Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Andre's Retirement Party

First Row: Morris Lai, Eric Yamamoto, Warren Ho, Tom Wong,  Ken Lee, Andre Dulce, Russell Saito, Francis Wong, Howard Lee , Jim Miyashiro
Second Row: Mike Chun, KEN KANESHIRO,  LES HATA, Glenn Lee, Rodney Chun, Wes Tanaka ,Dick Tsuda, Leroy Lee,  Norman Tyau, Tom Campbell, Steve Takaki, Milt Oshiro, RODNEY INEFUKU, Ken Nakasone , Bob Mumper

attended but not  pictured: Clifford Uejio, Gary Shigemura, WENDELL WONG

NAME IN CAPS ARE  OF "LONG TIME NO  SEE " CLASSMATES OR CALABASH CLASSMATES




Great time held by all at Andre's retirement party held at Gordon Biersch Brew Pub at Aloha Tower Market Place on Sunday Dec. 9, 2012. Great pupus (ahi poke, barbecued wings, pizza, etc) and great beer.

I solicited information and  comments from classmates and am reporting them as they appear in my notes......hope to use this info to consolidate  for '61 Classnotes  for the 2013  Spring Issue of The Iolani School Bulletin.

Ken Kaneshiro     "Good to see you all!!"

Leroy Lee    "Glad we are all still looking good in our old age!"

Jim Miyashiro   "Enjoy every day"

Howard Lee  "Enjoying retirement"

Wes Tanaka " Great to see everyone especially the few that I have not seen since graduation"

Frannie Wong   "Good to see guys I haven't seen since graduation."

Ken Nakasone    "This class is getting younger everyday"

Russ Saito    "Andre and I went to Palolo Elementary together.....same kindergarten class....he looks the same .....still wearing shorts....just like in our kindergarten class picture"

Tom Campbell   "Andre...good luck....stay active and take care your body! Been a long time since Funakoshi Sensei!!! You were always better than me!!!"

Milt Oshiro    "Went to Disneyland and Legoland in early November  with wife  Maddie, Marcie (daughter), Ryan (son-in-law) and grandson Ryan who is 6 1/2 and also  a first grader at Momilani.  We really enjoyed ourselves"

Cliff Uejio   "Went to China and toured with my wife Stephani. We climbed the Great Wall in Beijing and also visited Xian and Shanghai"

Dick Tsuda "Still working at UH"

Norman Tyau "semi retired....working Tues, Wed and Thur and living  in da country. Hoping to do some traveling"

Steve Takaki   "quasi retired teaching 2 sections of ICS 101 at KCC....hoping to travel as much as we can and as long as we're still able to"

 Mo Lai "Will retire Dec 28, 2012"

Rodney Inefuku-  "Retired electrical engineer...worked at Pearl Harbor until 2008. Lives in Hawaii Kai....has two kids.....a girl age 30 and a son age 28.

Eric Yamamoto- "Semi -retired from life insurance, pension and spiritual stuff. Has a daughter , age 43, and a granddaughter, age 2)

Glenn Lee-   "Sort of retired  and spending time between Honolulu and Lacey Washington. .....I visit Vegas sometimes and am happily married to Yong Lee.

Mahalo to Andre for providing us  with ball caps with our signature Iolani Class of '61 logo. Several of our classmates are wearing them in the group picture.

Just a note: I attended the Iolani School's 150th Anniversary Celebration Speaker Series featuring The Reverent David P. Coon at the Pacific Club on 11/30/12. Also in attendance from our class was Warren Ho and Russ Saito.

It was great to see Mr. Coon and he was sharp in mind and spirit. He still knew my name. It was a great talk,concise and to the point. One of the major points that he made was the importance of hiring and keeping quality teachers in order to run a quality  educational institution.

At the end of the talk, he entertained questions and comments  from the audience. Ron Lim '60 who sat at the same table as myself  shared that he got an F in geometry  from Mr. Coon from his failure to memorize geometry theorems. Ron said that he went on to major in mathematics in college and returned to Iolani  to share that  fact with Mr. Coon. Mr. Coon hired Ron to teach a summer math session but Ron  noted that at the end of the session, he  decided that   teaching would not be in his  future because he only got paid $200.

Unfortunately, that was the status of both public and private school salaries in the 1960's. I remember talking to Mr. Coon after I completed four years in the military about a possible teaching position at Iolani. He said that Iolani was paying beginning teachers $7000 a year. The Hawaii Department of Education would pay me  $9000 a year giving me credit for my military service. As a result,  I made my decision to teach in the public school system.

In closing, definitely a big MAHALO to  Andre for putting this party on for us and especially for his efforts in bringing guys back who we haven't seen for over 50 years.

















Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Our classmate in the news!



Emmett surrounded by beautiful women. Now I know why Emmett's better half goes to every practice and show to be his assistant in the productions. She told me a long time ago that if she didn't go to the practices and shows, she would never see him. He's so busy.

Emmett just sees himself as a "typical Iolanian".......CORRECTION... Emmett!!!!  you mean a "typical '61 Iolanian"  He writes that the next show that he is doing is "Funny Girl" which he did as his very first show at Diamond Head Theatre with a pit orchestra 24 years ago.

Way to go, Emmett!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

End of the Summer - '61 mini-reunion







Mucho mahalos to Norman Tyau who opened up his Hauula beachfront home for this outstanding  mini-reunion. "Stag only"....like  in the old days. Great food....refreshing beverages.....old memories provided by Cliff Uejio/Mo Lai slide show.....conversation.....a great time held by all who were able to make it.

Group picture:  Front row: Alan Kawada (kneeling),  Jim Miyashiro  2d Row: Ken Nakasone, Tom Wong,  Mo Lai,  Milt Oshiro,  Eric Yamamoto  3d Row: Wes Tanaka,  Norman Tyau,  Tom Campbell

Deck photo: Front to back: Steve Fujikami, Jim Miyashiro, Wes Tanaka, Warren Ho, Ken Nakasone, Milt Oshiro, Alan Kawada

Missing: Clifford Uejio and Da Photographer -Dick Tsuda

Monday, June 25, 2012

From Ed Ching

Via Mumper

Bob,


I am headed to london on July 16 for the Olympics. 3 swimmers from Guam will be participating. My 6th Olympics.

Ed

From Andre

Via Mumper

Hi Robert: hope that things are well with you and hope that you and Aruda (Ken Lee) are still doing your weekly jog around Kahala? As for me, I’m down teaching to only two days a week – but the administrative & paper work in running a dojo is still 3 or 4 days with shorter hours! My karate organization, Washington Shotokan Association, is continually growing with the main school in Bellevue and 11 branch locations. After 2 knee surgeries – for both knees and 2 rotator cup operation – for both shoulders – my right knee finally gave out and will be having a complete knee replacement on July 5th. Oh well! I should be out of commission for about 2 -3 weeks before going back to my teaching duties. I’ll be coming back home in December for about 10 days (Dec. 7 – 17) and hope to see some of the classmates! Keep in touch! Thanks for keeping everyone informed! Aloha….Andre’

Monday, May 21, 2012

Mumper Here!




Mumper here! Trying to figure  out how to do this computer thing (per Bush 41).

Bunch of us  Iolani Class of '61 guys and ladies gathered at Tsukiyi's Fishmarket at Ala Moana Shopping Center (top floor) for a buffet  luncheon pigout  on Tuesday May 15, 2012.

Present were Tom Campbell, Mike Chun and spouse Lorrie Mae, Rodney Chun, Ed Futa, Warren Ho, Morris Lai and spouse Lorna, Leroy Lee, Chuck Leong and spouse Deanna,  Bob  Mumper, Dick Tsuda, David Tyau and spouse Anita, Mike Uejio and spouse Stephanie, Eric Yamamoto and Emmett Yoshioka.

Former Rotary International CEO, Ed Futa, was passing through from a Rotary Convention in Bangkok, Thailand attended by 34,0000 members. Ed spend a few moments speaking on Rotary Club's  mission to not only  get rid of polio in the world  but also to promote world peace. He is busier now since he retired since he will take on the job of General Chairman for the next  International Rotary Convention to  be held in Lisbon, Portugal next year.  Ed will also serve as Rotary's representative to the United Nations.

Clifford Uejio reports that he and his spouse Stephanie are doing fine after one and a half years of marriage.   I told Stephanie that statistically, Clifford  will live a lot longer. They recently returned from a trip to Kyoto, Japan.

Chuck Leong was also happy to be in the Sandwich Islands while primarily  attending to family matters. Look to the next issue of Iolani Classnotes (Summer 2012) to read about his adventures with Elliott Lum in Carlsbad, California.

I haven't figured out how to move those pictures around but in picture number three, the spouses pictured are Deanna Leong, Lorrie Mae Chun and Lorna Lai.

Most guys don't have much to say and it's like pulling teeth trying to get information for the classnotes. But Tom Campbell said that he busier than ever at AT&T and has no plans on retiring soon. I think that when  I break down and get a hearing aid, I'll be able to catch a lot more of what he says to me. I'm still waiting for the technology to get better....but may make an appointment later with a doctor hearing specialist lady who has nice boobs recommended by a fellow jogging partner  who  also  exercises with Ken Lee, Dick Sutton ( '63 Punahou  grad, attorney and USA Track Official)  and Bob Mumper (Sunday mornings, 11;15 AM , Kahala Field ........meet at Big Baseball diamond).

Morris Lai of course planned this event (to the best of my knowledge since he sent out the email notices)  and Dick Tsuda handled the collection of the money and paying the bill.

There were some  comments on our class not working at the Iolani Family Fair this year. Well, the truth is planning this event  is a lot of work. Thanks to Dick Tsuda, Tom Campbell and others for their hard efforts throughout the years. Sooner or later guys run out of gas and shouldn't have to die to have an excuse to retire. So, if  there is  somebody out there who wants to step up, contact Kira at the alumni office.

I'm aware of the efforts required , because when my son was a junior at Punahou, my wife volunteered us to be co-chairpersons at the hamburger/hotdog booth at the Punahou Carnival. When she told me, I said, "What????....we never  volunteer for anything....we just do our shifts and participate". She said that she didn't know that she was volunteering. I guess that they supposedly tricked her the same way that people tricked you in the old days to come to their AmWay sales meetings.  So we did the  co- chair thing for two years....the junior year was just practice for the next year when the boy would be a  senior.

So I know that time and effort in having to go to the meetings, planning, coordinating  and standing the 14 hour daily shifts at the carnival. Needless to say, I was present in body.....and learned how to use a meat thermometer as I coordinated the process of getting the frozen hamburger to the grills, to the buns and to the wrappers. My wife handled the overall coordinating, the check in of volunteers and the sales and collection of the tickets.  I smelled like raw meat when I got home and my dog wouldn't leave me alone  even after thorough showering.

Super busy Ken Lee was able to drop in at the  end to say hello to our mainland classmates Ed and Chuck.  Mike Chun got  a picture of Ken and " photoshopped"   him into  the class picture which will be included in the Fall issue of  '61 Classnotes. Ken's spouse , Jennifer , is on the mainland helping out daughter Tiffany with the new number 3 grandchild Jesse Colby.

Thanks to Mike Chun, I was able to learn how to download photos from Facebook and put them into the blog  but I still have to learn how to move these pictures around so that I could put  captions under them.

When I was a classroom teacher at Kahala School, we had a computer teacher who taught the kids in a well  equipped air-conditioned  computer lab.....probably one of the first in the State of Hawaii  funded by our  hardworking  parents.   I used to sit down next to the slowest student because once when I sat next to a smart kid, when I asked her for help, she said, "Mr. Mumper.....you're do dumb, how did you get to  be a teacher." Kids can be so perceptive.....so here's  Bob Mumper signing out....still trying to get out the 20th century (but with Mikes help,  I feel that I'm making progress.) I even remembered the  last time I made a post to write down my password so that I could get into this blog site the next time I make a contribution.

Way to go Mumper!