify a person by his or her high school. Just the mention of a high school conjures up certain images about a person that are ingrained in those of us who grew up here.
For example, whenever I say I went to Kailua High School, the person I’m talking to will respond , “Oh, a Kailua girl, huh?” I know that person is snickering to himself and imagining all those “wild Kailua girls” from the ‘60s.
Being an island girl, I’m always amused by this phenomenon. But I was even more amused to hear this topic discussed at a party one night. Judge James Burns was commenting about how he always asks job applicants where they went to high school. Then he went on to rattle off some of his stereotypes of island high schools. This was important stuff to Judge Burns. I decided it deserved some serious exploration.
So I created a questionnaire that asked people about their high schools. How did they characterize their own high schools and what stereotypes did they have of others? Were those stereotypes important to them in social and business situations?
I sent dozens of questionnaires to friends and relatives who attended high school in Hawai’i. I talked with others about their high school perceptions. In all, my poll included more than 50 people.
One thing I found out was, although high school stereotypes still exist today, they seem to be most entrenched among graduates of the ‘50s, ‘60s, and early ‘70s. In those days, a high school pinpointed where an individual grew up in Hawai’i. “Town” school kids were not considered the same as “Country” kids. “Country school” and Neighbor Island students were considered “Country Jacks” less sophisticated and less “with it” in the minds of Honolulu kids.
On the other hand, there was a snobbishness associated with town schools. “We felt towny school kids were not down to earth like we were. They had their noses in the air.” says Carolyn Heath, a ’74 Leilehua graduate.
Private school vs. public school—Rich kids went to private school, said the conventional wisdom; others went to public school (although some public schools, located in the affluent neighborhoods of Honolulu were assumed to have a wealthier class of students.) Public school graduates assume private school kids had a better education, therefore, they must be smarter. Private school graduates claim they had a tougher curriculum than public school students, therefore they are smarter.
How did these stereotypes come about? Well, there was the occasional interschool debate, exchange day, or social event between high schools that provided a peek at another school’s student body.
But football games were the best and most popular way for high schoolers to show off and socialize with other high schools. The old Honolulu Stadium use to bulge at the seams with spirited high schoolers wanting to stamp out their rivals. The football leagues were different than they are now. Up until 1970, the “city” schools on O’ahu, public and private, were pitted against each other. The “country” or Windward and Leeward O’ahu competed among themselves. The intense football rivalries were behind some of the stereotypes that persist today about some schools. Kahuku High and Wai’anae High were known for their big guys . Kalani was always the loser, and Punahou was the target of every football team. “We hated Punahou.” Recalls a ’70 McKinley graduate. “They bought football victories with athletic scholarships.” “My fondest memory of high school is beating Punahou at the Turkey Day game.” Recalls a ’67 Kaimuki graduate.
The resentment against Punahou wasn’t confined to football. “Rich haole snobs” was almost everyone’s assessment of Punahou students, including some of its own alumni. “We were the best and we were made to believe it.” Says Marilyn Kiner, a ’64 graduate. “Other schools weren’t as smart as we were; they didn’t get the same education. We were number one.” Those outside the Punahou community usually add a disclaimer. “You expect them to be smart, but they’re not.” Says a Farrington graduate.
A few blocks away from Punahou is Roosevelt, once its archrival in sports (The Paint Brush trophy) and, back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, another school with an elite reputation. In those days, Roosevelt was considered tops among public schools because until 1960, it was an English Standard School—where enrollment was limited to students with proper English-speaking skills. If you had to pass a test to get into a public school, then the school must be better than others, went the reasoning.
If you couldn’t get into Roosevelt, you went to McKinley. It was called “Tokyo High” because of its predominantly Japanese student body. Even in the late ‘70s, McKinley was characterized as “the place of Randalls and Dexters, Charlenes and Joyces,” popular first names for kids of Japanese descent. The feeling also was that McKinley girls looked good because of their Scotch-taped eyes and lots of makeup.
But the really cute girls were from Kaimuki. “We did have a few who enhanced our reputation,” concedes ’64 graduate Corey Park.
And where were the good-looking guys? Farrington, St. Louis and Kamehameha. “The cute guys were at St. Louis,” says TV personality Emme Tomingbang. The Catholic “Portagee” boys in white shirts and skinny ties were flashy with their hot cars. “But it was an unspoken thing—we weren’t supposed to date St. Louis guys. It’s bachi that I married a St. Louis man,” chuckles Tomimbang, whose husband, Judge James Burns, is a St. Louis alum. The other heartthrobs were Kamehameha’s good looking Hawaiian guys, decked out in their ROTC uniforms. Two decades ago, “Kam” was a blue color vocational school that turned out policemen, firemen, and telephone pole climbers, all good looking, of course.
Farrington was “rough.” “It was rough then and now more than before,” observes a Farrington graduate of the 1950s. In the minds of many, the Governors were mostly Samoan and “kids from housing” referring to the low-income housing projects in the Kalihi area. “We were always considered the underdogs,” recalls Tomimbang, a ’68 Farrington graduate, who led the cheering squad when football was king on campus. “We grew up thinking we were second best; even McKinley was better.”
If education was a priority, then you went to a school like ‘Iolani, where intellectual nerds, brains, and geeks were turned out. “People would say, whoa, you go to ‘Iolani, you must be smart.” Comments ’68 graduate Wesley Chong. Up until 1977, ‘Iolani’s primarily Asian, all-male, well-mannered student body was “mostly the sons of dentists and orthodontists,” who found social diversion among the “fun, boy-crazy” St. Andrew’s Priory girls.
If you couldn’t pass the entrance requirements for ‘Iolani or Punahou, or you were a bad kid—and your parents insisted on a private school—you went to Mid-Pacific Institute, Hawai’i Preparatory Academy on the Big Island. Like Seabury Hall on Maui, they all shared the reputation of being “the school for bad kids, the ones that Punahou didn’t want. It was almost true.” Says Lee Carson of her alma mater, Seabury Hall.
Talk about rich, and you were talking about Kalani among the public schools. Because of its dead-center location in the affluent Waialae-Kahala neighborhood, Kalani students were considered wealthy. “Kids had their own cars, and wore clothes out of Seventeen,” remembers a ’68 Kalani graduate.
Among the country schools, Kailua High had the distinction of being the poor mans Punahou, because of its predominately Caucasian makeup and its affluent Kailua neighborhoods. But according to a Kailua alumnus from the early ‘60s, a more accurate description would be “Marine-base smart-ass haoles, mokes from Waimanalo and the local kids from Kailua town.” “Kill haole day” was an annual event, still memorable to many. Kailua was perhaps best known for its role in the surfing craze of the 1960s and for its girls being wild and fast. But despite being “cool”, Kailua was still considered a “country” school. There are other country schools of note. The “country Jacks” notion still sticks to Leilehua and Radford, along with their “military kids” reputation. For Waipahu, it’s been “Filipino capital.”
The distinctions among high schools are superficial at best. Country or town, private or public, dominance by one ethnic group or another—every school has its ethnic and social diversity: the nerds, the popular social types, the jocks and the cheerleaders, the brains, and the blockheads. Stereotyping according to a person’s high school is far from accurate or fair. What does where you went to high school have to do with anything important?
For many people, it’s an effective icebreaker. If you ask someone of roughly the same age “where you wen’ grad?” inevitably the next question is “ Did you know____?” If there’s a mutual acquaintance, conversation usually proceeds to other people, teachers, school landmarks, and events. “It’s a frame of reference. It identifies areas of commonality,” comments Lee Carson.
If two people discover they went to the same school, there’s an immediate bonding and camaraderie established. “I feel more connected to the individual if he or she graduated from my high school,” said a McKinley graduate of the 1980s.
Where a person went to high school might even influence how people talk to each other. Says a ’62 McKinley graduate, “If I were talking to a Hawaiian person from Roosevelt or McKinley, I would lay on the pidgin. If a person were from Waipahu, I might throw in a little Filipino. Kailua, Punahou, Kalani—no pidgin at all.
Shopping recently in San Francisco, Bank of Hawai’i executive Lee Carson was presenting her driver’s license to a sales clerk at Nordstrom’s for identification.
“Are you from Hawai’i?, asked the clerk, “So am I.”
“Where are you from?” Carson asked.
“Farrington.” replied the clerk.
Carson was surprised—not because the clerk answered with a high school rather than a place. She was surprised because the clerk didn’t fit her stereotype of the Farrington graduate.
“I expected pidgin when she said Farrington,: Carson said with a chuckle.
“This was a salesclerk who was poised and well spoken. And she was Japanese, she wasn’t a tita!”
Ask people from the islands where they’re from or where they went to school, and you’ll most likely get their high school—not their college or university, the answer most other Americans would give.
This curious practice goes hand-in-hand with the way we identify a person by his or her high school. Just the mention of a high school conjures up certain images about a person that are ingrained in those of us who grew up here.
For example, whenever I say I went to Kailua High School, the person I’m talking to will respond , “Oh, a Kailua girl, huh?” I know that person is snickering to himself and imagining all those “wild Kailua girls” from the ‘60s.
Being an island girl, I’m always amused by this phenomenon. But I was even more amused to hear this topic discussed at a party one night. Judge James Burns was commenting about how he always asks job applicants where they went to high school. Then he went on to rattle off some of his stereotypes of island high schools. This was important stuff to Judge Burns. I decided it deserved some serious exploration.
So I created a questionnaire that asked people about their high schools. How did they characterize their own high schools and what stereotypes did they have of others? Were those stereotypes important to them in social and business situations?
I sent dozens of questionnaires to friends and relatives who attended high school in Hawai’i. I talked with others about their high school perceptions. In all, my poll included more than 50 people.
One thing I found out was, although high school stereotypes still exist today, they seem to be most entrenched among graduates of the ‘50s, ‘60s, and early ‘70s. In those days, a high school pinpointed where an individual grew up in Hawai’i. “Town” school kids were not considered the same as “Country” kids. “Country school” and Neighbor Island students were considered “Country Jacks” less sophisticated and less “with it” in the minds of Honolulu kids.
On the other hand, there was a snobbishness associated with town schools. “We felt towny school kids were not down to earth like we were. They had their noses in the air.” says Carolyn Heath, a ’74 Leilehua graduate.
Private school vs. public school—Rich kids went to private school, said the conventional wisdom; others went to public school (although some public schools, located in the affluent neighborhoods of Honolulu were assumed to have a wealthier class of students.) Public school graduates assume private school kids had a better education, therefore, they must be smarter. Private school graduates claim they had a tougher curriculum than public school students, therefore they are smarter.
How did these stereotypes come about? Well, there was the occasional interschool debate, exchange day, or social event between high schools that provided a peek at another school’s student body.
But football games were the best and most popular way for high schoolers to show off and socialize with other high schools. The old Honolulu Stadium use to bulge at the seams with spirited high schoolers wanting to stamp out their rivals. The football leagues were different than they are now. Up until 1970, the “city” schools on O’ahu, public and private, were pitted against each other. The “country” or Windward and Leeward O’ahu competed among themselves. The intense football rivalries were behind some of the stereotypes that persist today about some schools. Kahuku High and Wai’anae High were known for their big guys . Kalani was always the loser, and Punahou was the target of every football team. “We hated Punahou.” Recalls a ’70 McKinley graduate. “They bought football victories with athletic scholarships.” “My fondest memory of high school is beating Punahou at the Turkey Day game.” Recalls a ’67 Kaimuki graduate.
The resentment against Punahou wasn’t confined to football. “Rich haole snobs” was almost everyone’s assessment of Punahou students, including some of its own alumni. “We were the best and we were made to believe it.” Says Marilyn Kiner, a ’64 graduate. “Other schools weren’t as smart as we were; they didn’t get the same education. We were number one.” Those outside the Punahou community usually add a disclaimer. “You expect them to be smart, but they’re not.” Says a Farrington graduate.
A few blocks away from Punahou is Roosevelt, once its archrival in sports (The Paint Brush trophy) and, back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, another school with an elite reputation. In those days, Roosevelt was considered tops among public schools because until 1960, it was an English Standard School—where enrollment was limited to students with proper English-speaking skills. If you had to pass a test to get into a public school, then the school must be better than others, went the reasoning.
If you couldn’t get into Roosevelt, you went to McKinley. It was called “Tokyo High” because of its predominantly Japanese student body. Even in the late ‘70s, McKinley was characterized as “the place of Randalls and Dexters, Charlenes and Joyces,” popular first names for kids of Japanese descent. The feeling also was that McKinley girls looked good because of their Scotch-taped eyes and lots of makeup.
But the really cute girls were from Kaimuki. “We did have a few who enhanced our reputation,” concedes ’64 graduate Corey Park.
And where were the good-looking guys? Farrington, St. Louis and Kamehameha. “The cute guys were at St. Louis,” says TV personality Emme Tomingbang. The Catholic “Portagee” boys in white shirts and skinny ties were flashy with their hot cars. “But it was an unspoken thing—we weren’t supposed to date St. Louis guys. It’s bachi that I married a St. Louis man,” chuckles Tomimbang, whose husband, Judge James Burns, is a St. Louis alum. The other heartthrobs were Kamehameha’s good looking Hawaiian guys, decked out in their ROTC uniforms. Two decades ago, “Kam” was a blue color vocational school that turned out policemen, firemen, and telephone pole climbers, all good looking, of course.
Farrington was “rough.” “It was rough then and now more than before,” observes a Farrington graduate of the 1950s. In the minds of many, the Governors were mostly Samoan and “kids from housing” referring to the low-income housing projects in the Kalihi area. “We were always considered the underdogs,” recalls Tomimbang, a ’68 Farrington graduate, who led the cheering squad when football was king on campus. “We grew up thinking we were second best; even McKinley was better.”
If education was a priority, then you went to a school like ‘Iolani, where intellectual nerds, brains, and geeks were turned out. “People would say, whoa, you go to ‘Iolani, you must be smart.” Comments ’68 graduate Wesley Chong. Up until 1977, ‘Iolani’s primarily Asian, all-male, well-mannered student body was “mostly the sons of dentists and orthodontists,” who found social diversion among the “fun, boy-crazy” St. Andrew’s Priory girls.
If you couldn’t pass the entrance requirements for ‘Iolani or Punahou, or you were a bad kid—and your parents insisted on a private school—you went to Mid-Pacific Institute, Hawai’i Preparatory Academy on the Big Island. Like Seabury Hall on Maui, they all shared the reputation of being “the school for bad kids, the ones that Punahou didn’t want. It was almost true.” Says Lee Carson of her alma mater, Seabury Hall.
Talk about rich, and you were talking about Kalani among the public schools. Because of its dead-center location in the affluent Waialae-Kahala neighborhood, Kalani students were considered wealthy. “Kids had their own cars, and wore clothes out of Seventeen,” remembers a ’68 Kalani graduate.
Among the country schools, Kailua High had the distinction of being the poor mans Punahou, because of its predominately Caucasian makeup and its affluent Kailua neighborhoods. But according to a Kailua alumnus from the early ‘60s, a more accurate description would be “Marine-base smart-ass haoles, mokes from Waimanalo and the local kids from Kailua town.” “Kill haole day” was an annual event, still memorable to many. Kailua was perhaps best known for its role in the surfing craze of the 1960s and for its girls being wild and fast. But despite being “cool”, Kailua was still considered a “country” school. There are other country schools of note. The “country Jacks” notion still sticks to Leilehua and Radford, along with their “military kids” reputation. For Waipahu, it’s been “Filipino capital.”
The distinctions among high schools are superficial at best. Country or town, private or public, dominance by one ethnic group or another—every school has its ethnic and social diversity: the nerds, the popular social types, the jocks and the cheerleaders, the brains, and the blockheads. Stereotyping according to a person’s high school is far from accurate or fair. What does where you went to high school have to do with anything important?
For many people, it’s an effective icebreaker. If you ask someone of roughly the same age “where you wen’ grad?” inevitably the next question is “ Did you know____?” If there’s a mutual acquaintance, conversation usually proceeds to other people, teachers, school landmarks, and events. “It’s a frame of reference. It identifies areas of commonality,” comments Lee Carson.
If two people discover they went to the same school, there’s an immediate bonding and camaraderie established. “I feel more connected to the individual if he or she graduated from my high school,” said a McKinley graduate of the 1980s.
Where a person went to high school might even influence how people talk to each other. Says a ’62 McKinley graduate, “If I were talking to a Hawaiian person from Roosevelt or McKinley, I would lay on the pidgin. If a person were from Waipahu, I might throw in a little Filipino. Kailua, Punahou, Kalani—no pidgin at all.
Howard Yoshiura and the Peace Corps
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” These are probably the most quoted words from President Kennedy’s inaugural address and is the clarion call for the youth of the 1960’s to serve their country in some capacity. During the 1960 presidential campaign at the University of Michigan, Kennedy used the term “Peace Corps” for the first time.
Executive Order 10924, issued by President Kennedy on March 1, 1961 and authorized by Congress on September 22, 1961, established the Peace Corps. The program’s purpose was: “To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.”
Since 1961, over 210,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps and have served in 139 countries. Two of our classmates have served in the Peace Corps - Carolyn Watanabe (Adler) and Howard Yoshiura. Carolyn was in India and Howard in Micronesia.
We wanted to find out more about their experiences and asked them questions. Below are Howard’s responses to our questions. Carolyn’s account will follow in another Kalakoa article.
When were you in the Peace Corps?
From Fall 1967 after graduating from Lawrence University, to the summer of 1971. The initial tour was for two years but I volunteered another tour and served in the Peace Corps for a total of four years.
Why did you join?
Peace Corps was recruiting on our LU campus in spring of ‘67, and several of my friends were considering this as option after graduation. We were interested enough to complete applications right there during the recruitment session. The Viet Nam situation was heating up, and alternatives were go to grad school & likely get drafted, go join the work force & be drafted, or volunteer for service before getting drafted. As I was tired of school, and did graduate w/ degree in Anthropology, the opportunity to live & work in another culture seemed to be a great opportunity to put some of the “book learning” to practical use. Besides, we were told that we could select the country/culture that we would like to be assigned to. Since I actually studied some of the cultures of the Pacific, I elected to go to Micronesia. Ultimately to be assigned to Palau District (there were districts of Truk, Yap, Ponape, & Palau). The alternative of serving in Peace Corps seemed much better than going to Viet Nam & getting shot at (no disrespect to any of our military folks that actually went to VN, and did get shot at). One of my best friends that I met during PC basic training ended up getting “washed out” of the PC program. It was just a judgment call by our training administrators & our instructors (we were actually being graded, and evaluated throughout the program). Anyway, he was sent back to Iowa, his hometown, and within 6 months was drafted. He went to VN in the heat of the war, was an ARVN(Airborne Ranger) and on one of his last missions before being scheduled to come home, he went MIA…never to be found. Sad but true story…and I’m sure you know many others that were like him.
What was the process to determine what you would do in the Peace Corps?
Not much of a process. They gave us “basic training” in our area of specialty during our 12 – 14 week training program, and at the end we were supposed to be “experts”…that was a bunch of bull. Our training was very intensive (not as tough as military boot camp), but we had language training by in-country speakers of the language, and our specialty training. We spoke nothing but our “foreign” language from sun-up to sun-down; we trained into the evening; and ate nothing but “in country” food. I must have lost 20 – 30 pounds in basic training alone. The food in Truk (where we trained) was horrible. Every so often our host family would slaughter a couple of chickens and cook them up for dinner. The chickens were so scrawny they hardly had any meat on the bones…kinda had to suck on the bones for some flavor, and ate with taro, tapioca, and rice.
What training did you receive to prepare for your Peace Corps assignment?
In addition to the previous question, we had intense language training from host country natives – they lived w/ us for the full period of training, so we spoke nothing but their language until it became second nature, and at least we were able to understand, speak & be understood, and conduct basic conversations in their language.
We also had specialty training – Most of the volunteers were TESL (Teaching English as Second Language) teachers, so they learned the various programs, developed plans, etc. I was actually assigned to be an Agriculture specialist, so I spent most of my specialty training out in coconut groves learning how to cultivate, grow, space, plant, and cut down & thin out over crowded groves. That’s where we saw many of coconut crabs while we’re out working in the coconut groves, and plowing thru those forest like conditions.
What the locals used to do is go out into the coconut groves(where these guys feed), and look around at night(yikes). If you’re real quiet, you can actually hear them crawling around & you don’t want to step on one, as those pinchers can do some real damage. They hunt for them with a strong flashlight. They can sometimes even be found in the coconut trees trying to harvest some nuts. They cut them off with those big pinchers, and drop ‘em to the ground. After dropping a few, they’ll climb down & dinner is waiting on the ground. One of the interesting sights I saw was two of these crabs fighting over a coconut…yup, guess one dropped it down from the tree, and other one thought he’d horn in on dinner; then discovered that he wasn’t invited.
The more sophisticated crab catchers actually built traps & would bait them with coconut meat, or sometimes raw fish too. The younger adventurers that were just out hunting for a meal would just go track ‘em down in the groves, find them, and catch them. They do not move too quickly, so you can get behind them, and actually grab them by the back…pinchers can’t reach behind. They would hold them down with a stick or palm frond, press them against the ground, then grab them from the back. They would use twine to tie them up, and also tie the pinchers closed so they can’t do any damage. Once they were tied up, they built a big open fire, then throw them on the fire…10 – 15 minutes of cooking, and your crab is done. Break out the musubi or tapioca & taro, and you got a major meal!! Yes, the crabs also discovered that human food was just as good as climbing for coconuts, so that’s why you see this photo of the crab on the garbage can. I’ve even heard of incidents when these suckers would go into someone’s home & raid food that was left out on a table, or from the cupboard. They’re quite resourceful, and have learned to adapt to modern society in these isolated islands…these crabs are found all over Micronesia.
Where did you spend your time in the Peace Corps?
As mentioned, I was assigned to the Palau District. By character, Palauans are among the most aggressive people of the Micronesian islanders. They are aggressive business people, they are bold, and aggressive in their personalities, and they can be almost obnoxious at times too. Unlike the Yapese & Trukese that are more quiet, submissive, and culturally subdued; the Palauans are entirely opposite. But because of their aggressive nature, they branched out all around the various districts in Micronesia, they built businesses, they ventured into government service, migrated to US, and other areas of the world. All to try to build a better lifestyle. Today, there are Palauans all over the USA, Guam, and other South East Asian countries asl well.
What memories do you have about your time in the Peace Corps?
My adopted family were really wonderful, and I was very quickly and unconditionally accepted by them. I lived with them, ate all my meals with them. My adopted father taught me to fish (mostly spear fish), and I learned well & became quite proficient in my fishing. Well enough whereby they actually depended on me to help put food on the table. There we fished by the tides, weather & seasons. Certain times of the month there was great fishing at reef’s edge in deep water (schools of thousands of papio & ulua swimming by)…just shoot & haul them in, then string them up. We used to refer to the fishing places by name (kinda like surf spots all have individual names or golf courses have their names), and when we were going fishing, we’d tell our friends/family where we were going, and all the fishing spots were referred to as “our icebox”, and we’re going to pick out our “steak for this evening”!
Are you still affiliated with the Peace Corps today?
Not at all.
Why do you think there isn’t as much publicity and interest in joining the Peace Corps today?
I don’t really know, but if I were to venture a guess it’s definitely not a glorious or romantic career, it’s not a “macho” endeavor and really appeals to only a very small population of our young people. Back then in 60’s & 70’s there were many married couples that joined together, there were older people that volunteered. And of course the majority were single young men & women that wanted to do something adventuresome for couple years, and opportunity to travel & get paid.
Did I say get paid? We earned a small stipend or allowance of $100 a month. However, in a country like Micronesia, one could buy a lot for that $100. Partly the reason that my family treated me so well was due to the fact that I told them to go to the local “grocery store” and buy whatever they needed every week for the household. Don’t misunderstand…that local store was smaller than a one-car garage, and basically stocked canned foods like corned beef, spam, Vienna sausage, rice, few canned veggies, and otherwise household stuff like soap, dish wash detergent, toilet paper, etc. It was no Safeway or Costco for sure. I know for fact that there were other guys that joined for similar reasons that I did, to avoid getting drafted to go VN.
Were there others in our class who were also in the Peace Corps?
Yes. I believe Carolyn Watanabe was in PC as was Peter her husband. I think they met when they were in the PC.
How did the Peace Corps help you later in your life?
It helped me assure that I would make it to “later in life”…I was not shot at, nor did I have to pull hazardous duty. As I’ve told myself many times over, if I live to be 80 years old, I will have spent 5% of my entire lifetime serving & living in Micronesia and wouldn’t trade that experience nor the many things I learned there for anything in the world. I feel that it has helped me appreciate all the many things we have in our convenience & comfort driven society (simple things like hot water bath or shower, indoor plumbing, insulated & weather proofed homes, TV & telephones, etc.), and never take for granted. I’ve learned to conserve; to take from nature only as much as you need, and no more. And have learned to be especially tolerant of other cultures & peoples; not judge or pre-judge based on mis-information. It was quite an awakening, and in years after returning, I did reconnect with a number of family & extended family that visited Hawaii.
Of course, it has been over 40 years now, and most of the people that I got to know well are all deceased, but I remember them well, and that’s what’s important. I still have a collection of 5 spearguns that my adopted father hand-crafted for me. Although I may never use them again, they are collector’s items now, and are incredible artifacts today.
Executive Order 10924, issued by President Kennedy on March 1, 1961 and authorized by Congress on September 22, 1961, established the Peace Corps. The program’s purpose was: “To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower.”
Since 1961, over 210,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps and have served in 139 countries. Two of our classmates have served in the Peace Corps - Carolyn Watanabe (Adler) and Howard Yoshiura. Carolyn was in India and Howard in Micronesia.
We wanted to find out more about their experiences and asked them questions. Below are Howard’s responses to our questions. Carolyn’s account will follow in another Kalakoa article.
When were you in the Peace Corps?
From Fall 1967 after graduating from Lawrence University, to the summer of 1971. The initial tour was for two years but I volunteered another tour and served in the Peace Corps for a total of four years.
Why did you join?
Peace Corps was recruiting on our LU campus in spring of ‘67, and several of my friends were considering this as option after graduation. We were interested enough to complete applications right there during the recruitment session. The Viet Nam situation was heating up, and alternatives were go to grad school & likely get drafted, go join the work force & be drafted, or volunteer for service before getting drafted. As I was tired of school, and did graduate w/ degree in Anthropology, the opportunity to live & work in another culture seemed to be a great opportunity to put some of the “book learning” to practical use. Besides, we were told that we could select the country/culture that we would like to be assigned to. Since I actually studied some of the cultures of the Pacific, I elected to go to Micronesia. Ultimately to be assigned to Palau District (there were districts of Truk, Yap, Ponape, & Palau). The alternative of serving in Peace Corps seemed much better than going to Viet Nam & getting shot at (no disrespect to any of our military folks that actually went to VN, and did get shot at). One of my best friends that I met during PC basic training ended up getting “washed out” of the PC program. It was just a judgment call by our training administrators & our instructors (we were actually being graded, and evaluated throughout the program). Anyway, he was sent back to Iowa, his hometown, and within 6 months was drafted. He went to VN in the heat of the war, was an ARVN(Airborne Ranger) and on one of his last missions before being scheduled to come home, he went MIA…never to be found. Sad but true story…and I’m sure you know many others that were like him.
What was the process to determine what you would do in the Peace Corps?
Not much of a process. They gave us “basic training” in our area of specialty during our 12 – 14 week training program, and at the end we were supposed to be “experts”…that was a bunch of bull. Our training was very intensive (not as tough as military boot camp), but we had language training by in-country speakers of the language, and our specialty training. We spoke nothing but our “foreign” language from sun-up to sun-down; we trained into the evening; and ate nothing but “in country” food. I must have lost 20 – 30 pounds in basic training alone. The food in Truk (where we trained) was horrible. Every so often our host family would slaughter a couple of chickens and cook them up for dinner. The chickens were so scrawny they hardly had any meat on the bones…kinda had to suck on the bones for some flavor, and ate with taro, tapioca, and rice.
What training did you receive to prepare for your Peace Corps assignment?
In addition to the previous question, we had intense language training from host country natives – they lived w/ us for the full period of training, so we spoke nothing but their language until it became second nature, and at least we were able to understand, speak & be understood, and conduct basic conversations in their language.
We also had specialty training – Most of the volunteers were TESL (Teaching English as Second Language) teachers, so they learned the various programs, developed plans, etc. I was actually assigned to be an Agriculture specialist, so I spent most of my specialty training out in coconut groves learning how to cultivate, grow, space, plant, and cut down & thin out over crowded groves. That’s where we saw many of coconut crabs while we’re out working in the coconut groves, and plowing thru those forest like conditions.
What the locals used to do is go out into the coconut groves(where these guys feed), and look around at night(yikes). If you’re real quiet, you can actually hear them crawling around & you don’t want to step on one, as those pinchers can do some real damage. They hunt for them with a strong flashlight. They can sometimes even be found in the coconut trees trying to harvest some nuts. They cut them off with those big pinchers, and drop ‘em to the ground. After dropping a few, they’ll climb down & dinner is waiting on the ground. One of the interesting sights I saw was two of these crabs fighting over a coconut…yup, guess one dropped it down from the tree, and other one thought he’d horn in on dinner; then discovered that he wasn’t invited.
The more sophisticated crab catchers actually built traps & would bait them with coconut meat, or sometimes raw fish too. The younger adventurers that were just out hunting for a meal would just go track ‘em down in the groves, find them, and catch them. They do not move too quickly, so you can get behind them, and actually grab them by the back…pinchers can’t reach behind. They would hold them down with a stick or palm frond, press them against the ground, then grab them from the back. They would use twine to tie them up, and also tie the pinchers closed so they can’t do any damage. Once they were tied up, they built a big open fire, then throw them on the fire…10 – 15 minutes of cooking, and your crab is done. Break out the musubi or tapioca & taro, and you got a major meal!! Yes, the crabs also discovered that human food was just as good as climbing for coconuts, so that’s why you see this photo of the crab on the garbage can. I’ve even heard of incidents when these suckers would go into someone’s home & raid food that was left out on a table, or from the cupboard. They’re quite resourceful, and have learned to adapt to modern society in these isolated islands…these crabs are found all over Micronesia.
Where did you spend your time in the Peace Corps?
As mentioned, I was assigned to the Palau District. By character, Palauans are among the most aggressive people of the Micronesian islanders. They are aggressive business people, they are bold, and aggressive in their personalities, and they can be almost obnoxious at times too. Unlike the Yapese & Trukese that are more quiet, submissive, and culturally subdued; the Palauans are entirely opposite. But because of their aggressive nature, they branched out all around the various districts in Micronesia, they built businesses, they ventured into government service, migrated to US, and other areas of the world. All to try to build a better lifestyle. Today, there are Palauans all over the USA, Guam, and other South East Asian countries asl well.
What memories do you have about your time in the Peace Corps?
My adopted family were really wonderful, and I was very quickly and unconditionally accepted by them. I lived with them, ate all my meals with them. My adopted father taught me to fish (mostly spear fish), and I learned well & became quite proficient in my fishing. Well enough whereby they actually depended on me to help put food on the table. There we fished by the tides, weather & seasons. Certain times of the month there was great fishing at reef’s edge in deep water (schools of thousands of papio & ulua swimming by)…just shoot & haul them in, then string them up. We used to refer to the fishing places by name (kinda like surf spots all have individual names or golf courses have their names), and when we were going fishing, we’d tell our friends/family where we were going, and all the fishing spots were referred to as “our icebox”, and we’re going to pick out our “steak for this evening”!
Are you still affiliated with the Peace Corps today?
Not at all.
Why do you think there isn’t as much publicity and interest in joining the Peace Corps today?
I don’t really know, but if I were to venture a guess it’s definitely not a glorious or romantic career, it’s not a “macho” endeavor and really appeals to only a very small population of our young people. Back then in 60’s & 70’s there were many married couples that joined together, there were older people that volunteered. And of course the majority were single young men & women that wanted to do something adventuresome for couple years, and opportunity to travel & get paid.
Did I say get paid? We earned a small stipend or allowance of $100 a month. However, in a country like Micronesia, one could buy a lot for that $100. Partly the reason that my family treated me so well was due to the fact that I told them to go to the local “grocery store” and buy whatever they needed every week for the household. Don’t misunderstand…that local store was smaller than a one-car garage, and basically stocked canned foods like corned beef, spam, Vienna sausage, rice, few canned veggies, and otherwise household stuff like soap, dish wash detergent, toilet paper, etc. It was no Safeway or Costco for sure. I know for fact that there were other guys that joined for similar reasons that I did, to avoid getting drafted to go VN.
Were there others in our class who were also in the Peace Corps?
Yes. I believe Carolyn Watanabe was in PC as was Peter her husband. I think they met when they were in the PC.
How did the Peace Corps help you later in your life?
It helped me assure that I would make it to “later in life”…I was not shot at, nor did I have to pull hazardous duty. As I’ve told myself many times over, if I live to be 80 years old, I will have spent 5% of my entire lifetime serving & living in Micronesia and wouldn’t trade that experience nor the many things I learned there for anything in the world. I feel that it has helped me appreciate all the many things we have in our convenience & comfort driven society (simple things like hot water bath or shower, indoor plumbing, insulated & weather proofed homes, TV & telephones, etc.), and never take for granted. I’ve learned to conserve; to take from nature only as much as you need, and no more. And have learned to be especially tolerant of other cultures & peoples; not judge or pre-judge based on mis-information. It was quite an awakening, and in years after returning, I did reconnect with a number of family & extended family that visited Hawaii.
Of course, it has been over 40 years now, and most of the people that I got to know well are all deceased, but I remember them well, and that’s what’s important. I still have a collection of 5 spearguns that my adopted father hand-crafted for me. Although I may never use them again, they are collector’s items now, and are incredible artifacts today.
Giant Crab
Carolyn Watanabe (Adler): "He Said, She Said" and the Peace Corps
Carolyn Watanabe (Adler) and Howard Yoshiura from the Class of 1963 served in the Peace Corps. Carolyn was in India and Howard in Micronesia. Their accounts of their Peace Corps experience took them from the relative safety of our idyllic Hawaiian life-style to different parts of the world and provided them with an education not found in the classroom.
Carolyn’s Peace Corps experience is documented in two books created after the 40th year reunion of her group and the 50th year National Peace Corps anniversary. Volume I was published after her group’s 40th Reunion in September 2009 and Volume II was published after the 50th National Peace Corps anniversary in 2011. As mentioned in Volume II, one of the motivations for putting recollections in a book was “when we can no longer share our tribulations and triumphs in person, these reflections will remain to serve as a testimony to a moment in our lives that remains so special to us all.”
Chapter 3: How We Met: “He Said, She Said, And The Rest Is History...” by Carolyn T. Watanabe & Peter S. Adler consists of Wata and Peter’s recollections of how they met, fell in love, and married. Peter was in a different Peace Corps group (India 40) and was in India before the arrival of Carolyn’s group. I believe Wata is the first (and probably, the only one) member of the Class of 1963 who has a published account of how she met her future husband. It’s a great read and since it is in print (see book information at end of article), has been recorded for posterity. It’s better than a family Bible that will make more sense to their grandchildren. The chapter contains many pictures of Carolyn and Peter during their time spent in India.
We posed the same questions to Wata as we did to Howard. Here are Wata’s responses to our questions.
When were you in the Peace Corps? From June 1967 to June 1969.
Why did you join?:
As stated in my short essay in my group's first book:
"When President Kennedy was assassinated during my freshman year in college, I felt the need to help secure some fulfillment of the spirit of hope he inspired and to help his dream of a better world come to fruition. In retrospect, his inspiration probably motivated me to pursue a promise to myself to not let that dream simply fade from sight. A close second reason would have to be the prospect of a grand adventure and a grand adventure it was!"
How was it determined what you would do in your assignment?
In the early days of the PC we volunteers were what one would call "AB Generalist" meaning that even though I had an education background I was placed in a Rural Public Health and Nutrition Program. My group was India 44A &B.
Where did you go in India?
Most of the men in our group went to Udaipur and the women to Maharastra. My village Nandura is located half way between Mumbai and Calcutta if taking the Howrah Express (train). I was assigned to a Public Health Center in this village.
What training did you receive to prepare for this assignment? Where did you train?
My group was an experiment (guess being a "lab rat" is in my karma) which we have since learned didn't prove effective (like UCISM). Our group first met the summer after all of us completed our junior year in college. We trained that summer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee learning the language, customs and passing certain physical fitness tests (swimming, track & field). Evenings were spent in small group sessions (kumbaya deals). Also, spent month living at an American Indian reservation (Neopit, Wisconsin) and weekends observing at the Milwaukee County Hospital. During winter break we were all assembled in Texas for two weeks of language tutorials and after our senior year shipped off to India where we did two months of In country training.
What memories do you have about your time in the Peace Corps?
Wow, too numerous to mention but the most vivid is that India was and probably still is a land of extreme contrast. I saw the most beautiful sites and the ugliest, the opulence and extreme poverty, the joyous celebrations and heartbreaking sadness, the fragrant smells of cooking and flowers and the stink of open sewers and the rot of the dead.
Are you still affiliated with the PC today?
With the National association no, but my group gets together fairly regularly in fact we recently published two books regarding our PC experiences.
Why do you think there isn't so much publicity and interest in joining the Peace Corps today?
I don't know about the publicity but as far as interest I think it could be because of the application process and that they are requiring specific job expertise for their various projects. My middle daughter applied to the PC a few years back but after her acceptance they kept her in limbo for more than six months. Having just graduated from college, six months of waiting around and getting a temporary job with no real departure date she gave up her appointment. Also, she didn't relish the idea of being sent alone to a village. Volunteers are now sent alone to single sites. In my day we women went in pairs to a site. Too much bureaucracy and red tape....sad.
How did your PC experience help you later in life?
The experience helped me hone in on my specialty area in education for my post graduate work (Special Education - Mental Retardation and later Deaf Education)
Return to the Other Side of the World - Further Reflections of India 44’s Peace Corps Volunteers, Volume II. Developed by Mary Jo Clark, Thomas Corbett, Michael Simonds, Kathy Kelleher Sohn, & Haywood Turrentine. Published by Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co., ISBN 978-1-62516-059-1.
Carolyn’s Peace Corps experience is documented in two books created after the 40th year reunion of her group and the 50th year National Peace Corps anniversary. Volume I was published after her group’s 40th Reunion in September 2009 and Volume II was published after the 50th National Peace Corps anniversary in 2011. As mentioned in Volume II, one of the motivations for putting recollections in a book was “when we can no longer share our tribulations and triumphs in person, these reflections will remain to serve as a testimony to a moment in our lives that remains so special to us all.”
Chapter 3: How We Met: “He Said, She Said, And The Rest Is History...” by Carolyn T. Watanabe & Peter S. Adler consists of Wata and Peter’s recollections of how they met, fell in love, and married. Peter was in a different Peace Corps group (India 40) and was in India before the arrival of Carolyn’s group. I believe Wata is the first (and probably, the only one) member of the Class of 1963 who has a published account of how she met her future husband. It’s a great read and since it is in print (see book information at end of article), has been recorded for posterity. It’s better than a family Bible that will make more sense to their grandchildren. The chapter contains many pictures of Carolyn and Peter during their time spent in India.
We posed the same questions to Wata as we did to Howard. Here are Wata’s responses to our questions.
When were you in the Peace Corps? From June 1967 to June 1969.
Why did you join?:
As stated in my short essay in my group's first book:
"When President Kennedy was assassinated during my freshman year in college, I felt the need to help secure some fulfillment of the spirit of hope he inspired and to help his dream of a better world come to fruition. In retrospect, his inspiration probably motivated me to pursue a promise to myself to not let that dream simply fade from sight. A close second reason would have to be the prospect of a grand adventure and a grand adventure it was!"
How was it determined what you would do in your assignment?
In the early days of the PC we volunteers were what one would call "AB Generalist" meaning that even though I had an education background I was placed in a Rural Public Health and Nutrition Program. My group was India 44A &B.
Where did you go in India?
Most of the men in our group went to Udaipur and the women to Maharastra. My village Nandura is located half way between Mumbai and Calcutta if taking the Howrah Express (train). I was assigned to a Public Health Center in this village.
What training did you receive to prepare for this assignment? Where did you train?
My group was an experiment (guess being a "lab rat" is in my karma) which we have since learned didn't prove effective (like UCISM). Our group first met the summer after all of us completed our junior year in college. We trained that summer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee learning the language, customs and passing certain physical fitness tests (swimming, track & field). Evenings were spent in small group sessions (kumbaya deals). Also, spent month living at an American Indian reservation (Neopit, Wisconsin) and weekends observing at the Milwaukee County Hospital. During winter break we were all assembled in Texas for two weeks of language tutorials and after our senior year shipped off to India where we did two months of In country training.
What memories do you have about your time in the Peace Corps?
Wow, too numerous to mention but the most vivid is that India was and probably still is a land of extreme contrast. I saw the most beautiful sites and the ugliest, the opulence and extreme poverty, the joyous celebrations and heartbreaking sadness, the fragrant smells of cooking and flowers and the stink of open sewers and the rot of the dead.
Are you still affiliated with the PC today?
With the National association no, but my group gets together fairly regularly in fact we recently published two books regarding our PC experiences.
Why do you think there isn't so much publicity and interest in joining the Peace Corps today?
I don't know about the publicity but as far as interest I think it could be because of the application process and that they are requiring specific job expertise for their various projects. My middle daughter applied to the PC a few years back but after her acceptance they kept her in limbo for more than six months. Having just graduated from college, six months of waiting around and getting a temporary job with no real departure date she gave up her appointment. Also, she didn't relish the idea of being sent alone to a village. Volunteers are now sent alone to single sites. In my day we women went in pairs to a site. Too much bureaucracy and red tape....sad.
How did your PC experience help you later in life?
The experience helped me hone in on my specialty area in education for my post graduate work (Special Education - Mental Retardation and later Deaf Education)
Return to the Other Side of the World - Further Reflections of India 44’s Peace Corps Volunteers, Volume II. Developed by Mary Jo Clark, Thomas Corbett, Michael Simonds, Kathy Kelleher Sohn, & Haywood Turrentine. Published by Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co., ISBN 978-1-62516-059-1.
Mel Choy - The Man with One Million
It is generally accepted that 1,000,000 one-dollar bills stacked is approximately 358 feet high which is the equivalent of a 30-35 story building. That being the case, how high do you think 1,000,000 baseball cards would be?
Mel Choy could probably tell us if he was inclined to stack his collection of 1,000,000 baseball cards and measure the height of this stack. For sure, the stack would be taller than Mel.
I would guess that most of the boys (and maybe some of the girls) in the Class of 1963 collected baseball cards at one time or another. However, unlike Mel, most of our collections disappeared many years ago. To find out more about Mel’s collection, we asked him some questions about his collection and his response to those questions are shown below.
When did you start collecting baseball cards?
I don’t really remember but based on the earliest accumulation I have it was probably around 1954. I had interest in baseball as a fan although I never played the game at that period of my life. I used to go to Hawaii Major League games on Sundays at the old Honolulu Stadium with my grandfather. This gave me an understanding of the game and some interest in the players although there was not much exposure to major league baseball in Hawaii at that time. My first collecting was probably done with my BFF at the time, Pal Eldridge, at Manoa School. My first complete set was Topps 1957. I do vaguely remember trading cards at Ricky AuHoy’s house with Larry Lim and Ricky.
Why did you start collecting baseball cards?
Because of my interest in baseball, I would like to read about players and baseball cards were informative as well as collectibles. I also liked reading baseball magazines. In those days, we had no television and internet like now so this was probably the only way of getting information. I also collected football and basketball cards. It was a cheap hobby at the time. As I started playing baseball, I became even more of a fan and collecting reinforced my interest in the game. I became a Braves fan in 1957 when they beat the hated Yankees in the World Series and started collecting cards more intensely around then.
Are you still collecting?
Yes. I probably spend more than I should for this hobby. It is a bit cheaper now since there are less brands to collect. It got crazy in the 90’s as there were so many brands to collect that I had to limit what I collected due to limited resources. At one time I collected other sports but could not keep up so I limited myself to baseball cards.
Are you a serious collector who trades and sells?
I am a serious collector but I have not sold any of my collection but I probably could get quite a bit of money for what I have. When time permits, I will do some kind of appraisal so my kids can sell it if they want after I am gone. I did do some trading on the internet a few years back but got too busy to continue but still have that option too.
Approximately how many cards do you have?
I may have one of the largest collections on this island but I cannot say that for sure. My best guess is at least a million, probably more.
Where do you keep these cards? How much space does it take?
For a brief period I had it in my basement but we had some moisture problems so I moved them into a spare bedroom which became available when my kids moved out. More valuable cards are in a safe deposit box. As far as space, it is in a 10 x 10 room, piled from floor to ceiling. Good thing I have the space as it grows each year I still collect. My wife has been very tolerant over the years and she still thinks I am an out of control kid who hasn’t grown up yet (when it comes to card collecting but maybe other things too).
Do you have a system for storing these cards, e.g, by teams, positions, year, etc?
I actually wrote an article for a collector’s magazine about 10 years ago when the hobby was at it’s peak. It was about protecting, storing and organizing your collection. I store by cards by brand and year. Each is placed in order in a collector box. The more valuable cards in each set are placed in rigid card holders. Recently, there has been a thing called memorabilia cards –cards that have autographs, uniform or bat pieces imbedded in the card-that are valuable and randomly inserted in packs. These I have catalogued and alphabetized. Some of these are worth hundreds of dollars so they are placed in protective cases that are supposedly resistant to the elements that can cause them to degenerate. My brother, who is a computer programmer, helped me develop a software program for tracking collections. I introduced it at a card trade show in Las Vegas and a major company liked the idea. We actually sold a few copies at the show. Next thing I know, this big company produced a collecting software based on my idea. Too bad I had no copyrights on it. Another missed opportunity.
What are some changes you’ve seen since you started collecting?
I started collecting around 1954 but suspended collecting when I got too busy with school, around 1961 as my last sets are from that time. Regretfully, I never really regained interest till around 1987. I actually found it was a good way to bond with my kids. What really got me going was finding my old collection at my parents’ house. Unfortunately, the hobby became an investment vehicle for many and this resulted in the proliferation of too many brands and production runs became out of control. Collecting got costly and many dropped out, especially the kids. I could still afford it so I have continued to collect. E-Bay has also changed the hobby as it made it even more a business than a hobby. The reason to collect-the joy of gaining information I am interested in and the challenge of completing card sets-has changed for most but I still collect for the right reason-it’s a good hobby.
Do you have favorite cards? Why are they favorites?
I am a diehard Braves fan and I also like collecting players I followed during my youth. In this hobby, rookie cards (the first card issued of a player) are the most valuable and I have a good collection of Hall of Fame player’s rookie cards as well as those of present day super stars. My collection of Hank Aaron cards is my favorite as he is my favorite player-I even named my son after him (Aaron, not Hank).
What value would you place on your collection?
I have yet to appraise my collection. I also have old football and basketball cards. Unfortunately, the older cards are not in the greatest condition (graded cards are worth more, meaning they are in pristine condition) but I like them because I have kept them all these years so they are valuable to me. I have some cards over 100 years old that I have acquired through the years. I also have many memorabilia cards that sell for a lot on E-Bay. My collection, if I were to make an insurance claim, may be worth $100,000 give or take.
How did you keep your mother from getting rid of your cards?
My Mom threw nothing away. I still have lots of elementary school and UHS mementos I will share once I find where I put them after I took them from her house. What a blessing in disguise.
Mel Choy could probably tell us if he was inclined to stack his collection of 1,000,000 baseball cards and measure the height of this stack. For sure, the stack would be taller than Mel.
I would guess that most of the boys (and maybe some of the girls) in the Class of 1963 collected baseball cards at one time or another. However, unlike Mel, most of our collections disappeared many years ago. To find out more about Mel’s collection, we asked him some questions about his collection and his response to those questions are shown below.
When did you start collecting baseball cards?
I don’t really remember but based on the earliest accumulation I have it was probably around 1954. I had interest in baseball as a fan although I never played the game at that period of my life. I used to go to Hawaii Major League games on Sundays at the old Honolulu Stadium with my grandfather. This gave me an understanding of the game and some interest in the players although there was not much exposure to major league baseball in Hawaii at that time. My first collecting was probably done with my BFF at the time, Pal Eldridge, at Manoa School. My first complete set was Topps 1957. I do vaguely remember trading cards at Ricky AuHoy’s house with Larry Lim and Ricky.
Why did you start collecting baseball cards?
Because of my interest in baseball, I would like to read about players and baseball cards were informative as well as collectibles. I also liked reading baseball magazines. In those days, we had no television and internet like now so this was probably the only way of getting information. I also collected football and basketball cards. It was a cheap hobby at the time. As I started playing baseball, I became even more of a fan and collecting reinforced my interest in the game. I became a Braves fan in 1957 when they beat the hated Yankees in the World Series and started collecting cards more intensely around then.
Are you still collecting?
Yes. I probably spend more than I should for this hobby. It is a bit cheaper now since there are less brands to collect. It got crazy in the 90’s as there were so many brands to collect that I had to limit what I collected due to limited resources. At one time I collected other sports but could not keep up so I limited myself to baseball cards.
Are you a serious collector who trades and sells?
I am a serious collector but I have not sold any of my collection but I probably could get quite a bit of money for what I have. When time permits, I will do some kind of appraisal so my kids can sell it if they want after I am gone. I did do some trading on the internet a few years back but got too busy to continue but still have that option too.
Approximately how many cards do you have?
I may have one of the largest collections on this island but I cannot say that for sure. My best guess is at least a million, probably more.
Where do you keep these cards? How much space does it take?
For a brief period I had it in my basement but we had some moisture problems so I moved them into a spare bedroom which became available when my kids moved out. More valuable cards are in a safe deposit box. As far as space, it is in a 10 x 10 room, piled from floor to ceiling. Good thing I have the space as it grows each year I still collect. My wife has been very tolerant over the years and she still thinks I am an out of control kid who hasn’t grown up yet (when it comes to card collecting but maybe other things too).
Do you have a system for storing these cards, e.g, by teams, positions, year, etc?
I actually wrote an article for a collector’s magazine about 10 years ago when the hobby was at it’s peak. It was about protecting, storing and organizing your collection. I store by cards by brand and year. Each is placed in order in a collector box. The more valuable cards in each set are placed in rigid card holders. Recently, there has been a thing called memorabilia cards –cards that have autographs, uniform or bat pieces imbedded in the card-that are valuable and randomly inserted in packs. These I have catalogued and alphabetized. Some of these are worth hundreds of dollars so they are placed in protective cases that are supposedly resistant to the elements that can cause them to degenerate. My brother, who is a computer programmer, helped me develop a software program for tracking collections. I introduced it at a card trade show in Las Vegas and a major company liked the idea. We actually sold a few copies at the show. Next thing I know, this big company produced a collecting software based on my idea. Too bad I had no copyrights on it. Another missed opportunity.
What are some changes you’ve seen since you started collecting?
I started collecting around 1954 but suspended collecting when I got too busy with school, around 1961 as my last sets are from that time. Regretfully, I never really regained interest till around 1987. I actually found it was a good way to bond with my kids. What really got me going was finding my old collection at my parents’ house. Unfortunately, the hobby became an investment vehicle for many and this resulted in the proliferation of too many brands and production runs became out of control. Collecting got costly and many dropped out, especially the kids. I could still afford it so I have continued to collect. E-Bay has also changed the hobby as it made it even more a business than a hobby. The reason to collect-the joy of gaining information I am interested in and the challenge of completing card sets-has changed for most but I still collect for the right reason-it’s a good hobby.
Do you have favorite cards? Why are they favorites?
I am a diehard Braves fan and I also like collecting players I followed during my youth. In this hobby, rookie cards (the first card issued of a player) are the most valuable and I have a good collection of Hall of Fame player’s rookie cards as well as those of present day super stars. My collection of Hank Aaron cards is my favorite as he is my favorite player-I even named my son after him (Aaron, not Hank).
What value would you place on your collection?
I have yet to appraise my collection. I also have old football and basketball cards. Unfortunately, the older cards are not in the greatest condition (graded cards are worth more, meaning they are in pristine condition) but I like them because I have kept them all these years so they are valuable to me. I have some cards over 100 years old that I have acquired through the years. I also have many memorabilia cards that sell for a lot on E-Bay. My collection, if I were to make an insurance claim, may be worth $100,000 give or take.
How did you keep your mother from getting rid of your cards?
My Mom threw nothing away. I still have lots of elementary school and UHS mementos I will share once I find where I put them after I took them from her house. What a blessing in disguise.
Some pictures of Mel's baseball card collection
Hank Aaron, Atlanta Braves, one of Mel's favorite players on his favorite team. He even named his son after the player - Aaron, not Hank.
Glenn Bauer is still hiking
Glenn Bauer’s love of hiking has been with him all his life. It has taken him from the Koolau Mountain Range on Oahu to Pohnpei and Korsae in Micronesia and to Nepal and Tibet. One of his high school memories was hiking with Don Fox, Carolyn Fukunaga, Tahi Mottl, Susan Vaught, Clayton Ching, Bill Beppu, and others. to climb Puu Konahuanui (3150 ft), the summit of the Koolau Mountain Range. In 1994 Glenn and Don Fox took their sons to Pohnpei and Korsae for a hiking and fishing expedition.
A desire to see Mt. Everest (29,029 ft) located in the Himalaya mountain range along the border of Nepal and Tibet, took Glenn there in 2002 and 2007. In 2002 Glenn and his son Matt planned to trek to the Everest Base Camp (17,500 ft) but Matt got altitude sickness at 15,000 feet and turned around. However, they did get to see Mt. Everest. In 2007 Glenn returned with several friends traveling to Nepal and then flew to Lhasa and drove back to Kathmandu and stopped at the Everest Base Camp on the north side - Glenn said “not much hiking, but quite an experience.”
Glenn does a 4.5 mile walk most mornings to stay in shape for the next mountain.
Information and pictures provided by Glenn Bauer.
A desire to see Mt. Everest (29,029 ft) located in the Himalaya mountain range along the border of Nepal and Tibet, took Glenn there in 2002 and 2007. In 2002 Glenn and his son Matt planned to trek to the Everest Base Camp (17,500 ft) but Matt got altitude sickness at 15,000 feet and turned around. However, they did get to see Mt. Everest. In 2007 Glenn returned with several friends traveling to Nepal and then flew to Lhasa and drove back to Kathmandu and stopped at the Everest Base Camp on the north side - Glenn said “not much hiking, but quite an experience.”
Glenn does a 4.5 mile walk most mornings to stay in shape for the next mountain.
Information and pictures provided by Glenn Bauer.
2007 at Rongbuk Monastery. Mt. Everest is in the background. Elevation at the monastery is about 17,000 feet, and the summit of Mt. Everest is over 12,000 feet higher.
Nepal - 2002. Matt, Glenn's son, looking towards the Everest group - the peaks of Nuptse and Lhotse are in the background.
Nepal - 2002 with some of our trekking party. Tobuche Peak is in the background.
Matt, Glenn's son, and Tshering Sherpa at Thukla, Nepal in 2002. "This was our turn around point at over 15,000 feet. Matt was sick and I had a terrible cough." Tshering Sherpa had climbed Mt. Everest with a Korean expedition.
Tom Byrnes found!
Tom and his sister from a picture 2-3 years ago. As you can see, he still has his red hair and freckles!
PROJECT TALENT
How many of you remember your time as a “lab mouse” while attending UHS? Among the “experiments” we were subjected to was the infamous UICSM and the Stanford-Binet standardized tests. Recently, Ann Reid (Slaby) was contacted by Melissa Wentzel of the American Institutes for Research, Project Talent, so she did what any good corporate citizen would do, she referred the Melissa to someone else - John Chong and Miles Nakashima.
WHAT WAS PROJECT TALENT?
“Fifty-three years ago, the class of 1963 from University High School participated in a national study called Project Talent. The American Institutes for Research, which conducted the original Project Talent tests in 1960, is trying to reconnect with the participants in preparation for a planned follow-up study.”
“In 1960, Project Talent became the largest study of high school students ever conducted in the United States. Over 400,000 students from 1,300 socially, economically, culturally, and racially diverse schools across the country participated in a national survey of their aptitudes and abilities in mathematics, reasoning, and language, and shared their apsirations for the future.”
“Project Talent is the only large scale, nationally representative study that tracks participants from childhood to retirement age. This enables researchers to study how experiences, abilities, interests, and personality types demonstrated early in life impact the physical, social, and economic wellbeing of individuals as they age.”
WHAT DID THEY WANT?
“I (Melissa Wentzel) recently spoke with one of your classmates, and she explained that you are both planning the upcoming 50th reunion for the class of 1963. Over the past three years, Project Talent has successfully reconnected with thousands of original Project Talent participants from the classes of 1960-62 through their high school reunions. We have found that reunion organizers often have the most up-to-date information about their former classmates, such as who is deceased, which women have changed their names, and where everyone is now living. Would it be possible for you to share that information with me?”
John and I DID NOT provide the requested information because we did not have your permission to do so.
WHAT WE DID:
We each contacted the American Institute to determine what was involved in the follow-up study. We were told there would be a series of questions to answer and that we could receive our scores from the 1960 test if we desired. The questions primarily concerned what has happened in our lives since taking the test - did we graduate from high school; college; highest level of completed education; type of work we did after college; how satisfied we are with our lives, questions about our health, etc. All of the questions were answered on-line and took about 10 minutes to complete.
TEST SCORES:
Receipt of our 1960 scores took about four weeks to arrive. Test scores were intended to measure three areas: 1) student’s overall academic potential (e.g., vocabulary and arithmetic); 2) knowledge the student had acquired both in and outside of school (e.g., social studies and home economics); 3) student’s innate capabilities (e.g., memory skills).
The scores were in nineteen areas such as Vocabulary, Social Studies, Spelling, English, Math, Mechanical Reasoning, etc. Each score shows how a student performed in relation to their peers across the country. Additionally, students were asked to select from a list of 36 occupations, the occupation they would prefer and from the same list, the occupation they expected to enter.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS TO:
John Chong: “Test results would indicate that I was supposed to be a rocket scientist. Very interesting results if you look at yourself compared to the 440,000 others. UHS taught us the stuff we needed to know to score well in the tests.”
Miles Nakashima: “I could spell, but couldn’t write. How could I visualize how a diagram would look after being turned around on a flat surface but not how it would look after being folded into a 3-D figure?”
If you are interested in obtaining your test scores or getting more information about Project Talent, go to this website www.projecttalent.org or contact: Melissa Wentzel, American Institutes for Research, Project Talent @ [email protected], telephone: 202.403.6563.
Input provided by Project Talent, Ann Reid (Slaby), John Chong, Miles Nakashima
WHAT WAS PROJECT TALENT?
“Fifty-three years ago, the class of 1963 from University High School participated in a national study called Project Talent. The American Institutes for Research, which conducted the original Project Talent tests in 1960, is trying to reconnect with the participants in preparation for a planned follow-up study.”
“In 1960, Project Talent became the largest study of high school students ever conducted in the United States. Over 400,000 students from 1,300 socially, economically, culturally, and racially diverse schools across the country participated in a national survey of their aptitudes and abilities in mathematics, reasoning, and language, and shared their apsirations for the future.”
“Project Talent is the only large scale, nationally representative study that tracks participants from childhood to retirement age. This enables researchers to study how experiences, abilities, interests, and personality types demonstrated early in life impact the physical, social, and economic wellbeing of individuals as they age.”
WHAT DID THEY WANT?
“I (Melissa Wentzel) recently spoke with one of your classmates, and she explained that you are both planning the upcoming 50th reunion for the class of 1963. Over the past three years, Project Talent has successfully reconnected with thousands of original Project Talent participants from the classes of 1960-62 through their high school reunions. We have found that reunion organizers often have the most up-to-date information about their former classmates, such as who is deceased, which women have changed their names, and where everyone is now living. Would it be possible for you to share that information with me?”
John and I DID NOT provide the requested information because we did not have your permission to do so.
WHAT WE DID:
We each contacted the American Institute to determine what was involved in the follow-up study. We were told there would be a series of questions to answer and that we could receive our scores from the 1960 test if we desired. The questions primarily concerned what has happened in our lives since taking the test - did we graduate from high school; college; highest level of completed education; type of work we did after college; how satisfied we are with our lives, questions about our health, etc. All of the questions were answered on-line and took about 10 minutes to complete.
TEST SCORES:
Receipt of our 1960 scores took about four weeks to arrive. Test scores were intended to measure three areas: 1) student’s overall academic potential (e.g., vocabulary and arithmetic); 2) knowledge the student had acquired both in and outside of school (e.g., social studies and home economics); 3) student’s innate capabilities (e.g., memory skills).
The scores were in nineteen areas such as Vocabulary, Social Studies, Spelling, English, Math, Mechanical Reasoning, etc. Each score shows how a student performed in relation to their peers across the country. Additionally, students were asked to select from a list of 36 occupations, the occupation they would prefer and from the same list, the occupation they expected to enter.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS TO:
John Chong: “Test results would indicate that I was supposed to be a rocket scientist. Very interesting results if you look at yourself compared to the 440,000 others. UHS taught us the stuff we needed to know to score well in the tests.”
Miles Nakashima: “I could spell, but couldn’t write. How could I visualize how a diagram would look after being turned around on a flat surface but not how it would look after being folded into a 3-D figure?”
If you are interested in obtaining your test scores or getting more information about Project Talent, go to this website www.projecttalent.org or contact: Melissa Wentzel, American Institutes for Research, Project Talent @ [email protected], telephone: 202.403.6563.
Input provided by Project Talent, Ann Reid (Slaby), John Chong, Miles Nakashima
What is UICSM?
I wonder how many of us have been asked by our kids and/or our grandkids to help them with their high school math homework and then sheepishly had to decline after seeing the homework involved more than addition, subtraction, multiplication, or long division?
Math proficiency is gained when it is built on a solid foundation - just like a house. A weak foundation results in not being able to help others with their math homework or crooked walls. Where did we get our math foundation? Remember UICSM? Even the name was so complicated that they used an acronym to identify our math! Being young and accepting of adult authority when we were in school and realizing that we were test subjects in a lab school, we built our math foundation with the University of Illinois Course on School Mathematics.
How did UICSM evolve and why us? I never thought about it until I submitted my registration form for our 50th reunion in October and John Chong informed me that I was a few dollars short. My reflex response to John was to tell him that UICSM failed me again...now that I think about it, I’ve used this same excuse all my life. I am now determined to find out if my lack of prowess in math was due to me, or to UICSM! Fifty years ago there was no way I could find information about UICSM. Today, thanks to the Internet, the truth is revealed below.
Blame Russia for UHS using UICSM! Remember Sputnik in 1957? After the Soviets launched Sputnik, Congress raised math standards. The American press thought the success of the Sputnik satellite reflected poorly on the quality of math and science education in public schools. This started the era of New Math.
Max Beberman, a professor at the University of Illinois, saw the need for a new way to teach math in 1952, when he formed the University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics. They had been working on materials of instruction, the development of teaching methods, and the training of teachers for a new curriculum in mathematics for secondary schools. The materials were first used during 1957-58 in 12 pilot schools and expanded to 21 states in 1958-59. I guess you could say UICSM was in the forefront to meet the challenge.
A basic requirement of UICSM was that teachers had to be trained at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois during summer sessions. Archives show that Ed Larm, Billie St. Denis, Letty May Walsh, Irene Nakamura, Jane Onouye, Morris Pang, and Ruth Wong, from UHS, attended one of these summer sessions in Illinois. They were required to submit reports which often resulted in textbook revisions - now I know why our UICSM textbooks never had hard covers like other textbooks.
A basic concept of UICSM (New Math) is the belief that students learn by understanding why something is correct rather than by simply being told the right answer. A former UICSM student said: “The use of UICSM textbooks in high school demystified mathematical notation and made further study so much easier. Another wonderful thing about the course was the “guess and prove” concept. We would be given a set of exercises to do, and would discover a theorem through working the problems, then be required to prove it. We were never told that it was OK to get the wrong answers, but it WAS important to understand HOW the answers were derived.”
I guess I was the type that wanted to be told the right answer and didn’t care about how I got the answer.
The basic question I have is: Was the UICSM experiment successful?
To answer this question, let me use a presentation found on the Internet that used UICSM as an example of how “change” occurs. Stage 1: Work by the pioneers - Max Beberman at the University of Illinois; Stage 2: Proselytizing of and by the apostles - UHS teachers named above; Stage 3: Use by those disenchanted with the old - “the first users of UICSM taught in schools where most of the students were above average for the nation. UICSM was used because they felt their students were not being reached by existing materials.” The combined wisdom of the UHS leadership team was looking out for its students.
New math (UICSM) began in 1951 and saw its impact end in 1975. The presentation makes the following statement - “the new math is now viewed as a failure, and many of the ideas that were its hallmarks - ideas like the use of sets, and the teaching of understanding by going into mathematical theory - are now viewed as silly ideas.”
“Silly ideas” - that’s pretty harsh. Here’s what I say about UHS and UICSM:
UHS teachers got to spend a summer in Illinois
We were considered above average
All our classmates who needed higher math in their college studies were successful
And, UICSM told me not major in engineering in college!
(Submitted by Miles Nakashima)
Math proficiency is gained when it is built on a solid foundation - just like a house. A weak foundation results in not being able to help others with their math homework or crooked walls. Where did we get our math foundation? Remember UICSM? Even the name was so complicated that they used an acronym to identify our math! Being young and accepting of adult authority when we were in school and realizing that we were test subjects in a lab school, we built our math foundation with the University of Illinois Course on School Mathematics.
How did UICSM evolve and why us? I never thought about it until I submitted my registration form for our 50th reunion in October and John Chong informed me that I was a few dollars short. My reflex response to John was to tell him that UICSM failed me again...now that I think about it, I’ve used this same excuse all my life. I am now determined to find out if my lack of prowess in math was due to me, or to UICSM! Fifty years ago there was no way I could find information about UICSM. Today, thanks to the Internet, the truth is revealed below.
Blame Russia for UHS using UICSM! Remember Sputnik in 1957? After the Soviets launched Sputnik, Congress raised math standards. The American press thought the success of the Sputnik satellite reflected poorly on the quality of math and science education in public schools. This started the era of New Math.
Max Beberman, a professor at the University of Illinois, saw the need for a new way to teach math in 1952, when he formed the University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics. They had been working on materials of instruction, the development of teaching methods, and the training of teachers for a new curriculum in mathematics for secondary schools. The materials were first used during 1957-58 in 12 pilot schools and expanded to 21 states in 1958-59. I guess you could say UICSM was in the forefront to meet the challenge.
A basic requirement of UICSM was that teachers had to be trained at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois during summer sessions. Archives show that Ed Larm, Billie St. Denis, Letty May Walsh, Irene Nakamura, Jane Onouye, Morris Pang, and Ruth Wong, from UHS, attended one of these summer sessions in Illinois. They were required to submit reports which often resulted in textbook revisions - now I know why our UICSM textbooks never had hard covers like other textbooks.
A basic concept of UICSM (New Math) is the belief that students learn by understanding why something is correct rather than by simply being told the right answer. A former UICSM student said: “The use of UICSM textbooks in high school demystified mathematical notation and made further study so much easier. Another wonderful thing about the course was the “guess and prove” concept. We would be given a set of exercises to do, and would discover a theorem through working the problems, then be required to prove it. We were never told that it was OK to get the wrong answers, but it WAS important to understand HOW the answers were derived.”
I guess I was the type that wanted to be told the right answer and didn’t care about how I got the answer.
The basic question I have is: Was the UICSM experiment successful?
To answer this question, let me use a presentation found on the Internet that used UICSM as an example of how “change” occurs. Stage 1: Work by the pioneers - Max Beberman at the University of Illinois; Stage 2: Proselytizing of and by the apostles - UHS teachers named above; Stage 3: Use by those disenchanted with the old - “the first users of UICSM taught in schools where most of the students were above average for the nation. UICSM was used because they felt their students were not being reached by existing materials.” The combined wisdom of the UHS leadership team was looking out for its students.
New math (UICSM) began in 1951 and saw its impact end in 1975. The presentation makes the following statement - “the new math is now viewed as a failure, and many of the ideas that were its hallmarks - ideas like the use of sets, and the teaching of understanding by going into mathematical theory - are now viewed as silly ideas.”
“Silly ideas” - that’s pretty harsh. Here’s what I say about UHS and UICSM:
UHS teachers got to spend a summer in Illinois
We were considered above average
All our classmates who needed higher math in their college studies were successful
And, UICSM told me not major in engineering in college!
(Submitted by Miles Nakashima)
Windy City Lunch
Vince Lee
Vincent Lee and Miles Nakashima recently met for lunch and to “talk story” in Chicago, Illinois. Vince was attending the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) annual conference held in Chicago at the Hilton and Palmer House hotels, during March 11-14, 2013 with 4,000 attendees from throughout the United States. “The ACHE is an international professional society of more than 40,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations.” Vince is the Oahu Regional Chief Executive Officer of Leahi Hospital which is one of three facilities within the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.
Miles traveled into the city from his home in the western suburbs to meet Vince. Ironically, they had lunch in the same building that Miles worked in for five years when he worked for an insurance company. Vince is no stranger to Chicago because he attended graduate school there and many conferences in the past. Because it’s been so many years since they’ve seen each other, they spent the time catching up on what they’ve each been doing and talking story about University High School. Though the temperature was in the mid-30’s on the day they met, you could feel the warmth of Hawaii as they parted and promised to meet at the October reunion.
(Submitted by Miles Nakashima)
Miles traveled into the city from his home in the western suburbs to meet Vince. Ironically, they had lunch in the same building that Miles worked in for five years when he worked for an insurance company. Vince is no stranger to Chicago because he attended graduate school there and many conferences in the past. Because it’s been so many years since they’ve seen each other, they spent the time catching up on what they’ve each been doing and talking story about University High School. Though the temperature was in the mid-30’s on the day they met, you could feel the warmth of Hawaii as they parted and promised to meet at the October reunion.
(Submitted by Miles Nakashima)
NOT DA SAME UHS
UHS is now ULS. So what else is different?
“The University Laboratory School (ULS), also known as the Education Laboratory, is a public charter school that operates in partnership with the University of Hawaii Curriculum Development & Research Group (CRDG). The school serves as an experimental site for researching and developing innovations in teaching, learning, and assessment in grades K-12 while providing a high quality education for all its students. The school continues to serve as an experiment in public education in which a heterogeneous population of students have opportunities to learn a comprehensive, liberal arts curriculum accessible to all regardless of gender income, ethnicity, or perceived ability.”
UHS became ULS in 2002 when it became a public charter school. Prior to that when we attended, UHS was part of the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The Class of 1963 had eighty-nine graduates divided into three sections - 12A, 12B, 12C. ULS today has 10 students in each of grades K - 5 and 56 in grades 6 - 12. Elementary classes are combined (K-1, 2-3, 4-5) meaning there are 20 students per class. Grades 6 - 12 have 56 students per class - these grades are typically divided into two sections for most of their classes, with approximately 28 students per class.
Classes start at 7:45 a.m. - 3:15 p.m., Monday - Thursday and end at 2:35 p.m. on Fridays. Lucky you go ULS so you can start the weekend early!
A glance at the high school curriculum appears to be much more rigorous than what we had during our attendance at UHS. For example, four years of English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, and Music are required along with three years of Spanish, Japanese, or French. They also have a greater variety of electives - Hula & Chant, Kimono Culture, Weightlifting, Multi-media - along with some of the same activities we had.
SAT scores. Do you remember what your scores were? Compare them to the ULS students for 2012: SAT: Critical Reading = 517; SAT: Math = 527; SAT: Writing = 513.
Kau Kau in the cafeteria. Here’s a sample of different foods served at ULS. BREAKFAST: Spam, Scrambled Eggs, French Toast, Steamed Rice, Vienna Sausage Bacon, Portuguese Sausage, Pancakes, Boiled Egg, Papayam Banana, Apple, English Muffin. Yogurt. LUNCH: Chili Dog, Hapa Rice, Chicken Nuggets, Kalua Pork and Cabbage, Shoyu Chicken, Terriburger on Whole Wheat, Ham & Cheese Sandwich, Refried Beans, Tomato Slices, Apple Wedge, Edamame, Cut Corn, Garbanzo Beans, Sweet Potato, Steamed Broccoli.
Links to more information about ULS:
ULS website http://www.universitylaboratoryschool.org/
UTube video of ULS Symphonic Band in performance
Information provided by ULS website, Vernon Kajikawa
- Miss Kunioka never served breakfast in the cafeteria.
- Classes are smaller.
- There are no student teachers
- The school is not affiliated with UH
- and many other things too numerous to mention.
“The University Laboratory School (ULS), also known as the Education Laboratory, is a public charter school that operates in partnership with the University of Hawaii Curriculum Development & Research Group (CRDG). The school serves as an experimental site for researching and developing innovations in teaching, learning, and assessment in grades K-12 while providing a high quality education for all its students. The school continues to serve as an experiment in public education in which a heterogeneous population of students have opportunities to learn a comprehensive, liberal arts curriculum accessible to all regardless of gender income, ethnicity, or perceived ability.”
UHS became ULS in 2002 when it became a public charter school. Prior to that when we attended, UHS was part of the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The Class of 1963 had eighty-nine graduates divided into three sections - 12A, 12B, 12C. ULS today has 10 students in each of grades K - 5 and 56 in grades 6 - 12. Elementary classes are combined (K-1, 2-3, 4-5) meaning there are 20 students per class. Grades 6 - 12 have 56 students per class - these grades are typically divided into two sections for most of their classes, with approximately 28 students per class.
Classes start at 7:45 a.m. - 3:15 p.m., Monday - Thursday and end at 2:35 p.m. on Fridays. Lucky you go ULS so you can start the weekend early!
A glance at the high school curriculum appears to be much more rigorous than what we had during our attendance at UHS. For example, four years of English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, and Music are required along with three years of Spanish, Japanese, or French. They also have a greater variety of electives - Hula & Chant, Kimono Culture, Weightlifting, Multi-media - along with some of the same activities we had.
SAT scores. Do you remember what your scores were? Compare them to the ULS students for 2012: SAT: Critical Reading = 517; SAT: Math = 527; SAT: Writing = 513.
Kau Kau in the cafeteria. Here’s a sample of different foods served at ULS. BREAKFAST: Spam, Scrambled Eggs, French Toast, Steamed Rice, Vienna Sausage Bacon, Portuguese Sausage, Pancakes, Boiled Egg, Papayam Banana, Apple, English Muffin. Yogurt. LUNCH: Chili Dog, Hapa Rice, Chicken Nuggets, Kalua Pork and Cabbage, Shoyu Chicken, Terriburger on Whole Wheat, Ham & Cheese Sandwich, Refried Beans, Tomato Slices, Apple Wedge, Edamame, Cut Corn, Garbanzo Beans, Sweet Potato, Steamed Broccoli.
Links to more information about ULS:
ULS website http://www.universitylaboratoryschool.org/
UTube video of ULS Symphonic Band in performance
Information provided by ULS website, Vernon Kajikawa