"It's the first reunion I was able to make, and even though it has been 60 years, I vow I won't miss another," promised Gilbert M.J. "Sonny" Lau, a Cabool, MO resident who celebrated with 70 other Class of '45 members on the weekend of Class 2005's graduation in late May.
Lau was one of five statesiders joining a class that has lost some 40% of its members so far, including one who planned to attend but, sadly, passed away the week before the scheduled May 27 reunion at Waialae Country Club.
Californians William Poka, Alfred Rosa and Richard Sato, and Joseph Bishaw, of Colorado Springs, CO, other "transplants," were also warmly welcomed.
Class president Ken Yuen set the tone for the occasion noting the "45ers have not let longevity get in the way of annual informal get-togethers since their golden anniversary convention. We're fortunate we have members who have never really felt retirement meant lounging in an easy chair, so those who can, join an annual golf safari or tag along, usually in Nevada. So, yes, we are looking forward to the next big bang -- our 65th reunion in 2010!"
Koon Kwon (KK) Chong and Douglas Loo co-chaired the reunion planning committee. The 2005 gathering was highlighted with the presence of about ten of their Sacred Hearts Academy '45 contemporaries - an invitation renewed with each planned reunion, a rare camaraderie for the Kaimuki-based schools.
Wendell Staszkow, dean of St. Louis' Upper School, represented the Rev. Father Allen DeLong, headmaster, as special guest. He introduced Derrick Ligsay, science teacher and middle school football coach, as winner for the second time of the Class `45 award to a faculty member for teaching excellence the recent scholastic year. Augustine Furumoto, a class member, said the award is named after Brother Jerome Gorg, whose impact as a physics teacher has been life-lasting.
Gus Furumoto & Wendell Staszkow
Reunion attendees and guests received copies of a commemorative issue filled with nostalgia of their school years, including tribute to McKinley High and its then principal, Miles E. Cary, for sharing of its campus throughout the war years, and a capsule sum up of global, national and state (Hawaii was still a territory then) events since their birth year (1927 for most). Emblematic of the link with McKinley was establishment of a "poi pounder," awarded to the winner of the annual Saints-Tigers varsity football rivalry from 1942 to 1969, after which public and private schools operated separately. The `45ers remained grateful and offered a onetime scholarship contribution during its golden reunion year to a McKinley student.
Class members joined the current graduating class the next day, along with the '35 and '55 classes at the Neal Blaisdell Center, each a recipient of a gold medallion and a silk red-and-blue lei as fond symbols of their Crusader ties.
