Back in April 2013, I scanned and posted a scrapbook put together by the late UH Professor Carey D. Miller from the time of her arrival in Hawaii in 1922 through her travels around the islands during her first year.

I actually posted two entries, the first showing the scrapbook page-by-page, and then a follow-up with larger versions of the 62 tiny photographs that accompanied her tales.

Today I received a reply out of the blue, courtesy of the small world created by the internet and online searching. It’s from a California artist whose great aunt was of one of the women who traveled to Honolulu with Miller and stayed for a year before returning to the mainland.

Dear Ian Lind,

I cried out upon seeing these photos – I was so excited to find my Aunt Hallie Hyde with her friends Carrie and Ada in Hawaii.

Recently, I went back on ancestry to renew my subscription, and noticed that Hallie had taken a trip in 1922 on the ship Wilhemina. After not finding much on the ship, I decided to do a general search on Hawaii in 1922 and found your website and these wonderful photos. I tried to email, but letter came back.

Hallie was one of the few women in 1911 to receive her Master’s Degree in Home Economics in Illinois. Her father was a physician in Brookings, SD. Hallie was an artist as well. My father and I followed in her footsteps in this regard. I am so excited to see photos of my great Aunt Hallie! The last picture I had of her was from her days as a student at South Dakota State College….

Thank you so very much!!!!

I just never know whether any of the historical items I’ve posted will hit home with anyone, and it’s really nice to hear when it happens!

Meantime, it’s Veterans Day, and four years since we scattered my dad’s ashes in the ocean out past the surf break at Ala Moana. Here’s part of what I wrote at the time.

Four canoes from the Waikiki Surf Club, including its legendary Koa racing canoe, Malia, escorted my father’s ashes out of Ala Wai Boat Harbor late yesterday afternoon as we scattered his ashes in the ocean that he loved. It was a very high honor bestowed on the club’s co-founder.

In this photo, Wally Froiseth, co-founder of the Waikiki Surf Club and a friend of my dad’s since 1939, says a simple, “Goodbye, John” as he tossed a final handful of flowers in the water….

It was quite a sendoff. A fine afternoon.

I took photos that day, playing the role of participant-observer, and former Star-Bulletin photographer turned videographer, Dean Sensui, captured it in video. The video is posted on YouTube. You can jump ahead to about the 22 minute mark, where the canoes gather in a rough circle as his ashes and lots of flowers were dropped into the sea.