MOSES KAINA JR. (1954-2012)

One of our most talented classmates, Moses Kaina, passed away on July 19th of complications from kidney and liver disease. He had just celebrated his 58th birthday on July 2nd. He leaves behind several children and grandchildren.

Moses spent many years as the bass player and musical arranger for Loyal Garner as well as recording with many other entertainers including Henry Kapono. He was also an entrepreneur, having businesses in trucking, Christmas trees and restaurants in Hawaii, Washington and Oregon. But his health problems limited his activities and confined him to a nursing home for the last six years.

Moses was a gifted singer and musician even as a young prep school student. Our classmate, Dorothy Anders Burns remembered Moses in an email today:

"I was so sorry to hear of Moki's passing.
He was the only person I know of that went straight into Concert Glee from Prep School.
I can hear him singing ,"Purple Raindrops" at a party after one of our concerts on Mainland Tour in 1970 as clear as if it were yesterday. What a voice. What a loss."

TIME FOR RELAY FOR LIFE

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?team_id=1183851&pg=team&fr_id=39516

MORE ALUMNI WEEK PICTURES

Lew Biven and Jeannine Holi at the luau, picture by Diane Corcoran, posted on Facebook with the following caption:

Favorite conversation overheard after the alumni luau between Jeannine Holi and a group of girls from the class of '97 as they passed each other ...Jeannine referring to herself, "this is what you're going to look like in 20 years"...class of '97 girls response, "oh I hope so!"
How sweet was that!

Fun on the bus: Andrea and Hardy Hutchinson, Leona Bannister, Pete Gonsalves, Eddie Han, Albert Kaai, Victor Punua, Paulette Kim Lacad, Roland Chang.

Riding on the "short bus" to class night: Leona Bannister, Pete Gonsalves, Albert Kaai, Victor Punua, Paulette Kim Lacad, Roland Chang, Chris Dawe Opiopio, Greg Cuomo, Marie Quindica-Cuomo, Betty Lau, Joe Doughty.

Our paddling team and the George Young Regatta: Dwight Otto, Carol Lau Otto, Lois Wise Hewitt, Sweetie Osorio, Butchie Lee, Rodney Bayne, Reed Sumner, Linda Nishimura, Kimo Cummings, Cindy Cobb-Adams, Maryna Feldberg, Charlotte Kessler.

Our competitive team (Lois Wise, Reed Sumner (Cookie's husband), Linda Nishimura (Holly's sister), Butchie Lee, Rodney Bayne, Cindy Cobb-Adams (George's cousin).
Breakfast in Kailua, Debbie, John Leong, Mary Weatherwax Bacon

Debbie and classmate, Joann Fujimoto
Larry Nakea surrounded by his fellow firefighters. Larry retired this week after 30 years of service to the Anchorage Fire Department.

Message to Classmates:

To all my classmates,
Mahalo for another terrific reunion. I appreciate all the hard work that you do to make it a memorable event. We are very fortunate to have such a close knit class. As always I enjoyed spending time with all of you. The music at the dorm is always great!! Mahalo Albert, Issac and Wes.
I regret not attending a lot of the events and missed seeing some classmates. I won't miss it next time.
I also didn't attend the chapel service which I did the last few reunions. It's sad to see how many classmates we've lost. This is why each reunion becomes more meaningful and important that we should enjoy the friendships while we can.

Mahalo Benny for keeping us in touch. It helps us to maintain a close class relationship.

Aloha to all,
Joe Souza

MORE '72 NEWS

A small and spirited group gathered on Windward O'ahu to scatter the ashes of our classmate, Steven Newhouse. From the left: Dede and Mike Albert, Debbie Lau Okamura, Mona Soberano Morris, Sue Peterson, Laureen Kim, Rickie Vidinhar, Malia Matoon Newhouse, Robin Newhouse (Steven's widow), Betty Lau, Joe Doughty, Mary Bacon, Butchie Lee, Glenn Merchant.

A few of our classmates gathered at the home of Karynne Chong Morgan to celebrate on Sunday night. From the left: Karynne, Alan Michaels and Laureen Kim, Danny and Anna Akaka, Albert Kaai, Brian Okamura, Bernard and Sue Peterson, Debbie Lau Okamura.

Comments about Alumni Week from our classmates:

FROM BARRY YAMADA (via Facebook):

I have had time to reflect and digest all that happened this weekend, our 40th class reunion....before this weekend, I didn't think I needed to go to a reunion because I thought I was doing OK....and I was doing OK.....but now I am doing better....much better...and I have to think the reason is all of you my fellow classmates.....as I hugged and kissed and stumbled over my words.....not to mention the constant lump in my throat....its hard to explain how much each and everyone of you mean to me....but through all the laughter and tears there we stood together and God willing I will see you all the next time.

FROM MILTON OLMOS:"To all of my 1972 classmates, it was great seeing all of you having a good time at the reunion. Thanks to all for posting the pictures and videos. I really miss all of you and I'll be at the next one. IMUA!"

Milt

FROM ISAAC AKUNA:

Thanks Bennie for doing this. It has helped to keep us engaged and provides that needed element of communication with those who have become as close as family. I do find myself missing the ones we have lost over the years. I wish they could be with us now.

FROM PATRICK RICHARDSON:

Mahalo to everyone for all the photos - at least this lolo could experience Alumni Week vicariously. Maybe that's why I was eating so much this weekend, but didn't feel satisfied...needed some good luau!

FROM TOMMY THOMPSON:

I've really enjoyed the photos and videos on Facebook and this blog site. Almost could hear the music on the lanai at the dorm. Thanks to all of you for the posts.

FROM MASON HONDA:

Love the Pics.

You guys still look young, except for Bimo.

Looks like Alika got there too....

Rodney "Fountain of Youth" Bayne, need I say more?

Mace

FROM AVERY CHOY:

Hi Benny! Thank you very much for sharing the awesome class pictures. I just finished packing but I know I will have to double check and make sure I have everything for our family trip this evening. I'm taking my daughter Esther (10 years old) to Disneyworld. We've been planning this trip for quite a while (3-4 years). My brother and his family left last week and are in N. Carolina right now reuniting with his in-laws and for the first time all of his grandchildren will be riding the airplane to the mainland! How exciting for them. We will meet them in Orlando on Sunday. We will all (26 of us) be there for a week. My brother and his family return to Hawaii, but me, my daughter (she's actually my grandniece whom I adopted at birth 9-01-2001), her two siblings, my sister her husband and son, and my youngest sister will be traveling to Washington D.C. for 3 days, then onto Saco,Maine for another 3 days, and lastly to New York! We come home on June 30th. As I told Ulu I would love to have come to the reunion but I've been so busy with family "stuff" that I couldn't see myself breaking away. You folks are doing an awesome job keeping our class united in spirit. Mahalo nui loa for the memories!

Aloha,

Avery

FROM WES KAUI:

Benson
I know I hardly respond to anything, but, I do want to acknowledge your efforts as well as Debbie's efforts with how well the Imua blog and how well all of you folks set up the 40th class re union. My wife and I enjoyed every facet of it.

Through my hectic scheduling with accomodating my mother in law and also spending time with my two sons on Oahu and a few church callings at the Laie Temple, I still managed to pretty much most of the events. I truly enjoyed myself and tried to make my rounds to acknowledge people. There were alot that I missed. If there is any follow up in the blogs, please tell my classmates I didn't intentionally miss them, Unfortunately I was not able to recognize them, except after when i viewed the Imua blog. Dah, I should have known better. Please tell everyone I love them until we meet again.

Braddah Wes.on Kauai signing off

THE END OF ALUMNI WEEK

Just a few of us attended the chapel service on Sunday morning. Though its the official end of Alumni week, its not easy to sit through the reading of hundreds of names of alumni that have passed on. We heard the names of our grandparents, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, even our children. As Laureen Kim and Sam Tong read the names of our 34 classmates that have passed on, we stood bravely together and quietly shed our tears.

Thomas Ahsing

Moana Albrechtson

Lee Barrett

Leonard Batungbacal

Padeken Bento

David Carvalho

Gerard Donlin

Lynn Flores

Michaeal Gartrell

Eugenie Guy

Lori Hee

Richard Holloway

Haunani Holt

Wayne Kamahele

Darlene Kanei

Lin Oi Laeha

Edmund Mau

Dana McKeague

Bill McWayne

Frank Montayre

Steven Newhouse

Holly Nishimura

Ted Oliveira

Cookie Parker

Estelle Pele

Arthur Perkins

Donette Plunket

Anthony Shanahan

Kelsey Sindiong

Scott St. Clair

Hualani Wilhelm

Duke Wise

George Young

Aileen Cox Araujo did a an awesome job of creating a poster of pictures of these classmates for our Class Night celebration. (You can see the poster in the picture posted above). The stark reality is that poster will have another 10-12 pictures on it by the time we gather again for our 45th reunion in 2017. Since 2000, we're losing classmates at a rate of about two every year. That's one of the reasons why these reunions are so important. It gives us the opportunity to interact with people who mean something to us and keeps us connected between reunions. Another reminder that life is fragile and brief.

As we start moving through the coming reunions, we're going to start seeing people that have never been to a reunion before. Whatever the reasons they didn't attend in the past are not important now, what's important is they showed up now. One person who showed up this time that's never attended before is Barry Yamada. Several of us had a chance to talk to him and we all got the same response.

"It was one of the most awesome experiences of my life. I didn't think people cared much about whether or not I came, but I couldn't believe how people responded to me. I'll never miss another one," he said.

Our class is unique in that way. As a group we're engaging, inclusive and welcoming and we get better as we get older because start to understand that very few things about our lives are as important as our relationships. As Pastor Elwin Ahu said at Class Night, "it's all about gratitude" and we're all grateful to be part of a loving and close-knit group of people.

Several of our classmates who didn't make the luau have been emailing their thoughts so I'm going to be posting those on this site in the coming days. I'll do the best I can to keep us updated if you'll send me updates. I've decided to go back to posting on the blog because not everyone is on Facebook, so these blogs will appear as a link on Facebook, but anyone can access it regardless of your Facebook status.

It's my pleasure and honor to serve my classmates in this way. And I'll keep doing it until my name is finally read on Sunday.

Mahalo and Aloha to you all

Benny

ALUMNI WEEK 2012 - SATURDAY

Sam Noeau Warner, UH Professor in Hawaiian Studies, was inducted into the Kamehameha Hall of Fame during the Alumni Luau on Saturday night.

Noeau with classmates, Debbie, Noa, Venus, Anna and Lisa. He gave out copies of his 30 plus children's books that he wrote in Hawaiian.

Sam signs autographs and talks about his books at the dorms after the luau.

Wes, Albert and Lei were part of the epic nightly jam at Lunalilo Dorm

Larry Nakea on the ukulele with Sue and Kuulei enjoying the music.

Jeannine Holi clowning around after the luau

Larry, Kale Bannister (Lei's husband) and Isaac Akuna on the steel guitar.

Tennye Cabrera and husband

Gerard Kalua and wife

Pete, Zeada, Benny, Brenda and Bev

Claudette or Paulette? Keith or Kevin?

Sue Peterson and husband Bernard

Bimo Akiona, Mike Kapuniai, Victor Punua, Cheryl Ariola, Roland Harvest, Mike Perkins, Peter Gonsalves.

Barry Yamada and Michael (Robert) Albert

Tom Paakaula and wife

Agnes Galves Krupinski and husband

Healani Kaleopaa Umi and husband

Jonia "Queenie" Leong and husband

Butchie Lee and husband, Glenn

Kevin Lopes, Eddie Han, Gerard Kalua and Dave Osorio

Lauri Kauhane and Allison Melemai Simmons

Aukake Dapitan and wife, Peggy

Bruce David Kaapu and wife

Debbie Poepoe Sakamoto and daughter

Noelle Wedemeyer Kanoho and Frances Kanae Becker

Noeau, Debbie and Nahua Maunakea

Benny and Zeada

Kuulei and Cheryl get ready for picture taking

Chuckie Soon and Mike Kapuniai

Rodney Bayne, Debbie and Alika Atay

Pat Iona, Kimo Cummings, Sheri Cockett and Tom Paakaula

Robyn Au, Marcie Saquing and Stacy Panui

Peter and David Copp
Mona, Frances and Willie Kanae

Hardy, James, Duane and Pat Ah Loy

CLASS NIGHT - 2012

Class night at the Elks Club was a fantastic evening! Chairperson Ulu Kakaio Sai and her committee had the place rocking and rolling from the get-go. Small groups of classmates and spouses put on skits, danced, took funny pictures and basically made a blast of the night. The venue couldn't have been better as we feasted on the ono pupus and enjoyed the Waikiki sunset.

BJ's group gets ready for their skit. Alika Dafun, Larry Nakea, BJ, Wes Kaui, Ed Han, Danny Akaka, Sandra Baldwin, Eleanor Kunitake

Mike Kapuniai, Bimo Akiona, Alex Naumu, Barry Yamada

Eddie Han, Joe Souza, Pat Iona

Strather Ing, Tennye Chang, Cabrera

Bo Aki, wife Laurel and Candy Avilla

Tharrington Trusdell, Pete Gonsalves, Lance Kahawai, Benny Medina, William Kama, Duane Chun, Pat Ah Loy

Anna Akaka, Heather Guigni, Hermina Morita

Diane Corcoran, Roland Chang, Tom Paakaula, Duane Chun, Rene Ito

Pua Anakalea Frost, Peggy Luke, Debbie Lau Okamura

Seated: Monique Kahawai, Stacy Panui, Healani Waiau, Joanne Makalena Takatsugi. Standing: Trini Kaui, Bette Chun, Eddy Kalahiki, Venus Colon.

Hermina and Heather

Dwight "Roger" Rodrigues, Joe Lapalilo, Aukake Dapitan

Dell Otsuka and fiance, William

Mona Hall Neill and Vic Punua

Butch Maunakea leads his "halau" of Lei Romas, Dwight Otto, Blaine Ito, Bobette Baucom and Strather Ing.
Marcie Kunz Saquing and Sam Tong enjoy a funny moment during the skits

Carol Lau Otto and husband, Dwight

Dona, Ginger and Raynell

Sandra, Heather, Sue and Hermina

Makanani Parker, Kevin Lopes, Dave and Sweetie Osorio

Lui and Cherie Navarro

Bimo and Bev Akiona

Chris Dawe Opiopio, Pete Gonsalves and Kalei Rodenhurst Bourke

Mona Hall and Dell Otsuka bring down the house!

Howard West shows them how to boogie!

Peggy and Wes Luke

Boarder girls: Sheri, Marcie, Joey, Ulu, Hermina, Stacy and BJ

Tom Paakaula, Strather Ing, Lew Biven, Gerard Akaka

Jackie Au Imada, BJ, Kalei, Chubby Kea Ringer

Bimo, Cheryl, Benny
Laurie Kiakona Marks, Sam Tong, Raynell Miranda Abut

Kimo Cummings, Debbie Lau Okamura, Mike Kapuniai, Rene Ito, Sam Tong, Howard West

Aileen Cox Araujo and hubby, Dave

Marcie Saquing, Hermina Morita, Rodney Bayne, Heather Guigni and Stacey Panui