Reunions are both a happy and sad occasion. The remembering of how we were once, timid, shy, laid back, tough, mean, carefree, unstoppable, and many other words that portray youth to the now realization that more than 45 years have passed us by.
How are we going to appear to our fellow members of our high school class? Do we want to be remembered as tall, dark, handsome, or skinny, short, milky white skinned, or the chubby person with a lot of baby fat? These are some of the memories of our youth.
We must come down to earth and be who we have come to be: the timid person, who is now outgoing and confident; the strong and domineering person who is now soft spoken and wants to encourage children to look for a bright future. We are here, in the present, and all is as good as we have made it to be.
This Reunion was decided by the committee to be the steppingstone to our 50th reunion.
| Sunday, July 18th The Class of ‘59 started out with a celebration of the living and the dead with a mass at the Mystic Rose Chapel on our beloved campus. Father Priestly and Brother Paul Nomi ‘59 led the celebration. Thomas Lee (brother of John Lee), Martha DeMello (Wife of Howard DeMello), and Jo Alameda (wife of Bobby Alameda) were there to help in the celebration. This was followed by a tour of the campus guided by Mr. Wendell Staszkow, Saint Louis School Principal. We then had potluck at the Animal House. |
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Monday, July 19th The Class had a Welcome Gathering at Eiben Hall (old cafeteria, second floor). The food was light finger food of sandwiches, chips, cookies and fruit cups. The reunion committee members hosted the potluck. We reintroduced our selves to all in attendance and heard many interesting tidbits. To some it was "confession night", and to others it was a night to be proud of what they had accomplished. These are tidbits of the stories told. |
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 Robert Archuletta |
"I have always been a sports fan and from where I live to San Francisco was a very long drive. So I started a San Francisco 49ers Booster club in my town. My wife and I miss things from Hawaii so we founded a Hawaiian club and named it "Ohana O Hawaii". My wife dances the hula with the “Ohana O Hawaii” and the group was asked to participate with the American Indians at their "Pow Wow". The Indians do their cultural dances and there is banging, clanging, shouts and all kinds of noises. However, when the "Ohana" performed, there was silence, absolutely quiet. It was something to be seen." |
 Walter Domingo |
"I have, in the past couple of years, inherited some property here in Hawaii, so I return about every six months to handle business matters. My wife stays home in California while I handle the business, so it is like being a serviceman, doing 6 months of duty away from home." |
 Paul Nomi |
"Ever since I completed school, I always wanted a challenge and to find out more about my heritage, so I went to where my ancestors came from and that is Japan. After living there for a while and becoming well versed in the language and some of the culture I was offered another challenge, to go to Korea. Some of my friends warned me that I was going to where the Japanese were hated. I had heard that the Japanese did all kinds of terrible things to the Koreans and I needed to find out for myself if these things I heard were true. I found out that the stories were true. I returned to Hawaii after some time in Korea and began to assist Korean Immigrants on how to speak the English language. I hope they have a better understanding of what was going on and can live a more productive life”. |
 Albert Souza |
"My wife and I love Hawaii, and call it my home, but we want to see, hear, and play with our grandchildren, who are in Arizona. I now have two homes and live in each one for approximately six months, one in Arizona and the other in Hawaii." |
 Herman Tachera |
Herman Tacherahas returned to attend his first class reunion in over 40 years. |
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Tuesday night: Sunset Cruise on the Star The Class took a two-hour sail on the ship "Star" out of Aloha Tower Market place. We had a wonderful dinner of steak and all the crab legs you could eat. From the limited eating and dining experience of the writer the dinner was simply wonderful. The steak was juicy and tender. The snow crab was moist and sweet. The lilikoi sorbet with a rolled cookie was outstanding. The best part of the dinner was our waitress kept on bringing the crab. |
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| Special thanks go to Herb Sousa's daughter for booking us a special rate on the Star Cruise. (Even cheaper than the Kamaaina rate, Lucky us!).
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Wednesday
This was a day allowed for us "old timers" of the group to catch our breath and for those active members to do what they wanted. Some visited relatives, went to the movies and even to the beach to get a tan.
Thursday This was "G" day. Yes, you are correct Golf day. The event took place at the Hawaii Kai golf course and the 19 watering hole was at our Alumni club House in Moiliili. There was a spread provided by the "Young Akau's catering service. It consisted of cut up, 1/2 inch thick and tender "Teriyaki" steak, sweet and not to sour pig's feet, tripe stew (hardly any carrots or potatoes, mostly tripe), platter of sushi, potato salad, fried ahi and the writer did not bother about the rest. |
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 John Costa, Rod Kaanoi, Lionel Haili, Mike Morse, Bill Pimental, Rags Scanlan, Jim Aiwohi & Bobby Silva |
 Lionel Haili & Bill Pimental |
| When most of the hunger and a lot of the thirst was quenched, there began the mellow voices of the crooners of ‘59ers, mostly led and provided by Lionel Haili, Nick Wong, Rags Scanlan and William Pimental. An enjoyable night of singing, reminiscing, and just strutting our wings of old was had. To the guys who were not able to make it, sorry guys, you missed out.
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Friday: Dinner Show or just Show with the newest of the SOS called the Society of Seven Las Vegas
Those who went to the dinner show were treated to a buffet of prime rib, tempura fish, teriyaki chicken, tossed, macaroni, fresh fruit combo salads, mashed potato, steamed rice and chocolate cake.
The show was very entertaining taking us on an imaginary trip to Broadway with the SOS' renditions from plays such as Chicago, Lion King and others that I have no idea of their names. The music and the players kept changing, at a pace that a person such as me, with a short attention span, didn't have time to think about what was going on and yet still appreciated what was being done. After the show most of the group ended up at the Alumni Clubhouse to enjoy each other’s company (if you believe that), have some refreshments and sing "karaoke" (I think it was this second part that most went to enjoy).
Saturday: 45th Reunion Luauh This was the culmination of the reunion week-long events. The “Young Akau’s” provided the food catering group and the food was lip-smacking, stomach filling, "ooono-lish-es" as stated by some of the members of the class. The entertainment was great and the door prizes were plentiful. There was a 50 - 50 raffle where 1/2 of the raffle was given out as prizes and the other half was put into the class treasury to be used towards our 50th class reunion. |
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Many kudos go to the 45th reunion committee for their hard work for the weeklong festivities and especially to the newly "volunteered" chairperson, "mother hen", and "task master ", Herbert "Herbie" Sousa.
Special Kudos to Nick Wong and his committee for the beautiful decorations, getting the groups for entertainment and prizes.
A mahalo nui to our out-of-towners, who returned home and pitched in on most of the functions.
A tip of the coconut hat to Walter and Carol Domingo, Robert and Lola Archuletta, Nick Wong, Joe Vierra’s, Pat Pimental, Carol Sousa and others, who were seen setting up and taking down at some functions.
To Mr. and Mrs. Walter Domingo who took pictures and passed out pictures that were viewed. Walter asked that members write their names on the back of pictures that they wanted. He had the pictures made that were requested by class members and passed it out them asking no payment in return. May their hearts be blessed and their pockets full as in reaching the end of the Rainbow.
Till the 50th, Ahui hou a me aloha Ke Akua.