Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Pi

Pi – which is written as the Greek letter for p, or π – is the ratio of the circumference of any circle to the diameter of that circle. Regardless of the circle’s size, this ratio will always equal Pi.

Babylonians and Egyptians had rough numerical approximations to the value of Pi, and later mathematicians in ancient Greece, particularly Archimedes, improved on those approximations. By the start of the 20th century, about 500 digits of Pi were known.

The most accurate value for Pi, according to Guinness World Records, is more than 62 trillion digits (62,831,853,071,796 to be precise), by University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons (Switzerland) in Chur, Switzerland, on August 19, 2021. (Guiness World Records) (Others have since computed beyond this.)

In decimal form, the value of Pi is approximately 3.14 – thus the expression that today, March 14, is Pi Day.

But Pi is an irrational number, meaning that its decimal form neither ends (like 1/4 = 0.25) nor becomes repetitive (like 1/6 = 0.166666…). (To only 18 decimal places, Pi is 3.141592653589793238.)

Hence, it is useful to have shorthand for this ratio of circumference to diameter. According to Petr Beckmann’s A History of Pi, the Greek letter π was first used for this purpose by William Jones in 1706, probably as an abbreviation of periphery, and became standard mathematical notation roughly 30 years later.

Try a brief experiment: Using a compass, draw a circle. Take one piece of string and place it on top of the circle, exactly once around.  Now straighten out the string; its length is called the circumference of the circle. Measure the circumference with a ruler.

Next, measure the diameter of the circle, which is the length from any point on the circle straight through its center to another point on the opposite side.

If you divide the circumference of the circle (distance around the perimeter of the circle) by the diameter (distance across the circle through the center), you will get approximately 3.14 – no matter what size circle you drew (every circle has the same ratio of circumference to diameter).

In addition, Pi also connects the radius of a circle (half the diameter) with the area of that circle by the formula: the area is equal to Pi times the radius squared. Additionally, Pi shows up often unexpectedly in many mathematical situations.

(For example, the sum of the infinite series uses Pi (it’s a Basel problem concerning an infinite sum of inverse squares … (the series is the sum of 1/n2, as in 1/12 + 1/ 22 +1/32, etc)) that is represented as, 1 + 1/4 + 1/9 + 1/16 + 1/25 + … + 1/n2 + … is π2/6) (Scientific American) (Don’t you just love math?)

Why else is Pi important?  Pi is key to accurately pointing an antenna toward a satellite. It helps figure out everything from the size of a massive cylinder needed in refinery equipment to the size of paper rolls used in printers.

Pi is also useful in determining the necessary scale of a tank that serves heating and air conditioning systems in buildings of various sizes.

NASA uses Pi on a daily basis. It’s key to calculating orbits, the positions of planets and other celestial bodies, elements of rocket propulsion, spacecraft communication and even the correct deployment of parachutes when a vehicle splashes down on Earth or lands on Mars.

Using just nine digits of Pi, scientists say it can calculate the Earth’s circumference so accurately it only errs by about a quarter of an inch (0.6 centimeters) for every 25,000 miles (about 40,000 kilometers). (WBUR, NPR)

How’s this about Pi? … Possibly the world’s best-known scientist, and one of the greatest and most influential scientists of all time, Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Germany.  Oh, and famed physicist Stephen Hawking died on March 14, 2018.

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Richard Henderson Trent

“During [WW I], Richard Henderson Trent was the local representative of the Alien Property Custodian and his responsibility, of course, was to take over property owned by German interests here in the Islands.” (Theodore Frederick Trent, oral history)

“Ready to stir the cauldron which was now bubbling nicely was Dixie Doolittle, whose paid advertisements appeared from November, 1917, to February, 1918. Dixie made it his practice to attack Germanism wherever he found it.”

“One day he found it in the Elks Lodge, and the ensuing libel trial unveiled Dixie Doolittle as none other than Richard H. Trent, president of Trent Trust Company, of whom more will be said later.”

“Trent had attacked the Elks, because their club served liquor, and he considered liquor a German weapon. … The editorial response of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin drove home the point that ‘nothing but the most ceaseless vigilance will serve to protect Hawaii . . . from the ceaseless conspiracies of the enemy.’”

“Everyone now knew the ‘faithlessness of the German word.’  “J. F. Brown in a letter to the Bulletin added the thought that ‘Americans must regard every German as a potential spy unless loyalty proven beyond doubt.’” The court acquitted Trent of the charges, but the advertisements did not reappear.” (Wagner-Seavey)

Born September 11, 1867, in Somerville, Fayette County, Tennessee, Richard Henderson Trent was the son of William Clough and Mary Virgin (Bonner) Trent.

Trent only attended public school until he was 12-years of age, and was a self-educated and self-made man.  He arrived in the Islands in 1901, and almost immediately joined the staff of the Evening Bulletin, but left after several months to become bookkeeper for Henry Waterhouse & Co., and later treasurer of the Henry Waterhouse Trust Co., Ltd.  (Men of Hawaii)

Trent Trust Company, Ltd was  formed on June 20, 1907 (Hawaiian Star, Jul 1, 1907); Town and Country Homes was formed by Trent and others in November 1924, “the purpose of which is to acquire and develop lands and build houses and roads”. (SB, Nov 13, 1924)

“With the Incorporation came an even greater growth, both in the amount, of business and in the number of departments handled by the concern. … Trent Trust Company handles real estate, insurance, stocks and bonds, renting, building, loans and mortgages, and its trust department has well equipped safe deposit vaults.”

“Every department has men who are experts in their line, as efficiency is the keynote of the firm and to which it owes Its rapid growth. It has a very loyal body of clients and good will is one of its biggest assets.” (SB, Jun 30, 1917)

Charles Russell Frazier (the head of Town and Country Homes, Ltd., which was the real estate division of the Trent Trust Co.)  was primarily a marketing man, but was also developer and chief promoter).

In 1924, Harold Kainalu Long Castle sold land on the Windward side to Trent and Frazier and they developed what we call “Lanikai”.  As a marketing ploy to entice wealthy buyers looking for a vacation home at the development they also referenced is as the “Crescent of Content”.

In naming it Lanikai they believed it translated ‘heavenly sea;’ however, they used the English word order.  In Hawaiian the qualifier commonly follows the noun, hence Lani-kai means ‘sea heaven,’ ‘marine heavenʻ.  (Ulukau)

Trent’s company was publisher of TrenTrusTics, a financial journal much in demand by investors and others interested in Hawaiian industries and securities; was first treasurer of County of Oahu and twice re-elected, serving three terms from 1905-1910; president Honolulu Y. M. C. A., 1908-1915, member Territorial Board of Public Lands, 1910-1914. (Men of Hawaii)

Trent was a member of the Board of Regents, University of Hawaiʻi, for several years, as well as served as a trustee of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate and the Bishop Museum.

In 1928, while Trustee of the Kamehameha Schools (1917-1939,) a junior division was created for the Kamehameha School for Boys annual song contest; Trent donated the contest trophy.  The original school for boys contest cup, the George A Andrus cup, was designated as the trophy for the senior division winner and the Richard H Trent Cup for the junior division winner.

Trent was also owner of the only private zoo in the Territory. (Men of Hawaii)  “Mr. Trent’s zoo is practically a public institution, maintained at his personal, private expense for the public’s pleasure.” (PCA, 8/21/1916)  At one point, it appears the zoo was a little too ‘open.’

“Dogs frightened the two animals brought from Australia for Trent’s private zoo and they jumped against their cage with enough force to break through it … A young one, thrown from its mother’s pouch, was killed by the dogs, but the pair of old ones managed to get away and have not been seen since.”  (Star-Bulletin, August 21, 1916)

 “Richard H. Trent, Honolulu’s animal impresario, issues a call to all citizens of Oahu today to join in a mammoth, personally conducted wallaby hunt, the first of its kind ever held in the Hawaiian archipelago.”

“Two of the three small kangaroos which he obtained last week from Australia, at great trouble and expense, escaped from the Trent zoological gardens on Alewa Heights Saturday night and at latest reports last night were roaming at will in the Oahu forests.”

“Inhabitants are warned hereby that the animals positively are not dangerous; will not bite anything more meaty than grass, leaves or succulent forest shrubbery. The unfortunate owner offers a reward of twenty-five dollars for their capture and return alive.”

“Unless the animals are caught they may be come permanent denizens of the mountain districts and, like their distant cousins, the Australia rabbits, may propagate and produce eventually a breed of Hawaiian wallabies.”

“But meantime the public would be deprived of gazing upon them at close range and observing the peculiarities of the unusual, antipodean animals. … The wallabies are perfectly harmless, it is said, but they may prove exceedingly difficult to capture.” (PCA, 8/21/1916)

While the wallabies once roamed from Nuʻuanu to Hālawa, they are now known to live in only one valley, the ʻEwa side of Kalihi Valley, which has a series of sheer cliffs and narrow rocky ledges.  (earlham-edu)

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DLNR-DOFAW) no longer keeps track of the population, since they believe the animals are nonthreatening.

Wallabies are designated as protected game mammals by DLNR (§13-123-12,) which means no hunting, killing or possessing, unless authorized.  (The same rule applies to wild cattle.) In 2002, a wallaby was captured in Foster Village; DLNR released it back into Kalihi Valley.

The last state survey of Kalihi wallabies was in the early-1990s; at the time, the estimated population was as high as 75-animals.

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Mōkapu Peninsula

“I learnt, that their present king’s name was Taheeterre [Kahekili], and that he was also king of Morotoi [Molokai] and Mowee [Maui]. The old man informed me, that his residence was in a bay [Kāne‘ohe Bay] round the West point, and importuned me very much to carry the ships there, as that place, he said, afforded plenty of fine hogs and vegetables.”

“Indeed, I had some reason to think, that the inhabitants on that part of the island were more numerous than in King George’s Bay [Maunalua Bay], as I observed most of the double canoes came round the West point; but as the people now brought us plenty of water, I determined to keep my present situation, it being in many respects a very eligible one …”

“… for we hitherto had been favoured with a most refreshing sea breeze, which blows over the low land at the head of the bay; and the bay all round has a very beautiful appearance …”

“… the low land and vallies being in a high state of cultivation, and crowded with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, &c. interspersed with a great number of cocoa-nut trees, which renders the prospect truly delightful. …”

“Potatoes and taro are likewise met with here-in great plenty, but I never observed any bread-fruit, and scarcely any yams; so that there is reason to suppose they are not cultivated by the inhabitants of Woahoo [O‘ahu].” (Capt Nathaiel Portlock, June 1786)

Mōkapu received its basic formation when volcanic eruptions of the southeast end of the Ko‘olau mountain range produced many lava flows and much falling rock. These same eruptions produced secondary tuff cones now known as Diamond Head, Koko Head and Punchbowl. (Steele, MCBH)

 Like Lē‘ahi (Diamond Head), Ulapa‘u tuff is a volcanic rock made up of a mixture of volcanic rock and mineral fragments (they were likely explosive volcanic eruptions).  (SOEST)

“The ahupua‘a of Heeia and its sources of foods such as the sea pond of Heeia, the large mullet of Kalimuloa and Kealohi, the reef of Malauka‘a where octopus were found, the travelling uhu and ohua fishes, and the wooden bowls of Mokapu, belonged to Maui-kiikii (Top-knot Maui).” (Kamakau in Sterling & Summers)

Mōkapu Peninsula encompasses portions He‘eia and Kāne‘ohe – these are extensions of the ahupua‘a across the large basin of Kāne‘ohe Bay.  Mōkapu peninsula is further sub-divided into six sections.

The tip of the left lobe of the peninsula was called Mōkapu and was in the He‘eia section, while Heleloa, Kuwa‘aohe, Ulupa‘u, Halekou-Kaluapuhi, and Nu‘upia, rested in the Kāne‘ohe district. (Sterling & Summers)

“The two divergent lobes of Mo-kapu possess distinctive features. The left lobe … is marked by Hawaii Loa crater, the coral bluffs, lava sheets, Pyramid Rock, and stone ruins.  The right lobe is dominated and terminated by the Ulu-pa‘u crater. This is a broad, shallow, saucer-shaped vent, a truncated hollow cone, very similar in appearance and structure to Le-ahi.” (MacCaughey, 1917)

‘Mōkapu’ is the contraction of ‘Mōku Kapu’ … ‘mōku’ (island) and ‘kapu’ (sacred or restricted),  which means “Sacred or Forbidden Island.”

The sea and bays around Mōkapu were kapu in pre-contact days. The right to fish in the surrounding waters was granted only to the high chiefs and servants of the king. These fishing grounds were called ko‘a.  (Steele, MCBH)

Fishing was confined to certain types of fish native to certain sections of the ocean. Persons were assigned to areas with the task of feeding the fish two or three times a week.  (Steele, MCBH)

Though Mōkapu Peninsula had only limited fresh water, ‘uala (sweet potatoes) and ipu (gourds) were cultivated there. It is also likely that other mulched dryland crops such as kalo (taro), ko (sugar canes), niu (coconuts), ‘ulu (breadfruit), and the pia (arrow root) also grew there.

However, the most important resource of the peninsula were its loko i‘a (fishponds). There were at least five loko i‘a on Mokapu Peninsula, including Ka-lua-puhi (literally: The eel pit), Nu‘u-pia (interpretively: arrow root mound) …

… Hale-kou (interpretively: House surrounded by kou trees), Hele-loa (literally: Distant travel), Muli-wai-‘olena (interpretively: Turmeric [yellowish] estuary), and Pa-‘ohua (literally: Fish fry enclosure). (Maly)

Prior to Polynesian settlement, the ponds were thought to be a shallow open channel between Kāneʻohe and Kailua Bays, making Mōkapu an island, connected to Oʻahu by a thin coastal barrier dune.

Kaneohe Ranch began in 1893, when Nannie Rice leased 15,000 acres to JP Mendonca and C Bolte for cattle ranching.  Incorporated as Kaneohe Ranch Company, Ltd. in 1894, the lands were leased and primarily used for raising pineapple, processing sugar, and cattle operations.

In 1905, James Bicknell Castle acquired the cattle ranching interest of Mendonca and Bolte, and in 1907 he purchased large blocks of shares in the cattle operations of the Kaneohe Ranch Company.

In 1917, Harold Kainalu Long Castle, son of James B Castle, purchased the title to 9,500 acres of land from Mrs. Rice, which included the ‘iii of Heleloa. (HABS No. HI-311-L)

The United States’ military presence on the Mōkapu Peninsula area initially began in 1918. It was through President Woodrow Wilson’s Executive Order No. 2900 that the Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation was established. (HABS No. HI-311-L)

Use and ownership has been shared and alternated between the Army and Navy over the years. Following the Base Realignment and Closure Committee’s decision to close NAS Barbers Point, the Kāne‘ohe base acquired 4 Navy P-3 patrol squadrons and one SH-60 Anti-Submarine squadron in 1999.

Today, there are almost 10,000 active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel attached to the base.  The Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i (MCBH) on Mōkapu maintains and operates the airfield and other training facilities in support of the readiness and global projection of DoD and military operating forces. (MCBH)

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Plantation Store System

“Stores have played an important role in Hawaii’s plantation communities. Prior to 1945, they provided plantation residents with their basic needs, served as social gathering places, catered to various ethnic preferences …”

“… in food, clothing, and medicine, and provided special services such as extended credit and free delivery, which eased the inconveniences of scant, once-a-month paydays and car-less plantation living.”

“[A]s one travels east along Hana Highway from the city of Kahului, two sugar mills can be seen among the cane fields which characterize central Maui. The first to come to view is Puunene Mill. Located two miles from Kahului, it is part of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S). “

“Surrounding the mill area are the battered remains of a plantation camp that once housed many of the company’s employees. Next to be seen along the highway, if one looks hard enough among the cane fields, are traces of what was once the town of Spreckelsville, the site of three of HC&S’s twenty-six camps. In 1935, 7,600 employees and their families lived in the twenty-six camps that dotted the area.”

“Among the plantation camps stood four public schools, three Japanese-language schools, ten churches, one large hospital, twelve day nurseries, three theaters, and a gymnasium.  One of the world’s largest plantations at the time, Puunene Plantation consisted of 33,000 acres, 16,000 of which were cane land in 1935.”

“Two miles further along Hana Highway, on a hill, appears Paia Mill. … [P]rior to 1948 when the two companies merged, Paia Plantation was part of the Maui Agricultural Company (MA Company).”

“Less sprawling than neighboring Puunene Plantation, Paia Plantation consisted of six main camps housing approximately 6,000 people. Besides the main Paia Camp which consisted of smaller ‘subcamps’ near the mill, the other camps were at Kaheka, Hamakua Poke, Keahua, Pulehu, and Kailua.”

“Lower Paia, situated on non-plantation-owned lands, with stores, restaurants, bars, and barbershops, still exists today on Hana Highway one-half mile below Paia Mill. It had a population of a little over 1,000 in the 1930s and housed many of the stores and businesses upon which Paia Plantation residents depended.”

“The MA Company plantation store system, serving Paia Plantation, included Paia Store, one of the island’s largest stores, and six branch stores located in outlying camps. While these branch stores were small and provided a smaller volume and variety of goods, Paia Store sold a large variety of goods ranging from Japanese foods to women’s lingerie.”

“Paia Store was so large that it was divided into departments: grocery, men’s furnishings, drugs, dry goods, Japanese foods and dry goods, etc.”

“Paia Store was frequented by those living in the surrounding camps. The branch stores, located in the more remote areas, were ‘convenience’ stores serving only residents of those areas.”  “Prices at the plantation stores were generally lower than that of the independent stores.”

“Purchase by credit was generally the rule in the plantation stores prior to 1945. Customers were able to charge their purchases by their plantation identification numbers called bangō. Payment was not due until the monthly payday – the first of each month.”

“[W]hen customers had large families, they were not required to pay off their entire bill at one time. They would be able to maintain a credit balance and make smaller payments each payday. If a customer’s balance got too high, or payments to the store were lagging, the store would obtain the customer’s pay envelope from the plantation office.”

“The customer therefore had to get his pay from the store. After subtracting part of the balance owed the store, the customer would receive his pay. This system of ‘payroll deduction’ enabled the plantation store to avoid large, unpaid accounts. It was an advantage the plantation stores had over the independent stores.”

“The busiest time of the month for the stores was ‘new month’ time. Generally starting between the twentieth and twenty-sixth

of each month (exact dates varied with each store), a customer was allowed to charge goods from that date and was not required to pay for his purchase until the payday after next.

“Family-run Camp Stores … were operated by couples, mostly Japanese, and carried ‘last minute’ and ‘on the spot’ items – canned goods needed that day, soda, ice cream, and candy. … Since these stores were situated on plantation land, permission was needed from the plantation to open a store.”

“The children usually helped out in the store. The husband often would do the pickups and deliveries, leaving his wife and children to watch the store.” “Transactions were usually made in cash. Credit was occasionally given, but to only those the storekeeper knew well.”

Lower Paia Stores were “[l]ocated onlv one-half mile down the road from the Paia Mill and Paia Store, these stores, not located on plantation lands, provided Paia Plantation residents with alternatives to the plantation stores.”

“Many of the stores in Lower Paia were specialized. One store in Lower Paia, Paia Mercantile, rivaled the plantation store in size and variety of goods, but most of the others sold groceries, clothing, drugs, or fish.”

“Most of these stores depended heavily upon plantation residents for their business and some provided services similar to that of the plantation store, including order taking and delivery, credit, and new month. Because they were not as large as the plantation store, the extent of these services was limited.”

“The roads of Paia and Puunene camps were often busy with men in trucks who sold fresh fish, meat, vegetables, and canned goods.”

“Often equipped with a horn or a bell, these independent peddlers would follow a set schedule and route, so that plantation residents would know when to expect them. Because the plantation stores and the Kahului Japanese stores did not sell many fresh items, these peddlers served a valuable function.”

“Stores in Paia and Puunene underwent major changes because of war. Stores profited when thousands of military personnel were stationed around the area.”

However, “Some stores were adversely affected by the war. Two of the five stores comprising the Kahului ‘big 5’ – Kobayashi Shokai and Japanese Mercantile Company – closed down due to the enactment of the Alien Properties Custody Act. This law prohibited the continued operation of businesses under alien ownership.”

“Perhaps the major development which most affected the stores was the closing down of the plantation camps and the migration of the residents to Dream City.”

“This development, beginning in the early 1950s, led to a) the demolition of camp stores; b) the decrease in population of Lower Paia, causing many merchants to sell their businesses to young haole merchants; c) the decline and eventual closing of the plantation-run stores; and d) the rise of Kahului as a major population center with modern supermarkets and shopping centers.”

“The HC&S plantation stores were structured in a slightly different way. As the main retail outlets for the areas’ residents, the branch stores at Camp 5 (Puunene) and Camp 1 (Spreckelsville} were fairly large and carried a variety of goods.”

“The main HC&S store in Kahului was almost exclusively a wholesaler, supplying independent, non-plantation stores as well as the HC&S plantation store system .”

“In 1948, HC&S and MA Company merged, placing the plantation store system under the jurisdiction of a single company: A&B Commercial Company.” (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)

In 1980, the UH Manoa Ethnic Studies program conducted a number of oral histories from people who grew up and worked in the Paia-Pu‘unene area of Maui.  Those histories and the information concluded from them provide insight into the plantation store system.  All here is from that project report.

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Helene Hale

“One hundred [forty] years ago this past May, the University of Minnesota graduated its first African American student. Andrew Hilyer was one of only 34 graduates in the class of 1882. They and some 180  others attended college on a campus  that consisted of exactly two buildings.” (University of Minnesota)

“His son, Gale Hilyer, followed his father at the University of Minnesota and earned both bachelor (‘12 and law (‘15) degrees from the University.”  Gale’s daughter, Helene Hilyer, born March 23, 1918, followed them and graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Education in 1938.

Helene’s activities included membership in the sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha for African American women. The remainder of her activities focused on peace activism. The Minneapolis Spokesman lists her as an activist for the integration of student housing.

Helene Hilyer earned her master’s degree in 1941, but was unable to find a job teaching in Minnesota because no one would hire African Americans.

“After graduation, and I was there for about a year. And then I got married and we went down to Georgia. My husband [William J. Hale] taught at Fort Valley, Georgia. And that lasted about a year and then we moved around from place to place. We moved to New York and moved to other places.”

“I went down to Montgomery, Alabama, which was the home of my mother. But I had no relatives down there at that time, so I didn’t know anything. But I did go down to Tuskegee Institute and gave speeches on nonviolent resistance as practiced by [Mohandas (Mahatma)] Gandhi.”

“And I often wonder whether Martin Luther King, [Jr.], might have been down there about that time. But I don’t know. We had very small turnouts for things like that. But I did it long before Martin Luther King came along with his nonviolent resistant movement.”

The family ended up in San Diego and Helene “taught at San Diego State … My daughter was about two or three years old at that time. The interesting thing about that is that talking about the race problem, my husband and I are kinda light. We can pass for anything we want to.”

“But the first time we went to San Diego, [her husband’s] uncle – who was a Black doctor and quite active in the community as the spokesman for the Black community, or Negro community, as they called it in those days – got him a job in Consolidated Vultee Corp (aircraft builder).”

“[T]hey weren’t hiring any other races in the early part of the war, so they put him – with a master’s degree from Columbia University – sweeping the runway for the test planes.”

“[M]y sister-in-law had gone to Columbia and she was a very good friend of Florence Ahn [who was from Hawai‘i], they had roomed together at Columbia University. And Florence Ahn, became – I think she became a very famous singer afterwards.”

(Florence Ahn, was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Julliard Graduate School of Music. In 1940, Florence was the first Asian-American to sing in the [Radio-Keith-Orpheum] RKO vaudeville theater stages in New York City, Boston, Washington, DC, and Florida.)

“Anyhow, my sister went to Hawai‘i and – my sister-in-law – and my husband went to visit her. And she sort of made us interested in Hawai‘i, when we found out more about it.”

“Don Blanding came to San Diego State College, where I was teaching.” (Blanding was an American poet, sometimes described as the Poet Laureate of Hawai‘i. He was also a journalist, cartoonist, author and speaker. He published daily poems in the Star Bulletin for two years in the 1920s.)

(Reportedly, Don Blanding, writing in his book ‘Hula Moons,’ explained the origins of Lei Day: “Along in the latter part of 1927 I had an idea; not that that gave me a headache, but it seemed such a good one that I had to tell some one about it so I told the editors of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the paper on which I worked.”)

(“They agreed that it was a good idea and that we ought to present it to the public, which we proceeded to do. It took hold at once and resulted in something decidedly beautiful.” From that it grew and more and more people began to wear lei on May 1.  In 1929, Governor Farrington signed a Lei Day proclamation.)

OK, back to Helene in San Diego … She “went to this convocation where [Blanding] spoke on Hawai’i. And he told about Kona. And that seemed to be just an ideal place. So I went home and I told my husband, ‘Kona is where we want to go.’ … So we came to Hawai‘i right after World War II, in 1947. And we came as schoolteachers.”

After their arrival, they opened the Menehune Book Store. Helene “taught at Konawaena [High School], both of us did. … my husband only taught for one year and he went and tried various things. … he started a business of candy machines and some other things.”

“From 1947 to 1950, Mrs. Hale … became very well integrated into the community … Yes, we were active in the Democratic party, which in those days was real radical, you know. I mean, in the plantation communities, if you met in Na‘alehu, I remember, you had to meet in the cane fields. So we went through that period in the development of the Democratic party, too.”

“In 1954, Helene Hale ran for public office as a County Supervisor. She won her election and became the first woman to hold a government office in Hawaiʻi since Queen Lili’uokalani.”

“After representing the west side of the island for 8 years, Hale was elected Chairman and Executive Officer of Hawaiʻi County, a position that would later be known as mayor. She was the first woman and the first black person to be elected mayor in Hawaiʻi.”

“One of her significant achievements during her term in office was the establishment of the annual Merrie Monarch Festival in honor of King Kalākaua, an event celebrating traditional Hawaiian culture and hula.” (YMCA)

“In 1963 Hawaiʻi island was struggling economically, stemming from the devastation of recent tsunami and the decline of sugar plantations along the Hāmākua coast. Helene Hale, the County of Hawaiʻi Chairwoman at the time, sought to give the island an economic boost by tapping into the burgeoning tourist industry.”

“Hale sent her Administrative Assistant, Gene Wilhelm, and her Promoter of Activities, George Naʻope, to explore the Lahaina Whaling Spree on Maui to see what lessons could be learned there. They returned inspired, and the seeds for the Merrie Monarch Festival were planted.”

“A committee was formed that included Gene Wilhelm (Chairman), Koshi Miyasaki (Vice-Chairman), Clifford Bowman, Arthur Evers, Ken Griffin, Ralph Lau, George Naʻope, Carl Rohner, Floyd Swnn, Steve Thorson, Thomas Unger, and William Weber. In 1964 the work of this committee resulted in the first Merrie Monarch Festival”.  (Merrie Monarch Festival)

In 1967, William and Helene divorces; she married Richard Kiyota in 1978.  “In 1980, Hale was re-elected to the Hawaiʻi County Council and served one two-year term. She returned to the Council again in 1992. In 2000 at the age of 82, she successfully ran for State Representative and her victory made her the first Black woman to serve in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and the oldest person ever elected.”

“In the State House, Hale supported civil rights legislation, and, in 2002, she introduced a resolution urging the United States not to go to war in Iraq. In 2008, Hale was presented the Honolulu Hawai‘i NAACP’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Helene Hale retired at the age of 88 and died on February 1, 2013, at the age of 94 in Hilo, Hawaiʻi.” (YWCA)

Among Hale’s legacy is the Helene Hale Scholarship administered by the University of Hawai‘i Hilo for students who have intent to pursue a career as a teacher.

“The Heléne Hilyer Hale ‘Citizen of the World’ scholarship comes with the hope and expectation that the recipients will follow in her footsteps to make a difference in their communities, bring an international perspective, work for peace and justice, and spread the spirit of aloha.” (UH Foundation)

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