Death of parents defined man’s outlook toward family

It’s afternoon at the Hale Ho Aloha nursing facility and resident Julian Monsarrat, having little desire to sacrifice the comforts of his warm bed for a rain-dampened seat on the lanai, draws his blanket to his chest and settles in to watch basketball on the TV beside his bed.

"I like it here," he says. "The people are nice and they take good care of me."

"The food," he says with a dismissive seesawing of the hand, "eh, so-so."

That’s not a problem, of course, as long as his kids and grandkids keep supplementing the healthful fare offered at the facility with good-for-the-soul deliveries of manapua or oxtail soup.

To be sure, Monsarrat, 90, has always adapted well to his circumstances.

Scion of the storied family for whom the Waikiki street is named, Monsarrat enjoyed a pampered early upbringing in Hilo.

"His parents were well-off," says daughter Rochelle Monsarrat. "He grew up with maids. He rang a bell for his breakfast. He was the only kid who went to school in pantaloons."

Monsarrat’s privileged existence ended when his parents died while he was still an adolescent. He would eventually leave Hilo to attend ‘Iolani School on Oahu.

Far from home, the athletic Monsarrat found a father figure in the Rev. Kenneth Bray, an Episcopal priest, teacher and coach of the school’s football team.

"He made sure Dad did things the right way," says son Julian Monsarrat III. "He had a great influence on Dad becoming the person he is."

After high school, Monsarrat went to work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Punahou School and fell in love with a pretty mail girl named Violet. They married just before Monsarrat was drafted and sent to Guadalcanal.

Monsarrat survived his time in one of the war’s most dangerous fronts only to take a bullet upon his return to Hawaii.

"Dad was always rushing," Rochelle says. "So he was at Schofield rushing to clean his gun so he could leave when it accidentally went off and shot him in the head."

The accident left Monsarrat paralyzed on his left side but — much to everyone’s surprise — alive.

Julian III recalls his father receiving a visit from a stranger many years later. Turns out it was the emergency room doctor who first treated Monsarrat after his accident. He had to see for himself that Monsarrat had actually survived.

Monsarrat was hardly slowed by his disability. He learned to change diapers, hang the laundry, even trim the hedges with just one powerful hand. He also continued to play the ukulele, accompanying Violet in stirring renditions of "The Hawaiian Wedding Song."

Monsarrat worked a series of civil service jobs until retiring at age 59.

"My father realized that his childhood really changed when he lost his parents, so it was very important for him to keep our family going," Julian III says. "He and my mother made a modest income, but he always took the time to take us to the beach or have a picnic. That was a big influence on us being a tight-knit family."

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Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.