Monday, December 27, 2010

From Arthur Akina

To Mo & Aruda, who spearheaded this occasion, and to Tom C., Mike C., Dexter F., Warren H., Jim M., Bob M., Milt O., Steve T., Dick T., Norman T., Tom W., and Eric Y.:


A very belated mahalo nui loa for a wonderful evening of camaraderie, eats, and talk-story! Thank you so much for the opportunity to reconnect with you and our alma mater some 49 years after graduation.

I shall cherish & remember this evening always! Lord willing, there'll be more occasions in the future.

For now, all the best to you during the holidays, the coming year, and all those to follow!

Malama pono and aloha no!!!

Art

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Nifty 50's & 60's at the Pacific Beach Hotel

Classmates Alan Kawada, Jimmy Miyashiro, Ken Nakasone and Rodney Chun attended the Nifty 50's and 60's event at the Pacific Beach Hotel on October 1, 2010.

Iolani Bulletin

As most of you already know, Bob Mumper has agreed to take over the Iolani Bulletin class scribe duties from Mo.  If you have any news for him to publish, email him the information.  We'll still maintain this blog and hopefully get more information here.  We'll also publish pictures from class events since the bulletin will be limited.

Monday, August 30, 2010

New Lobster Eating Record

I have the high-class problem of eating all I want so I don't lose weight. Going on the 7-day inter island cruise and ordering double entrees at dinner helped. The California Bistro is my favorite seafood buffet, and I set a new record of 16 lobster halves at our 44th wedding anniversary celebration last Friday. Check out my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiPD_6XAdws&feature=email

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Iolani Bulletin

Mo has decided to retire from being the Class of '61 writer for the Iolani Bulletin.  If any classmate wants to take over the job, contact him.  Until someone else takes over, this blog will be the only source of news for the class.  Please email iolani61@gmail.com with news and we will post it.  We also have number of classmates on Facebook, I'm considering starting a group for the class so members can contribute news which will only be viewed by group members.  Also non-Facebook users can view the class page.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Mumper here!

It's been such a long time since I've contributed anything and as a result, I couldn't remember my password especially after that incident where I ended up in England stuck in a hotel as a result of being mugged and unable to subsequently pay my hotel bills.

What happened! Somebody was phishing and I bit. I got an email from "Yahoo" saying that they were reviewing all email accounts and that if I didn't want my account to be cancelled, I should respond within two weeks. I responded. They asked for my password number and I figured that they being Yahoo must know it already so I provided it to them again. Surprise!!!....within an hour I was getting calls from the East Coast telling me that my email had been compromised.

So.....new account, new password and I forgot the old one.

Marvelous visit with Arthur Akina. So good to see him after 49 years. A definitely marvelous job by Mike Chun posting the photos and videos and keeping this blog going! A spectacular job of organizing this fine event by Morris Lai and Dick Tsuda , two of our take charge classmates.

So far, a busy summer. As I watched all the history channel shows on the American Revolution during the 4th of July weekend telling of all the sacrifice and difficulty that our country went through trying to win the war.....as I recall 1/3 were loyalists, 1/3 didn't want to get involved leaving a minority that pushed this war to a successful ending with all the trials of maintaining an Army and winning, all the trouble with the Articles of Confederation and writing a new constitution and all the problems with getting the states on board with the new national government....sometimes, I wonder, wouldn't it have been easier just to have paid the freaking tax on the tea?

Just joking!!! But just a glancing thought! But with all the problems that our country went through, maybe we shouldn't expect so much so soon in Iraq and Afghaganistan. We had a hundred years of turmoil from the our founding to the end of the civil war just to get our "stuff" together.

Regarding the World Cup, I believe that the USA did a good job. We made it out of the first round. What more can be expected in a country where our best athletes go into baseball, football and basketball? To the best of my knowledge, the annual pay of one basketball player would be more than enough to cover the entire annual budget of one soccer team.

So, Coach Bob Bradley, I hope you come back! You did good!

Incidently, my experience with AYSO soccer for 12 years indicates that we may have a long way to improve in player development. There was always a big emphasis on winning at the lowest levels and sometimes, the only way to win was to yell at the kids to "kick the ball out of the middle" so the other team didn't score on you, to "kick it down the field" and to "kick it out of bounds" to keep the ball from being taken away from you. As a result, kids were not encouraged to practice their skills under game conditions for fear of making mistakes and passing was taught at too young an age before individual skills were even learned.

From what I've read, kids from other countries learn many of their individual skills playing unorganized "street soccer" and they master their individual skills of dribbling and controlling the ball before they get into organized play and before they are even taught passing and tactics. My recommendation is that parents and coaches be banned from youth soccer so that kids can just play, develop their skills and not worry about being afraid to make mistakes for fear of being yelled at by coaches and parents.

Of course, I haven't coached in about 8 years. Things must be changing but you can watch soccer at the highest levels and note the sophisticated skill levels of the non-American players with exceptions of course especially around their own goal.

On another note, we've attended a number of funerals in the last couple of years for fellow classmates. I think that a memorial ceremony at Iolani's St. Albans Chapel is really cool with a reception being provided in the student cafeteria (does this building have a name?) by the food caterers under contract at Iolani. I've often wondered who one would call to make it easier for your family when it's time to transition over to the other side. It would be cool if Iolani had a plan for their alumni. I would be interested....just in case anybody from Iolani is reading this.

Meanwhile....keep up the good work if you haven't made the list yet....keep moving to keep the numbers (cholesterol, weight, blood sugar and blood pressure) down....and stay married....it's better for your life span in the long run from what I've read.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Arthur Akina



Thanks to Mo, some of us had dinner with Arthur Akina when he was in town from Las Vegas.  He brought us up to date on what he has been doing these past 49 years.  I took video of  what he said and posted it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzE9iDbfpV4

Mo gave a Hawaiian chant to start the program, then each of us went around the table and brought Arthur up to date as to what we were doing.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jg9p4YNjbc  As it turns out, some of us didn't know what everyone else has been doing.

Unfortunately, being an amateur, I didn't bring a spare memory stick and ran out of memory.  So I didn't get all of Campbell, or any of Norman Tyau, Jim Miyashiro and Tommy Wong (fka Chun).  I also placed the camera too low on the table and missed mine completely.  If you want to see the others click:


I had to break the videos up into four because the limit on YouTube is 10 minutes.

I don't recall what they said exactly, but Campbell is still working for a telephone company, Norman spends most of his time in Thailand hunting and shopping, Jim is totally retired as a VA pharmasist now spending time watching his grand kids and Tommy is semi-retired, working parttime in a doctor's office (his brother's) and for a non-profit.  After 25 years with the U.S. Department of Justice, I retired from the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2004.

There are also pictures which Tsuda and I shot.  You can see them by clicking on the slide show on the right column.

Danceitis

Linda and I have just been addicted to the craze which has attracted so many of our classmates who hang out at the Palladium -- ballroom dancing. At Mike Chun's suggestion, we attended a five-day DanceVision ballroom dancing "boot camp" in Las Vegas. Imagine "learning" 18 new dances in ten 50 minute classes each day with a 10 minute break between lessons. Definitely a mental and physical challenge. We wanted to get our money's worth, so we attended every session. Now the challenge is to follow up with the DVD's we purchased so we can actually dance. The instructors were top-notch and we highly recommend this program. We may go back next year.

We'll definitely go the the Palladium whenever we visit Honolulu. We'll be in town from July 20 - August 5, taking my mother on an inter-island cruise during the last week of July.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

50th Reunion Dates


Firm reunion-year dates:

Friday, June 3, 2011. Buffet dinner and program (details to be sent out by Dexter in July).

Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 5 p.m. Graduation followed by a reception at the Headmaster's home (reception for all faculty and staff as well as the Class of '61).

Monday, June 6, 2011. Luncheon for our class at the headmaster's.

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011. Dinner/reception for all classes whose year of graduation ends in 1 or 6.

Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011. Touch of Iolani (gourmet eating and drinking) at the school.

Dates still tentative: Cruise, May or during the summer.

Silverado, CA, October or November.

Donation goal: $61,000 with 50% participation (class of '60 donated $77,000). Can make pledges covering up to 3 years.

Annual giving donations for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2010 and June 30, 2011 will count toward our total. As of 6/10/10 about $6,000 was the total class donation for FY09/10 (ends in less than 3 weeks) with 30 classmates donating. Russ Saito and Kenneth Lee are chairing the fundraising committee.

mo

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

2010 Graduation Prep

From: Tom Campbell

All: Please see Mike Moses's and Kirk Uejio's notes below. I'll call Jim Miyashiro to pass this on. The seven of us who participated were noticed and our help appreciated! My personal thanks to each of you. Just after Jim and Miles left, I was in a discussion with Cheryl Wong, of 2011 Ohana fame, about what we have been doing since kindergarten (until I hit a 7-8-9th grade impasse! Xin loi!) with our counterparts....she took us over to meet some of our young friends who were still working: we all were introduced and had a chance to chit-chat a little. I later got a chance to get introduced to several parents who were still there working...good comments. All in all, the morning served its purpose: we got to do something with the 2011 students, which we can build on for next year, and we were seen by parents and students as being involved rather than just being some 2011 graduation-day hangers on! We can talk more about next year on Thursday, 10 June.

Again, thanks and aloha! Tom


From: Kirk Uejio
To: Mike Moses

Hey there Mikey! Do you think you could please forward my thanks to your '61 crew that came to help with graduation decorations? That was REALLY cool that they wanted to come and help. I was very impressed. The whole morning went very smoothly and we even finished earlier than in years past. It was probably all because of those wonderful '61ers! Thanks again for working with them, Mike, and for your support of this. It was really cool that they wanted to work side be side with parents, students, and staff members...awesome ONE TEAM kind of stuff!

Thanks again and Go Raiders!


From: Mike Moses
To: CAMPBELL, THOMAS (ATTCORP)

Subject: Class of 1961 Help

Hi Tom,

Thanks for organizing the crew from ’61 for the graduation decorating. Please see below for a note of thanks from Kirk Uejio!

If you can please pass along the school’s thanks to those who came to help, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks, as always for your time and support!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

2010 Family Fair Pictures

I posted some pictures from the Family Fair.  To see them on Picasa, just click on the slide show on the right.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Iolani Family Fair Work Schedule

Iolani Family Fair - 2010
Class of 61 - BBQ Chicken & Soup Booth
(Friday, April 16, 2010)
(11:15 am to 05:00 pm) Fair opens at 12 noon

Just a reminder that our class will be working the opening shift at the Iolani Fair this coming Friday.  Thanks to all who responded. See work schedule below. I assume a few other classmates will be dropping by.  As mentioned before, the BBQ chicken will be delivered to the booth precooked, so all we have to do is assemble the chicken plates We may also be serving the Portuguese Bean Soup during our afternoon shift.  All workers in the food booth may pick up a FREE t-shirt at the Alumni Association booth, located in the baseball infield near second base. Alumni Association representatives will also be selling tickets to Touch of 'Iolani.

PARKING: Please park at Kaimuki High School. Parking cost will be the same as last year, $3/car, with all proceeds going to KHS.

WORK SCHEDULE: FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2010

11:15 AM to 2:15 PM

1. Bruce Ames
2. Tom Campbell
3. Mike Chun
4. Bob Mumper
5. Milt Oshiro
6. Howard Lee
7. Morris Lai
8. Dick Tsuda
________________________________________________________

2.00 PM to 5:00 PM

1. Tom Campbell
2. Steve Takaki
3. Miles Ono
4. Norman Tyau
5. Francis Wong
6. Wayne Takemoto
7. Morris Lai
8. Dick Tsuda
9. Warren Ho

________________________________________________________

All Day: Tom Campbell, Morris Lai, Dick Tsuda

Services for Reed Tagawa

Thursday, April 15 at Borthwick Mortuary

Call after 5 p.m.; Services at 6 p.m.

Inurnment 10 a.m. of Friday, April 16 at the Valley of the Temples

Casual attire.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Family Fair

Our class has agreed once again take the opening 6 hour shift at the BBQ Chicken & Soup Booth on Friday, April 16th. First shift will run from 11:15 AM to 2:15 PM. Second Shift will run from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Call Dick Tsuda for more information.

Reed Tagawa

Reed Tagawa passed away this morning in St. Francis Hospice in Nu'uanu.

I had visited him about 10 days ago, and played on my computer "Honolulu City Lights" which Art Akina had recorded for Reed.

Funeral arrangements are still pending.

Mo

Friday, March 5, 2010

Funeral service for Dean Tajima

Wednesday March 10 at St. Alban's on the 'Iolani campus.
Viewing/visitation starts at 4 p.m.; service at 5 p.m.
Park in the structure on Kamoku Street.

Since graduation, the following 16 classmates have passed away (let me know if you know of any others):

Chew, Cary
Hashimoto, Robert
Kobayashi, Jon
Kumata, Donald
Matsuura, Alan
Murashige, Leslie
Oda, Stephen
Okawa, Ulysses
Otake, Roland
Pua, Raymond
Tajima, Dean
Tanaka, Michael
Tomita, Melvin
Watson, George
Wong, Calvin
Wong, Ronnie

Aloha kakou,

Mo

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Dean Tajima

Dean Tajima's daughter Julie informed us that Dean passed away this morning. She asked if the class could help out, and of course we said yes. She mentioned that she was trying to get something arranged for next week (but that seems to us possibly too soon to be feasible). Art Akina and I together figured out that we have now lost 16 classmates since graduation.

More details to come soon.

Mo, Dick, and Steve T.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Reed Tagawa

Jimmy and Milt visited Reed Tagawa recently at the St. Francis Hospice in Nu'uanu and reported that he looked pretty good and was in good spirits, just as he was when four of us visited him in December. Reed said he is allowed to eat anything, and he especially loves Hawaiian and Korean food. His daughter was there, and his son was about to arrive from the mainland. Reed talked about his collegiate years at Compton and how Glenn Lee and Steve Fujikami called him to join them after our graduation from Iolani. Would be nice if some other classmates also paid him a visit. For sure Reed would appreciate it.

Mo

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Unpublished Class of ’61 Notes for the Bulletin

Mike and Lorrie Chun performed as part of a Tango formation at the Hawaii Ballroom Dance Association’s 50th Anniversary Ball at the Waikiki Sheraton and attended by more than 600 people. The performance is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvlufPIWlHw

Mike reported that Mike and Trudy Uechi competed at the Hawaii Star Ball in the Grand Seniors, dancing the Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango and Quick Step. In the afternoon competition they came in first place, and in evening competition (exactly the same dances and competitors) they came in fourth.

Enjoying a September 23, 2009 dinner at Happy Days Restaurant with Ed Futa, Secretary General of Rotary International, were Tom Campbell, Mike Chun, Steve Fujikami, Dexter Furuhashi, Warren Ho, Mo Lai, Ken Lee, Jim Miyashiro, Milt Oshiro, Steve Takaki, Tom Teruya, Dick Tsuda, Don Watanabe, and Tom Wong.

When former ‘Iolani teacher Reed Taylor visited in October, he and Tom Teruya visited the Bishop Museum followed later in the week with a nostalgic dinner at the Willows with Tom Campbell, Mike Chun, Warren Ho, Mo Lai, Ken and Jennifer Lee, Jim Miyashiro, Bob Mumper, Milt Oshiro, Steve Takaki, Tom Teruya, Dick Tsuda, Cliff Uejio, and Emmett and Judy Yoshioka. Mike Chun has uploaded videos taken at the event. Here are the links:

#1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btd5NXKcKoI

#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DnQmip16e0

#3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBMyKsdSY6M

#4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk6iVmxxZ0M

If anyone has pictures from any class function, past or present, email them to Mike at iolani61@gmail.com so he can post them on the Class of ’61 blog site.
Andre Dulce reported that he and his wife went to the UH-Washington State football game and had fun cheering for Hawai‘i. He ran into Steve Takaki during halftime but just had time to say “Hi” and “Bye.” He thought he saw Winnie Hoshino but wasn’t sure that it was he because the last time Andre saw Winnie was at the 30th or 40th class reunion. Andre still has the main karate school in Bellevue (Washington Shotokan Association) and 10 other locations. He was promoted to 7th Degree Black Belt in February with the Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association in San Jose, CA.


When Mo Lai went to California for a Stanford reunion, he had lunch in San Jose with Sid Takenishi and Chuck Leong. Sid is still catching a bunch of fish, and Chuck is enjoying life without eyeglasses.

Mo

Monday, January 25, 2010

Jon Kobayshi

From Jon Kobayashi's daughter:

My family thanks you for all of the condolences. My dad's service will be held on Tuesday, February 2nd at Borthwick Mortuary (visitation to start at 5:00 p.m. and services will begin at 6:00 p.m.). Burial is scheduled for Wednesday, February 3rd at Nuuanu Memorial Park. Thank you once again.

Traci Jay

Farewell Jon Kobayashi

On Tuesday, January 19, 2010 in the early afternoon, I stepped outside my office and went to the restroom. When I walked out I saw paramedics pushing someone in a stretcher. Immediately I felt worried. Later that evening I found out Jon Kobayashi was the one in the stretcher. He had suffered aneurism. I was shocked and saddened. I met Jon through Rep. Bob Nakasone in 2003. He was such a nice person. I always enjoyed talking to him. In 2006, when my grandma Bessie Karamatsu was in Queen’s hospital, every evening I would walk to the hospital and then return to the capitol visiting Rep. Nakasone and the gang at Nakasone’s office. Jon and I were outside on the balcony. He knew my grandma’s health was failing and I was hurting inside. He told me the most comforting words a person could say and hugged me. I tried to hold back my sadness and I could see the sincerity in Jon as he looked emotional as well. Earlier this month, I bumped into him at the capitol. I told him, “We gotta hang out sometime.” He smiled and agreed. That was the last time I talked to him. Jon had such a good heart, so sincere and caring. It is hard to believe he is gone.

Representative Jon Riki Karamatsu

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Valerie Haas

On Jan. 12, 2010, Valerie Haas passed away at the age of 91. Her grandnephew, Michael Nitka, said she passed away peacefully. Friends are welcome to send condolences to the family by writing to him at 2185 Ladycliff Circle, Thousand Oaks CA 91360. Dick Tsuda will be sending condolences and a check on behalf of the Class of '61.
From Mo

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Greetings from the Lums

Here is the 2010 version of our Holiday Greeting. Our kids came with their boyfriends from NY, San Francisco and Miami and my mother came from Honolulu. It's probably more information than anyone wants to know about our family, but you might find the video entertaining and informative. Plus, it will give you a peek at the kind of fun we can share if you come to visit us.

YouTube

DejaViewDigital has shared a video with you on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL1Np5EI-70

Holiday greetings from Elliott & Linda Lum. Get a peek into the fun times we shared with family and friends.
Here is our holiday video. As usual, we had a hilarious time together. We spent a lot of time making music together. Kristin just bought a ukulele, and Allison will have access to a Fretlight guitar like I have. Tiffany also plays the guitar.
The title slide is green, because 2009 was the year that we "Went Green" to the hilt. We've had a solar pool heating system for 7 years. In January, we added a solar photovoltaic system which dramatically cut our electric bills. We also added a weather based irrigation controller which sets our sprinklers based on weather conditions. In October, we bought a new Prius. We really like the 50 mpg and the Radar Cruise Control. In December we made our finances greener by refinancing our mortgage at 4.625% with ZERO costs!
All of this investment and cost reduction sets the stage for Linda's retirement on March 1. Her last day of work will be January 29. So far, we're planning trips to the East Coast, San Francisco and Hawaii.
The other highlight was our trip to Korea from May 11 - 22, 2009. We assembled a family group of 12 -- including Elliott's mother Dora, sister and cousins -- and joined a group of 39 others to finally see the country where Dora's parents were born.
Life is good.
Elliott & Linda

Friday, January 15, 2010

Sing-A-Leong


Chuck Leong saw my Ellivis blog posting and discovered that we shared a common interest in guitars, singing and golf. He and Deanna were vacationing in Newport Beach and they drove to Carlsbad for an evening of dinner, Wii games and singing. This video captures the spirit of the great time we had together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj2_yicrufs

P.S. If any other classmates visit San Diego, please look us up.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Eddie Hamada Services

A memorial service for the late Eddie Hamada '46 has been set for Sunday, January 31 on the 'Iolani School campus. Visitation will begin at 9:00 am, with a service to follow at noon. Parking will be available in the Kamoku Street structure and on the baseball field.




Mr. Hamada passed away at his home on January 3 at the age of 81.