Aloha!  St. Louis Class of '70 presented a slate of 35th class reunion activities, which included the establishment of a professional class website for effective communication; Chicken Madness "Koala Moa" fundraising event to raise funds for the St. Louis Educational Foundation; Stag Night at Natsunoya Tea House; Annual SLH Class of '70 Golf Championship; and the grand Banquet finale at the Renaissance Ilikai Hotel.

To date, since inception, we've had over 500 first time hits on the class website!  We only had 225 graduating seniors!  It's a professional website with a unique opening page picturing what the St. Louis campus looked like in 1970. Of course, no website is complete without the vibrant harmonies of the St. Louis Glee Club singing the Alma Mater.  A fitting musical tribute honors our deceased classmates.  Check it out at www.stlouisclassof70.com.

Chicken Madness continued the class effort to raise $50,000 for the St. Louis Education Foundation.  The thought was why wait till our 50th Class reunion?  Let's do it now, a little at a time.  We raised over $7,000. back in 2000 during our 30th class reunion.  85 classmates participated by either purchasing Koala Moa chicken tickets, or coming out on the April 2nd event day to lend a helping hand!  Even classmates Gregory Ho (New York), Eugene Faria (Washington), Wayne Higa (Washington), Lester Ishimoto (Washington), Stacey Wong (Kauai), and Tom Yano (Kauai) purchased tickets.  Mahalo to Judge Jim Burns, St. Louis Alumni President and Bob Takei, St. Louis Alumni Executive Director, for purchasing tickets and supporting our endeavors!  A very first was holding the event at the St. Louis Alumni Clubhouse!  It's a great location!  Kudos’ to event chairs, Calvin Say and George Lindsey!  Job well done!

Stag Night at Natsunoya on May 21st.  28 classmates dined on a bountiful Japanese buffet with special beverages.  Gregory Ah Yat and George Lindsey provided the musical entertainment.  Mahalo to Dr. Don Harada for the crab leg & poke pupu.  Dr. Philip Chang, Bryan Chun, Francis Chun, Manny Dayao, Steve Dung, Richard Fukeda, Michael Goshima, Mel "Rock" Guillermo, Fred Hall, Mark Hall, Jeff Jong, Pat Lee, Dr. Wayne Matsuyama, Blake Nuibe, Calvin Say, Dr. Dean Sueda, Russ Takata, Al Torres, Kenneth Wong, Wymond Wong, and Tom Yano all had a fun fellowship evening!  Bob Chong organized a great evening!

Group Photo – Natsunoya Teahouse

 

Annual SLH Class of '70 Golf Championship on July 29th at Leilehua. Manny Dayao chaired this great event! Gregory Ho (New York), Milton Guerrero (Washington), John O'Connor (Georgia), Thomas Yano (Kauai) and even Harvey Nobriga (Haleiwa) flew in for the golf outing! Bob Chong, Steven Dung, Brian Fu, Kimo Fuller, Mike Goshima, Dr. Don Harada, Pat Lee, Keenan Nemoto, Dr. Dean Sueda, Ron Teves, Wayne Watanabe, and Fred Hall all competed for the grand prize of the perpetual cups for Lowest Gross and Lowest Net. Of course the 19th hole was the best! This golf outing will be an annual event spearheaded by Pat Lee, Dr. Don Harada, and Manny Dayao - - to keep the Class of '70 together! Check the class website periodically for more details.

The grand finale was the Class of '70 35th Class Reunion gala dinner held at the Renaissance Ilikai Hotel (Pacific Ballroom). 86 individuals participated with this very classy event chaired by Russ Takata. A very special Mahalo to Tricia Lindsey (George Lindsey) for her work with the table centerpieces and various decorations. Bob Chong (perennial Senior Class President) presided at the event, with a pule hamau (silent prayer) for our deceased classmates, Bryan Goo (1992), Clinton Low (1999), Paul "Dougie" Keliiaa (2003), and Keith Morimatsu (2004).  A blessing was also given to classmate Derek Kawamura currently in Iraq serving our Country with his National Guard unit.  Bob's pule ended with,  "Ke Akua pu a hui hou kakou (May God be with us all until we meet again).  Nana e kia 'i a kokua (May He watch over us and help us).  A ho'omalu ia kokou la (And protect us).  Ke Akua pu a hui hou kakou (May God be with us all until we meet again).  E ho'omaika'i ke Akua!  Amene."

Special guests included Father Allen DeLong (Headmaster of St. Louis) and June Morimatsu (widow of Keith Morimatsu).   Out of town guests included Randy Awo and his wife Momi (Maui), Milton Guerrero (Seattle, WA), Melvin "Java" Javanillo and his wife Veronica (Castro Valley, CA), Aaron Kakinami (Kauai), John O'Connor and his wife Mary (Marietta, GA), Garret Wong (Anchorage, AL), Thomas Yano (Kauai), Harvey Nobriga (Haleiwa, HI), and Gregory Ho (New York, NY).  Elua Kane (courtesy of George Lindsey) provided strolling Hawaiian music throughout the bountiful buffet dinner.

The highlight of the evening included the Class of '70 presentation to Father Allen DeLong for the St. Louis Education Foundation. Russ Takata called on the Chicken Madness event chairs, Calvin Say and George Lindsey to make the formal presentation of the $5,000.00 check to Father DeLong.  Father DeLong followed with a featured state-of-St. Louis talk appreciated by everyone.  Current faculty member and classmate Al Torres followed with his fun personal reflections and current perspectives of the school.  It's a great school, and school to be proud of!  Look at all of you here tonight!   Gregory Ho and Calvin Say shared their words of wisdom and thoughts from the heart.  Very touching.

Another highlight of the evening involved the presentation of the first Golf Perpetual Trophies.  Manny Dayao announced the winners of the Annual SLH Class of '70 Golf Tournament.  The Speaker's Trophy (in honor of Speaker Calvin Say) for low gross went to Dr. Don Harada!  The President's Trophy (in honor of President Bob Chong) for low net went to Kimo Fuller!  Each awardee got an individual plaque to keep along with the Perpetual Trophy (which he holds for one year).  Great job Manny!

So nice to also see in attendance, Dr. Philip Chang, Rodney Chun, Leslie Fernandez, Walter Figueira, Brian Fu, Keith Fukumoto, Kimo Fuller, Mike Goshima, Mel "Rocky" Guillermo, Fred Hall, Chris Houts, Jeff Jong, Brian Koge, Steven Look, Jeff Lum, Mike Lum, Dr. Wayne Matsuyama, Clyde Miyashiro, Gene Savio, Dr. Dean Sueda, Nolan Tamayori, Wade Wasano, Garret Wong, Dr. Michio Yamasaki, and Jeff Young.  Fred Hall and Stan Mahelona - - what happened?  We're still waiting for you!

The King Pins provided '70's dance music after dinner.  Calvin Say made a point to dance with as many wives as possible!  Go Calvin, see Calvin rock!  Classmates were provided with a beautiful etched glass coffee mug noting the 35th class reunion event, and wives & girlfriends went home with etched glass floral vases with a rose.  Blake Nuibe provided complimentary luggage tag laminations with business cards, and displayed his table of class memorabilia (he keeps everything) dating back to 1968, such as the Junior & Senior Prom mementos, and even the silk red & blue 1970 graduation lei.  In addition, the official St. Louis Class of '70 Directory was distributed to all in attendance (it's the most up to date directory)!  If you didn't get one, e-mail Blake at bnuibe@hotmail.com.  Manny Dayao, our official class photographer huddled with Wymond Wong to provide everyone with a special gift at the end of the evening, an on the spot processed group color photo!  Dennis Kihara and Wymond Wong made sure that everyone went home with a door prize - - no one went home empty handed!

A Class of '70 event is never complete without the singing of the St. Louis Alma Mater.  For some reason, we gravely omitted it from the formal program.  Not to fear, Calvin Say and others encouraged everyone to get up on the dance floor to sing it acapella at the evening's end!  A very chicken skin event!  Tears in a few eyes. 

No event is successful without the hard work of so many.  Mahalo to the executive planning committee, Bob Chong, George Lindsey, Calvin Say, Russ Takata, Blake Nuibe, Manny Dayao, Wymond Wong, Chris Houts, Dennis Kihara, Rocky Guillermo, Don Harada, Wayne Matsuyama, Al Torres, and many others who made it a great banquet!  Mahalo to Bob Takei, Executive Director, St. Louis Alumni, for his words of wisdom.  Mahalo to our generous contributors Raymond & Shirley Kodani, Malcolm Chang, Francis Chun, Rodney Chun, Chris Chung, Gene Faria, Brian Fu, Richard Fukeda, Keith Fukumoto, Milton Guerrero, Greg Ho, Gary Kitkowski (Camp Zama, Japan), Keenan Nemoto, Dr. Dean Sueda, Nolan Tamayori, Tom Yano, and many, many more.  Our apologies if we missed your name.   Mahalo to all!

See you in 2010 at our St. Louis Class of '70 40th Class Reunion!

P.S.  Moving, change of mailing address, change of e-mail address, change of employment, or just wanting to let us know what you've been up to.  E-mail:  bnuibe@hotmail.com