Rosemary Nishi devoted 42 years of diligent service as a supervisor with the
Honolulu Department of the Corporation Counsel. But it wasn’t until she retired just over a decade ago that she really got to work.
“When I was working and the kids were young, I was always running around, and I didn’t really have much time for myself,” Nishi says by way of explanation. “I was always chauffeuring my kids from place to place.”
Nishi, 74, grew up in Kuliouou and graduated from Roosevelt High School, part of the school’s last English standard class. She met her husband, Bob, at a bowling mixer for students of Cannon’s Business College and Honolulu Business College. Together they raised two children, Renee and Royden.
Perpetually busy by both circumstance and natural proclivity, Nishi worked full time, took care of her children and extended herself to whatever effort she felt worthy. For some 30 years, until the retirement of head coach Les Murakami, Nishi prepared meals for the University of Hawaii baseball team (for which her daughter served as a ball girl).
Nishi herself retired in 2005. With kids grown and office life a receding memory, she has spent her retirement immersing herself in interests too long deferred.
Volunteering has been a high priority. Nishi spends one day a week performing healing touch and reiki — healing arts she has studied for more than 20 years — at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women &Children.
“I love treating the babies and new moms,” she says. “I also like to see if there are others there who could be helped.”
Nishi also volunteers her time at the Kapahulu Center, where she tends to the facility’s Japanese garden and surrounding grounds.
When she’s not volunteering, Nishi takes classes at the center, everything from aerobics to hula to “paranku,” a type of Okinawan drum.
To stay healthy, Nishi walks 3 to 4 miles every day. She also golfs regularly as a member of the Tee Timers, a golf club for retired women.
She says she isn’t picky about where she plays — Navy-Marine, Hawaii Kai, Olomana, “wherever I can get a time,” she says laughing.
Nishi is particularly fond of cultural activities. Under the tutelage of Joyce Gushiken, she’s learned the intricacies of traditional Japanese bon dance and has been an active member of the Hawaii Fukushima Bon Dance Club for the last eight years.
More recently Nishi has been helping to teach people how to play the Japanese card game hanafuda and a new local variant, Na Pua Hawaii, developed by Nishi’s former yoga instructor Helen Nakano and Nakano’s son Jason. She’ll be participating in a hanafuda workshop on Nov. 12, 2 to
4 p.m., at the Kapahulu Center. The workshop is free to the public.
“I like to keep busy,” she says.
Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
