Classmates In The Spotlight
Note: Stories are displayed in order they were received and added to this page, i.e. top (oldest) to bottom (most recent).
Wade Kitagawa
Wade suffered a heart attack near the end of summer in 2011, but survived and now has an inspiring perspective. CLICK HERE to read Wade's incredible story. |
Roger Kuwahara
Roger is a master craftsman at designing and building high performance bikes (as in motorcycles). CLICK HERE to read the MidWeek article that features Roger and other bike buiders. You can also CLICK HERE to go to the Midweek website for the published article. |
Ann (Kawamoto) Kadowaki
An accomplished artist, Ann was featured in a MidWeek article, published in July 2011. CLICK HERE to read the Midweek article. |
Sharon (Kashiwa) Kurogi
... heralded as the BEST at what she does! |
Some of us have had the great pleasure and experience of having Sharon's expert help at Sears Ala Moana. In a full page ad in the Honolulul Star-Advertiser, Sharon received some of her due recognition as the overall winner at the Ala Moana store as "The Best of the Blue Crew Winners." Congratulations Sharon! |
Liane (Sakahara) Kim
As the founding director of the space education center at Barbers Point Elementary School, Liane is passionate about keeping the Challenger Center of Hawaii open to continually honor the Challenger crew and Hawaii's own Ellison Onizuka, who were lost in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster.
Click the following article titles to read about Liane's work at the Challenger Center:
Also visit Challengercenterhawaii.com for more information about the Challenger Center. |
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Mike Yamamoto
Classmate Mike Yamamoto has recently had his second book -- “Hawaiian Anchialine Pools” -- published. The State Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) donated 86 copies to Hawaii’s public libraries. Of that total, 72 copies are available for borrowing. Since June 2015, more than 100 library patrons have borrowed the book. The DLNR also donated 100 copies of Mike’s first book “Hawaii’s Native & Exotic Freshwater Animals” (published in 2000 and co-written with Annette W. Tagawa) to Hawaii’s public libraries. To date, this book has been borrowed more than 1,500 times by library patrons.
--Info submitted by Paul Mark |
Elynne (Iwamoto) Chung
As the Principal at Milliani Middle School, Elynne is a semi-finalist for the 2017 Masayuki Tokioka Excellence in School Leadership Award. This award was created to make a difference in public education by recognizing outstanding public school principals in Hawaii for their efforts to provide high-quality learning opportunities for their students. The award is underwritten by the Island Insurance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Island Insurance Companies.
Indicative of her excellence as an educator, Elynne was also named one of Hawaii's top school leaders in 2015. |
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Alvin Yee
Alvin was featured in Mike Tsai's column in the Star Advertiser, published on Nov. 11, 2014. The article (click the link below) aptly depicts Alvin's lifelong passion for history. Mahalo to Paul Mark for providing a copy of the article. 
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Alvin was again recently sought out by the Star Advertiser for his recollections of Downtown Honolulu's Fort Street back in the 1950s. The newspaper article, written by Bob Sigall, was published on Feb. 26, 2017. Alvin's contribution appears at the end of the lengthy article. Click the link below for a text copy. Mahalo to Velma (Kau) Lee for letting us know about the article.
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Elizabeth Hokada
The Fall 2015 edition of HMSA's Island Scene features classmate Elizabeth Hokada in a full spread story entitled "Investing in Hawaii's Future." Elizabeth serves as a member of the HMSA Board of Directors, and is also the Managing Director of Financial Assets at Kamehameha Schools. To read the full story, click on the link below and go to page 30, or click here to go to HMSA's Well Being website.
Thanks to Velma (Kau) Lee for bringing this story to our attention.
Vance Inouye
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Keoni May
Keoni's public service career included serving as a firefighter and in law enforcement in NY. He was one of many who participated in the search and rescue efforts after the attack on the World Trade Center.on September 11, 2001.
Know of any other stories featuring our fellow classmates? If so, send an email with the details to: [email protected] Mahalo plenty! | ||||
Nathan Hiraoka
As a young teen, Nathan started learning the martial art of judo in the 1960s at Manoa Japanese Judo Club. His passion for judo continued to grow and in 1989 he became the Assistant Head Instructor at Kaimuki Judo Club until 1996. Nathan also gave back to his alma mater as Judo Coach at Roosevelt from 1994-2011. He is currently the Chief Instructor for Sogoro Judo Club in Makiki as well as an instructor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Mahalo to Charley Izumi for providing the information on Nathan Hiraoka's successful judo career. |
Nathan's Credentials Chairman, Board of Directors, Hawaii State Judo Association Chairman, Board of Examination, Hawaii State Judo Assoc. USJI National Kata Judge (Class A) USJF Certified Kata Instructor (Class A) Member, Kata Committee, Hawaii State Judo Association Junior National Head Coach, Hawaii State Judo Association USJI International Coaches Certification USJI/USJF PACE Certified Coach CPR/First Aid Certified USA Judo Safe Sport-Judo Certified CDC Concussion Awareness Trained |
Lydia Lei Kayahara
Recognizing our classmate Lydia for her successful acting career has been long overdue. Thanks goes to Winston Ogata who pointed out one of our prolific members of the Class of 70. Lydia may be best remembered for her recurring role as Charlie, The Lab Technician, in the TV series Hawaii Five-O (1973-1978). She also appeared in numerous other television series and shows, as well as movies, such as: "Hammett" (1982); "Vice Squad" (1982); "Doctor Detroit" (1983); Cannonball Run II (1984); "The A-Team" (1984); and many others. |
Lydia in an episode of Bret Maverick, a western TV show that ran in the early 80s.
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Nathan Okimura
Known as Rev. Zenko N. Okimura, Shihan, classmate Nathan Okimura is the Founder & Chief Instructor of the World Aikido Aikikai Incorporated (WAAI). He has been a Head Aikido Instructor in both Japan and Hawaii, and has taught Aikido in Europe as well as throughout the United States. Okimura Shihan currently holds a 7th Dan certified instructors rank. |
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Paul Mark
Don't let Paul's unassuming good looks mislead you. He's an actor who has appeared in several episodes of Hawaii Five-0 ... Okay, so what if he's called "an extra?" He's on TV! And, no, not the Jack Lord series, but in the new Five-0 that is currently shooting around town.
CLICK HERE for a picture of Paul in acting action buying groceries in Chinatown. |
Update - July 2019: When this website was started in 2011, Paul was amongst the initial group of classmates featured on this Classmates in the Spotlight page. Eight years later he continues to work as a Background Extra and Stand-in on Five-0. Paul has also appeared in the movie "Jurassic World.” He plans to continue his passion of working with Hawaii Five-0 as well as the new Magnum P.I. series. In this photo, Paul portrayed a Juror in Season 6 of Hawaii Five-0, Episode 16. |
lanche (Mizuno) Ching
With her warm and beautiful smile, Blanche posed for a picture while on one of her "annual shopping sprees in Tokyo." The picture, taken by her husband Lorrin, appeared in the Travel Log section of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper (Sunday, September 29, 2019 edition). The caption, in part, read: "...Blanche Ching... found Hawaii Locos Café, while scoping out new restaurants in Sunshine City in the Ikebukuro area of [Tokyo]." Mahalo to Channing Ching for bringing the Star-Advertiser photo to our attention. 
Brian Woo
During our high school years, Brian was very active in serving both our class and the entire school as Student Body President and as a co-editor with our Rough Rider newspaper. He also was featured, along with classmate Elizabeth Hokada, in a CBS network documentary on education. It comes with little surprise that Brian continued this path of service after high school, which included a career as with the U.S. State Department. In 1980, Brian was wounded while serving as an embassy staff member in El Salvador during a very turbulent and volatile time. Below is the article published in The New York Times on August 15, 1980, describing the dangerous situation. Although the article describes his injury as "minor," Brian actually required foot reconstruction, which included multiple surgeries. Mahalo to Elizabeth Hokada for providing insight into Brian's harrowing experience in service to our country and for the link to the New York Times article.
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Elton Kagimoto
Bob Sigall contributes a special column for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser titled "Rearview Mirror" that features fond and interesting recollections of Hawaii's Days-Gone-By (with much attention to our own "small kid world"). The entire column usually does not get printed due to space limitations. In the email version of the column that ran in the August 16, 2019 edition of the newspaper, Elton was quoted as he recalled his experience with the French Wrench auto shop. 
Elton also mentions RHS teacher Mrs. Violet Maeda, whom you may have had for English or Speech classes. Mahalo to Alvin Yee for letting us know about Elton's contribution to the Rearview Mirror column.
To read an excerpt of Elton's recollections to "Rearview MIrror", click the file below.
Ainsley Halemanu
In April 2021, Ainsley was featured on "Talk Story", a weekly Hawaiian variety show on Hawaii News Now, as a HARA (Hawai‘i Academy of Recording Arts) Lifetime Achievement Honoree. Talk Story host McKenna Maduli acknowledged Ainsley as a musician, composer, recording artist, entertainer, kumu hula and Hawaiian cultural practitioner. Through all of the successes and accolades, Ainsley has remained humble with a fabulous "local boy" sense of humor. The article and accompanying video are available through the link below. (Note: Access to this Talk Story article is dependent on its availability on the Hawaii News Now website.) HARA Lifetime Achievement Honoree Ainsley Halemanu performs on Talk Story - Published April 19, 2021. Copyright 2021 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved. Mahalo to Gayle (Ishikawa) Mizukami for bringing Ainsley's well-deserved award to our attention. | ||||