Last week I began this two-part column honoring those who have made history in the islands, researched it, preserved it or shared it. All of you have made Hawaii a better place, and for that I thank you.
Rick Rogers — Business Archivist Award
Very few companies have historians, so I tip my cap to Hawaiian Airlines for hiring Rick Rogers as its.
Rogers was a pilot from 1987 until retiring in 2007 and picking up the archivist mantle.
Hawaiian Airlines has a wonderful history, dating back to 1929 when Stan Kennedy Jr. of Inter-Island Steam Navigation — a barge company — dragged the company into the aviation business. Rogers was a great curator of that history and loved to share it.
Rogers was also semifamous for making a costume and becoming Captain Haleiwa in 1983, in an unsuccessful attempt to save the Haleiwa Theatre from becoming a McDonald’s.
Unfortunately but fittingly, Rogers died in a small-plane crash this past February. I can envision him now, in his purple leotard, pink cape and helmet, protecting some theater in the sky.
Victoria Ward and Mary Foster — Best Sisters Award
These two part-Hawaiian sisters have had a huge impact in Hawaii, and most people probably don’t even know they’re related.
Their father was James Robinson. He had a shipbuilding and repair business in the 1820s at Pakaka Point — today’s Aloha Tower area. His first daughter, Mary, was born there. She married Thomas Foster, owner of Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co.
They purchased William Hillebrand’s home and gardens in 1884. When Mary Foster died in 1930, the 5.5-acre site was given to the City and County of Honolulu as a public garden.
Victoria Robinson married Kentucky-born Curtis Perry Ward. In 1870 they began building the estate they called “Old Plantation.” It encompassed all the land makai of Thomas Square on King Street down to the ocean, and much of eastern Kakaako.
When Curtis Ward died in 1882, Victoria and their seven daughters took the lead in running the estate. They incorporated as Victoria Ward Ltd. in 1930. Following the death of the Wards’ last child, the city bought the mauka part of their land and built the Neal Blaisdell Center.
The makai lands were developed into Ward Village, one of Oahu’s largest retail, entertainment and residential centers.
Paul Tognetti and Doris Ishikawa — Take Charge Award
San Jose State football player Paul Tognetti was in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, when World War II began for the U.S. He lay down his football jersey and picked up a badge, joining the Honolulu Police Department with several of his teammates.
Tognetti joined the Army and served in the Pacific. His unit captured a Japanese officer on Okinawa who made an unusual request: If the U.S.allowed him to marry the woman he loved, he would explain the documents, maps and blueprints that would help the Americans take Okinawa.
The U.S. OK’d this most unusual wedding. Maui-born Doris Ishikawa and her mother had returned to Okinawa in the 1930s to care for an ailing relative.
When the U.S. invaded, Doris was found in a cave. Speaking English and Japanese, she helped the Americans rescue others in hiding, who were fearful the soldiers would kill them.
When the wedding of a Japanese officer and Okinawan nurse was held, Ishikawa took charge and became the maid of honor.
For those actions, Ishikawa and Tognetti earn the Take Charge Award.
Zita Cup Choy and Willson Moore — Alii Historians Award
I frequently turn to Zita Cup Choy and Willson Moore with questions about Hawaii’s monarchy and the palace grounds. Choy is Iolani Palace historian, and Moore is a former docent there.
This year they’ve helped me with Washington Place, the location of Duke Kahanamoku’s birth, the original site of Royal School and why Queens Emma and Kapiolani both seemed to use the same motto, “Kulia i ka nu‘u.” It means “Strive for the summit.”
For all the work they’ve put into educating my readers and me, I present to them the Alii Historians Award.
Jed Gaines — Family Literacy Champion
There are many literacy groups in U.S. public schools, but as far as I can tell, the largest by far has been in Hawaii for 25 years.
Jed Gaines, who founded Read Aloud America in 1995, recognized that parents played a larger role in their child’s development than teachers, and included them in evening programs that encouraged families to turn off the TV and read aloud to their children.
Amazingly, over 325,000 islanders attended their evening programs. Schools with 200 students would often have over 200 adults and children show up at the school to talk about books and reading.
At some schools as many as 800 showed up. No other family literacy program in America has attracted hundreds of thousands.
Kent Matsumura, principal of Honowai Elementary School in Waipahu, says the program is the “most effective parent-community involvement activity connected to school and family literacy we have experienced.”
One parent said, “Something as simple as a book can bring my relationship with my children and me closer, because I have made the time to read to them.”
For that I confer on Gaines the Family Literacy Champion Award.
John Bond — Amateur Military Historian Award
Which military base was the first to be attacked on Dec. 7, 1941? I didn’t know the correct answer to that question, or that the Marine Corps Air Station Ewa even existed, until amateur historian John Bond brought it to my attention.
Japanese pilots saw the Ewa plain as the main approach (and exit) to Pearl Harbor, and felt it had to be attacked on the way in. They destroyed 24 planes at MCAS Ewa, killed four Marines and wounded 13 others.
MCAS Ewa became part of Barbers Point NAS, which closed in 1999. Since then the field has been largely forgotten, and attempts are underway to turn it into homes and malls. Bond has nearly single-handedly fought to preserve its history. For that I give him the Amateur Military Historian Award.
Peg and Russell Apple — Hawaiian Storytellers Award
One of my favorite columns in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin was Tales of Old Hawaii, written by Russ and Peg Apple from 1969 to about 1983.
Their column was full of interesting tidbits I did not know. For instance, that the USS Constitution — Old Ironsides — visited Honolulu in 1845. Or that the word “ahupuaa,” which we use to mean land division, actually translates as “pig altar.”
I learned from another of their columns that Kamehameha I wasn’t labeled “the Great” until after the last Kamehameha had left the throne. Until that time they ruled as I, II, III, IV and V.
The Apples’ column and book of Hawaii history stories earn them this year’s Hawaiian Storytellers Award.
On this first day of 2021, I thank this year’s awardees for all they’ve done to make Hawaii the special place that it is, and wish all of us a healthy and safe new year.
The Rearview Mirror Insider is Bob Sigall’s free email newsletter that gives readers behind-the-scenes background, stories that wouldn’t fit in the column, and lots of interesting details. Become an Insider at RearviewMirror Insider.com. Mahalo!
