Lānaʻi: Reflecting on the Past; Bracing for the Future

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Back Matter
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014)
Interview with Jane Sakamura Nakamura
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Nakamura, Jane Sakamura, 1933-; Nishimoto, Warren; Kodama-Nishimoto, Michiko
Jane Toshie Sakamura Nakamura was born in 1933 in Honokaʻa, Hawaiʻi Island. Her father was Masaru Sakamura, a carpenter for Honokaʻa Sugar Company; her mother was Hatsuko Matsuura Sakamura, originally from Paʻauilo. In 1937, before Jane Nakamuraʼs fourth birthday, the family moved to Lānaʻi City, where Masaru and other Big Island carpenters began working for the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, building homes and other structures. Hatsuko found employment as a clerk at Yet Lung Store, and later at Mermart Store, Okamoto Store, and finally, Richard’s Shopping Center. As the eldest of six children, Jane Nakamura had many childcare responsibilities as both her parents held fulltime jobs. She attended Lānaʻi High and Elementary School, graduating in 1951. An excellent student, she was the first recipient the company’s Dole Scholarship. She used it to pursue a degree in teaching from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She spent a year attending Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where she also practice-taught. At Bucknell, she was exposed to the larger world and was asked to give talks about Hawaiʻi to various groups in Pennsylvania. She returned to UH-Mānoa and earned her fifth-year teaching certificate in 1956. After practice-teaching at University Laboratory School, she briefly returned home and taught kindergarten for one semester at Lānaʻi High and Elementary School. Dissatisfied with kindergarten teaching, she returned to Oʻahu and taught at the following elementary schools: Helemano, Nimitz, Lanakila, Pearl City Highlands, and Waimalu. She retired in 1990. She married Takeshi Nakamura in 1957. A longtime airline industry employee, Takeshi died in 2000. A devout Christian who teaches Bible classes, Jane Nakamura lives in ʻAiea, Oʻahu.
Interview with Matsuko Kaya Matsumoto
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Matsumoto, Matsuko Kaya, 1928-; Nishimoto, Warren; Kodama-Nishimoto, Michiko
Matsuko Matsumoto, second of four children, was born in 1928 in Kapaʻa, Kauaʻi. Her parents, Teiichi and Kimiyo Kaya, were immigrants from Japan. At the time of her birth, her father was a Makee Sugar Company field worker. Preferring to work in pineapple rather than sugar, Teiichi Kaya moved his family to Lānaʻi where he operated a mule-drawn plow, picked pineapple, and did hō hana. Kimiyo Kaya tended to the family and took in laundry from bachelor workers. In later years, due to poor health, Teiichi Kaya became an office custodian. Matsuko Matsumoto, a graduate of Lānaʻi High and Elementary School, began full-time work in 1946 as a storeroom clerk for Hawaiian Pineapple Company. In later years, she labored in the pineapple fields. In 1962, she began supervising youths who signed on for summer work. By the early 1970s, she was promoted to become the first female field superintendent. She retired in 1985. She and Yukio Matsumoto, a Hawaiian Pineapple Company carpenter who helped build many of the homes which still stand in Lānaʻi City, raised two sons, Colbert and Kurt. Matsuko Matsumoto, widowed in 2001, still maintains a home on Lānaʻi. A grandmother of four, she enjoys visiting her grandchildren on Oʻahu and Kauaʻi.
Interview with Hideko Kurashige Saruwatari
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Saruwatari, Hideko Kurashige, 1927-; Nishimoto, Warren
Hideko Saruwatari was born in 1927 in Lānaʻi City, Lānaʻi. She is one of six children born to Aiko and Iwao Kurashige. Both parents were employed by Hawaiian Pineapple Company. Her mother held various jobs: bi-lingual assistant in the household of engineer, David Root; dormitory cleaner and laundress for Hawaiian Pineapple Company employees; and helper in the company bakery and hotel. Her father, initially hired as a heavy equipment operator, helped clear Pālāwai Basin for pineapple cultivation. In later years, he was a movie theater projectionist and a storeroom clerk. Hideko Saruwatari attended Lānaʻi High and Elementary School. While still in school, she worked part-time in the company storeroom. In the summer, she worked in the field, cutting the tops of pineapples. During World War II, she helped her mother at Endo’s Fountain. In 1948, she married Masao Saruwatari, who also worked in the storeroom. In the 1960s, she did bookkeeping for the Nishimura Service Station. For more than thirty years, she worked as a clerk in the Licensing Office, Maui County. The Saruwataris raised four children.
Interview with Albert Halape Morita
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Morita, Albert Halape, 1950-; Nishimoto, Warren
Albert Halape Morita, one of eight children, was born in 1950 in Hoʻolehua, Molokaʻi, to Richard and Anita Morita. At the time of Albert’s birth, his father was a police officer on Molokaʻi. About a year later, the family moved to Lānaʻi where Richard Morita secured the position of fish and game warden – a position he held for twenty-five years. The Moritas resided in Kōʻele, former headquarters of Lānaʻi Ranch. Their neighbors were the Richardsons, the Kwons, the Sakamotos, and the McGuires. As a youth, Albert Morita hiked, camped, fished, hunted, and participated in horse-related activities. A 1968 graduate of Lānaʻi High and Elementary School, he majored in animal technology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Returning to Lānaʻi in 1972, he was employed by the Kōʻele Company in nursery and beach park maintenance at Maunalei and Hulopoʻe. Following his father’s retirement as Lānaʻi’s sole fish and game warden, Albert Morita was hired as one of two conservation officers by the State of Hawaiʻi. Retired since 2007, he still resides on Lānaʻi. He is an active volunteer with the Lānaʻi Culture and Heritage Center.
Interview with Robert Kinoshita
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Kinoshita, Robert, 1931-; Nishimoto, Warren; Kodama-Nishimoto, Michiko
Robert N. Kinoshita, youngest and fourth child of Hatsuno and Jisaburo Kinoshita, was born in 1931 in Lānaʻi City, Lānaʻi. His mother tended to the needs of the family, took in the laundry of bachelor workers, and was assigned the daily task of heating and cleaning a community bathhouse. His father, a planting foreman employed by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company and later, co-founder of Pine Isle Market, took an active leadership role in the Japanese community of Lānaʻi. In his youth, Robert Kinoshita helped his mother at the bathhouse, raised and sold chickens, worked in the pineapple fields during summers, and helped with Pine Isle Market milk deliveries. During World War II, his relatives, Masaru Kinoshita and Etsuchi Morikawa, were removed from the island and interned. With the U.S. at war with Japan, he was subjected to anti-Japanese sentiments. In 1950, he graduated from Lānaʻi High and Elementary School. About a year later, he left Lānaʻi, to continue work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. He later served in the active and reserve army, 1954–1987. President of Pine Enterprises, Inc., he oversees business operations from Honolulu. He and wife, Mildred, raised three children.
Interview with Liberato "Libby" Viduya
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Viduya, Liberato "Libby", 1937-; Nishimoto, Warren; Kodama-Nishimoto, Michiko
Liberato C. Viduya, Jr., second of four children, was born in 1937, in Lānaʻi City, Lānaʻi. His father, Liberato Viduya, Sr., who emigrated from the Philippines, was employed by Hawaiian Pineapple Company. Starting as a field laborer, he rose up the ranks to luna. His mother, Loreta Viduya, a Filipino immigrant raised and educated on Maui, held various jobs, including that of court interpreter. The Viduyas actively participated in community, school, and church-related activities. Liberato C. Viduya, Jr., grew up in the Stable Camp area of Lānaʻi City. He attended Lānaʻi High and Elementary School. As a high school senior in 1955, he was awarded first place in public speaking at the National Future Farmers of America Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. He earned BA and MEd degrees from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. During a forty-five-year career with the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, he held various positions: teacher, counselor, and principal; assistant superintendent for the Office of Instructional Services; and superintendent for Central and Leeward Districts on Oʻahu. He and wife, Loretta, have one daughter and three grandchildren. The Viduyas reside in Pearl City, Oʻahu.
Interview with Roberto Hera
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Hera, Roberto, 1936-; Nishimoto, Warren
Roberto Hera, second of four children, was born in 1936 in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaiʻi, where his maternal grandparents farmed coffee. His mother, Marcellina Hera, was raised and educated on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. His father, Florentino Hera, originally from Cebu, Philippines, received a degree in engineering from the University of Chicago. In 1937, the Heras moved to Lānaʻi where Florentino Hera was employed as an agricultural engineer by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. He also served as branch manager of the Filipino Federation of America. Roberto Hera was raised and educated on Lānaʻi. Following his high school graduation in 1954, he attended college for a short while, worked in Honolulu, and entered military service. Returning to Lānaʻi in the mid-1960s, he started his decades-long career with Dole Pineapple Company. He worked in virtually every department until his retirement in 1990 as a superintendent. After a few years with the Nature Conservancy, he was coaxed to return to Dole as Director of Facilities. Retired for a second time in 1999, he remains active with ʻIke Aina, Native Hawaiian Land Trust, on Lānaʻi. He has seven children, thirteen grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Interview with Apolonia Agonoy Stice
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Stice, Apolonia Agonoy, 1941-; Nishimoto, Warren
Apolonia Stice, second of three daughters, was born in the sugar plantation community of Spreckelsville, Maui in 1941. Her parents, Matias and Romualda Agonoy, were immigrants from Ilocos Norte, Philippines. In 1942, the family moved from Maui to Lānaʻi where Matias Agonoy worked in the pineapple fields and Romualda Agonoy tended to the children and took in laundry. The family resided first in Down Camp, later Up Camp. All three daughters played with others in the neighborhood, attended the Catholic Church, and studied at Lānaʻi High and Elementary School. A 1959 recipient of a Dole Scholarship, Apolonia Stice, was able to attend the University of Hawaiʻi and Marylhurst College. Following college graduation, she pursued a teaching career, which spanned three decades, including a two-year stint with the Peace Corps in the Philippines. Retired since 1995, Apolonia Stice enjoys spending time with her husband, Gary, her daughters, and grandchildren. He currently serves as president of the Friends of the East-West Center in Honolulu.
Interview with Wallace Tamashiro
(Center for Oral History, Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2014) Tamashiro, Wallace, 1938-; Nishimoto, Warren
Wallace Tamashiro was born in 1938, in Lānaʻi City, Lānaʻi. His parents, Richard Buichi Tamashiro and Shizuko Tamashiro, were both born in Waipahu, Oʻahu, and spent some of their formative years in Okinawa, Japan. Married in 1937 on Oʻahu, they raised a family on the island of Lānaʻi. Wallace Tamashiro, the eldest of four children, attended: Lānaʻi High and Elementary School, Waipahu Elementary School, and Mid-Pacific Institute. During breaks in the school year, he helped at the family business, Richard’s Shopping Center, a general merchandise store founded by his father in Lānaʻi City in 1946. He made deliveries and unloaded freight. After graduating from the University of Hawaiʻi, he spent some time working in California. He returned to Lānaʻi at the request of his father who needed help running not only the store, but a bowling alley and theater. From 1967, Wallace Tamashiro helped run Richard’s Shopping Center until it was sold to David Murdock in 2006. He and his wife, Nancy, still reside in the same home in Lānaʻi that they purchased in 1971

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