Yes, I’m there in the middle of the back row.
I have to admit that I remember almost no one in this photo from my kindergarten class at Punahou School (back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth).
One person I’ve kept in touch with is Larry Olney, who lived right across the street from our family. I’ve tracked him down every few years for decades, so he’s fixed in my memory.
But the rest? Pretty much a blank. I’m sorry about that. They probably feel the same way about me, I’m sure!
So I wonder where my kindergarten classmates ended up? If you know anyone, leave a comment with some info, please!
My mother typed up the list that appears below the photo, but it doesn’t look accurate. And she also left another finding aid, which I just found. It’s a list of parents of the kids in the class, carefully typed up.
I returned to Punahou for first grade, but the next year Kahala School opened, and I transferred there beginning in the 2nd grade.
Oh–click on the photo, or the list, to see a larger view.
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In 1952 Punahou still maintained a quota for the admission of students with Asian-ancestry. The percentage had gradually been increasing and would disappear entirely by the fall of 1954. Remarkably, the first Asian-ancestry student body president was elected for the school year 1952-53 when the quota was still nominally in effect. His name was Tom Shimabukuro and he was the first of seven siblings who would graduate from Punahou. Even more remarkably, as a 14-year-old 9th grader he had been encouraged by a teacher at Central Intermediate to explore whether there were scholarships available. He met with Punahou’s president who, seeing great promise, admitted him on a full scholarship. He graduated near the top of his class–a sister would graduate number one a year later–and went to Columbia.
Happy Birthday to Mr. Duke!
The Robert J. Pfeiffer parent has to have been the guy who went on to become chairman of Alexander & Baldwin because his obit lists a daughter Betsy whose married name at the time of Bobby’s death in 2003 was Tumbas.
Looking at the first name on the parents list, Dr John Bell. He was my doctor when I was a kid until my parents joined Kaiser. He lived a couple of houses down the street from us too.
I got distracted by the phone numbers. 🙂
Was Oahu in the midst of switching from five- to six-digit telephone numbers in the early ’50s? I have a fuzzy memory of memorizing a six-digit number in the mid-’60s. Thanks.