94-505 Eeka Place
Mililani, Hawaii96789
June 8, 2010
Aloha All,
It has been over a month since I received a message on our home phone about a get together in GarfieldPark during the month of June. It was a total shock to hear a voice from someone in Indiana who graduated from Manual in 1968. The funny part is that the name didn’t ring a bell and God only knows where to find the yearbook. I did take some time to look up the website for the class of ’68 and read some of the bios which were sent in for all to read and I must say that some of them are very interesting.
As I sit and try to remember my years at Manual it’s difficult to put my finger on an exact time or date that made my life in high school a rewarding experience. It was very difficult to make friends or belong to the click as we use to say. Those were the days when you wouldn’t think of having a friend who was fat or God forbid gay! So I decided that the best thing to do was to get an education and get out of Indiana.
I attended college in River Forest, Illinois a suburb of Chicago which was a wonderful experience. One of the most exciting parts of living in the Chicago area was the mixture of the cultures which helped to open my eyes to the world and what she has to offer. After my years in college I took a teaching position in Wahiawa, Hawaii and found a place and culture that is loving and accepting to all. For almost 40 years I have learned about the cultures of the Pacific Islanders and how their lives have been affected by the growth and development of the Western Cultures. It is really very important to know that there is a whole different life for those of us who live here, Hawaii is not Waikiki.
While teaching in Wahiawa I took a part time position with a travel agency because I wanted the opportunity to see more of the world. I was given the opportunity to develop group travel which was a new hat for me to wear as well as open my own cruise agency, Bob’s Voyages. I have taken groups too many areas of Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Artic Circle, Japan and China. We have done so many exciting things while traveling such as riding camels around the Pyramids of Giza, taking a helicopter to the top of a glacier, sailing through the Panama Canal, climbing to the top of Mount Fuji, walking the Great Wall of China, riding elephants to the boarder of Burma, sail through the Fjords of New Zealand and hiking around the volcanoes of Iceland. One of the most exciting cruises was the inaugural sailing the beautiful Queen Mary 2. Sailing past the Statue of Liberty in New YorkHarbor is an experience that you will always remember.
As I read over a few of the bios I noticed that one person shared that she worked for H&R Block. What a surprise! Back in 1975 I decided that if I wanted to see the world that I needed to make side money so I took the H&R Block tax course and believe it or not 35 years later, I am getting my Grandfather Clock! Believe it or not, doing taxes is really fun! What other job is there where you get paid to sit while the client goes home to find more receipts?
Back in 1989 I completed my Masters Degree in Education and Instruction from the University of Hawaii and began looking for another job. In the fall of ’89 I took a position at a private social service agency in Honolulu as a teacher/facilitator working with children birth to five years of age who were homeless/transitional. The program goal was to help the families understand the growth and development of their children and through a process of linkage and referrals provide the family with the needed services to benefit the child’s development. I really must say that it was a change from day to day classroom teaching to learning about homeless issues in the streets of Honolulu but I love it. When I began at the agency I was one of seventeen employees which now have grown into an employee base of over five hundred. I am the Program Administrator of all statewide programs in Hawaiifor the homeless children as well as vice-chair of the Hawaii Children’s Trust Fund so my job takes me the various islands throughout the state of Hawaii. It’s sad to say but we do have a large number of homeless families here in Hawaii and it seems as if the numbers are increasing on a daily basis.
But all of this could not have been done without the support of my partner of 30 years. I met Francisco through a mutual friend while visiting my family in the Bay Area during Christmas of 1980. As one can see from the name, Francisco is a Mexican whose family is well known throughout the southwest. Francisco’s grandfather had the first Spanish speaking radio program in the United States in the 1920’s as well as riding with Poncho Vila during the revolution. I met him a number of times before his death and he was a wealth of knowledge and so fascinating to talk with, when he spoke English, my Spanish is very poor. Francisco and I had our Commitment Ceremony on July 23, 2005 which was an event of a lifetime. We had family and friends from New York, Washington, Indiana, California, Japan and Mexico as well as our hanai family here in Hawaii. The Marriott Waikiki didn’t know what hit them with over five people showing up for our reception. The Mariachi’s, our hula halau, Chinese Lions and two local entertainers made for an evening we will always remember. Our friends at church are beginning to ask what will happen this year for our 30th. God Forbid! But our life together has been so blessed with family, friends and also being hanai into a local family.
So there you have it in a nutshell! I left Indiana and never looked back. The world has been an open door of learning and one needs to get out there and learn all that they can. We live our lives together after the famous line in the movie, Aunty Maine, “Life is a banquet and there are too many people out there starving.”