Category Archives: Obituaries

Many families find themselves unable or unwilling to pay the very high fees to publish obituaries of loved ones in Honolulu’s daily newspaper. They can be published here for free. Just email your text, along with any photos you would like to include to ian(at)iLind.net.

A sad aloha to Mike Middlesworth

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We recently lost another veteran journalist.

Mike Middlesworth, a veteran journalist who once served as managing editor of the Honolulu Advertiser, died on January 14, 2020. An obituary reviewing his long involvement in the newspaper business and a variety of community affairs appears in today’s Advertiser.

Here is further information on Mike’s life, provided by his wife, Barbara Hastings.

Obituary information for John Michael (Mike) Middlesworth January 2020

John Michael (Mike) Middlesworth, 81, resident of Waiakea Uka in Hilo, died Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2020. At his core, Mike was a newsman and spent his professional life as a journalist. He was a member of the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission and former board member of the East Hawaii Regional Board of Hawaii Health Systems Corporation. Mr. Middlesworth retired from The Honolulu Advertiser, where he served first as the managing editor, and then as business manager. He was an avid golfer. In recent years he served as business manager of Hastings & Pleadwell: A Communication Company.

Born May 26, 1938 in El Paso, Texas, Mr. Middlesworth was the son of Hal and Thelma Middlesworth. His father had been a newspaper man and then public relations chief for the Detroit Tigers. Mike Mid- dlesworth was a 1961 graduate of Hillsdale College in Michigan 1961, B.S. in psychology). In the 1960s he served in the United States Army.

Mr.Middlesworth spent his journalism career as a reporter, sportswriter, photographer, editor and news technology consultant. He worked with newspapers in Hawaii, on the mainland U.S. and internationally.

Named managing editor at The Honolulu Advertiser in 1973, in 1986 he became the business editor. He retired in that position in 1994. In 1998 he took a temporary position as CEO and executive editor of the Virgin Island Daily News in St. Thomas.

Mr. Middlesworth was diagnosed in 2001 with esophageal cancer. At the time, few survived that cancer, but Mike did. He became a dedicated community servant (and golfer) recognized around Hawaii Island with his brimmed hats. He was a member of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Hawaii, the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, the Wine Connection, Aloha Golf Club and Pua Golf Gang.

Through 2011 Mr. Middlesworth served on Hawaii County Grand Jury. In 2010 he served on the Ha- waii County Redistricting Commission.

For 18 months, during 1999-2000, he drove through the United States to research a book, Eating at Mom’s (unpublished).

From 1997 to 2003 he was a partner in Fiascos Restaurant, Hilo.

He reveled in cooking for his friends and always had room at his table for great food and conversation.

He is survived by his spouse, Barbara A. Hastings; three children from a previous marriage, Andrea Farleigh of Kailua, Cara Middlesworth of Kailua and Chad Middlesworth of Waikiki, four grandsons, a step-daughter, Rhea Hastings Olsen and two step-grandsons.

A celebration of life will be held in Hilo the weekend of February 21-23. For more information contact event@HastingsandPleadwell.com.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an American independent non-profit organization promoting press freedom and defending the rights of journalists. Visit cpj.org for more information. Mr. Middlesworth was a stalwart advocate of freedom of the press.

Other information:

1993-2001: Consultant to newspapers. Principal clients: New Zealand Press Association, El Nuevo Dia (San Juan, P.R.), Los Angeles Daily News, Hawaii Newspaper Agency, Virgin Islands Daily News, Kingsport (Tenn.) Times-News.
Aug. 1986-Feb. 1993: Business Manager, The Honolulu Advertiser. Dec. 1973-Aug. 1986: Managing Editor, The Honolulu Advertiser. 1971-1973: Editor, Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier
1969-1971: News Editor, Saginaw (Mich.) News
1968-1969: Copy Editor, Flint (Mich.) Journal
1965-1968: Editor, Utica (Mich.) Daily Sentinel
1963-1965: Asst. Sports Editor, Sunday Editor, Port Huron (Mich.) Times Herald 1962-1963: Copy Editor, Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)
1962-1963: Editor, Army newspaper
1961: Asst. Sports Editor, Port Huron (Mich.) Times Herald

Hibiscus Drive’s “missing woman” had quite a life

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Lois Kiehl Cain, who owned the home at 3015 Hibiscus drive where the shootout and fire occurred on Sunday morning, is now missing and presume dead, apparently at the hands of her tenant, who also perished the blaze that left a neighborhood destroyed and a city in mourning.

The news media have so far mainly referred to her as the “missing woman.” But, by all accounts, she lived a pretty remarkable life.

Here’s the lead sentence from an April 1975 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin by entertainment editior Keith Haugen:

“How does a former medical student with a degree in zoology end up as a belly dancer in a Greek restaurant in Honolulu?”

In her case, Haugen wrote, “it’s a long story.”

Lois Kiehl was the daughter of an Army colonel who served as chief surgeon at Tripler for four years. Lois attended the University of Hawaii, then the University of Washington where she earned that zoology degree.

It was in Seattle that she got into folk dancing, including learning some Greek dances. She then went off to travel in Europe with friends. After the others returned to the U.S., she traveled for another six months.

“I did crazy things. I worked on a farm, took a train ride to Moscow, studied folk lore, went to Greece, Turkey…Istanbul,” she told Haugen.

She then auditioned and was hired by a well known flamenco dance company in Barcelona, and spent two years touring, then continued on to South America with a second flamenco troop.

She came back to Honolulu to visit her sister, and read of a small Greek restaurant getting ready to open. She went to check it out, and became the featured dancer at the Mad Greek during the m id-1970s.

Other news clippings over the next several years chronicled her Greek belly dancing, and followed her dabbling in community theater and even choreography.
She met and married Raymond Cain, a principal landscape architect for Belt Collins Hawaii. He passed away in 2005.

Lois went on to become a librarian with the University of Hawaii, and served as a non-faculty member on the Library Faculty Senate for a number of years.

I met her when she was president of a Diamond Head condominium owners association where in 1987 she and Raymond purchased a small apartment in an oceanfront building just blocks from their Hibiscus Drive home.

Initial news from the scene on Sunday indicated Lois had been injured and taken from the scene by ambulance. But subsequent reporting determined that had been another woman at the house.

I heard from a mutual friend yesterday, who said he and his wife were “keeping our fingers crossed but are not hopeful.”

I hope that as reporters dig in, they’ll find much more of what appears to have been an extraordinary life tragically cut short.

This March 1975 photo from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin shows Lois Kiehl dancing, with then-Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi sitting in the background.

Now you’re here, and now…gone

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On Wednesday evening, at 9:27 p.m., Burl Burlingame left a comment on my blog post that posed the question of what happens to our photographs when we’re gone. It was prompted by news that the photo site Flickr has established a category of “in memoriam” accounts that will continue to display photos indefinitely when the owner of the account has died.

Here’s his comment.

I wrote a story once for the paper about a Japanese-style house that was being dismantled, rather than being demolished, after the builder/owners died, because it was of architectural significance. While talking the the demo crew, I asked if they found anything interesting hidden away. “Oh, just a bunch of hundred-year-old photos of Japan taken as research. We threw them away.”

It was, it seems, his final comment.

Less than 48 hours later, Burl has joined those eligible for one of those “in memoriam” accounts. He collapsed and died this morning after a prolonged bout of the flu.

We’ll miss you, Burl.

Aloha to Gil Johnston

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Robert Gilbert Johnston, just “Gil” to his friends, died this week in Chicago after a battle with cancer. One version of his obituary, provided by his sons, Ben and Iain, appears below.

Gil was a friend and mentor to both Meda and me during the early 1970s. Meda first met Gil’s wife, Janice, who was also pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Hawaii. We entered grad school immediately after earning our bachelor degrees, while Gil and Jan had earned law degrees and had already been around a few blocks before we met. But we hit it off right away, and it didn’t take long for Janice to fold us into their family, with their two boys, and eventually their cats. Meanwhile Gil provided me invaluable introductions to the community leaders of low income and Native Hawaii groups he served as an attorney. It’s fair to say that Gil provided me a life changing educational experience, not only providing entry, generously sharing his behind-the-scenes experiences in the political and legal communities.

And there was something more personal I have to credit Gil and Jan with. Our graduate student lifestyle included finding all kinds of ways to save money. I recall inviting them to our Kaimuki apartment for dinner, where we proudly served Safeway’s La Mesa wine from a gallon jug, while bragging that you could pick up a gallon for only $5, if I recall that price correctly. They never lectured us about our poor taste in wine, but instead introduced us to the pleasures of wines that were definitely a cut or two above the bargain basement brands. Another life changing lesson I can credit to Gil (and Janice).

Janice died suddenly 15 years ago (can it really be that long ago?), and I’m afraid we haven’t been as good at keeping up contact in the years since, although we’ve periodically check in with Gil, and with both Ben and Iain, both now talented professionals with their own successful careers and beautiful families.

Robert Gilbert Johnston. Friends just call him “Gil.” Headed the Legal Aid Society in Hawaii for a couple of years around 1970, represented Hawaiian and low income community groups as a private attorney, later serving as professor and dean at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

After battling cancer, Robert Gilbert Johnston — the former Dean of The John Marshall Law School — was called home on June 21, 2018. He was a lifelong champion of underdogs everywhere and helped shape the careers of countless attorneys.

Born on November 28, 1931, in Waipahu, Hawai’i, Gil was the son of proud Scottish immigrants, Robert “Bert” Johnston and Molly Gilbert. Raised on a sugar plantation with his sister Jean (Shea), he did his chores, spoke fluent pidgin English with the workers and caused mischief with his cousin Stanley. After graduating from the Punahou School, he eventually enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard. Following his service, Gil attended the University of Chicago and graduated from the University of Chicago Law School.
Early in his career, he practiced law in Chicago. In light of his classically liberal political leanings, he also naturally began teaching law. Gil was a trial lawyer by day and an adjunct faculty member of The John Marshall Law School by night.

In 1960, he married Janice Metros. Together, they had two sons: Robert “Ben” Johnston, an emergency medicine physician with the Christie Clinic in Champaign, Illinois; and Iain D. Johnston, a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. Gil and his family spent their early years in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

In 1969, Gil moved his family back to Hawai’i, where he was the Director of the state’s Legal Services Corporation. During his time at legal aid and in his subsequent private practice, he was a tireless advocate for Native Hawaiians’ rights. During that time, he successfully litigated numerous landmark cases in both state and federal court, reaffirming the rights of Native Hawaiians as a people and a nation.

In 1975, Gil returned to Chicago to teach full time at The John Marshall Law School. In addition to teaching and mentoring thousands of future attorneys, he became an administrator, eventually serving as Dean from 1995 to 2003. During his academic career, he was a nationally recognized expert in civil procedure in the Illinois and federal courts systems. He published numerous articles as well as a book on these subjects. Even as an academic, he continued to litigate cases. In 1982, he argued before the United States Supreme Court on behalf of a Native Hawaiian prisoner.

In 2003, his wife — Janice — passed away. Gil then married Jane Oswald, a former associate dean at The John Marshall Law School. They lived in Park Ridge and were members of the Saint Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Gil is survived by his wife Jane, his sons Ben and Iain, his daughters-in-law Leisa and Elizabeth, and his grandchildren, Robert Wallace McGregor “Mac” Johnston, Finley Johnston and Lily Johnston. He is also survived by his sister Jean and his niece Kathleen and family. His nephew Pat preceded him in death. Gil will be remembered as the devoted “Uncle Gil” to the Metros Family: Claudia, Mike, Christine, and Craig and families; and the Pigao ‘Ohana: Auntie Tiko, Mary, Dean and family.

In lieu of flowers and in remembrance of Gil’s love for Hawai’i, the family would ask that donations be made in his name to the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation at nhlchi.org. It goes without saying that, in Gil’s memory, you should also simply help a person less fortunate and don’t make a big deal out of it.