Aloha and Happy New Year from Garrick Dung!

Hi all and Happy New Year!
Got this email from Garrick Dung a couple of days ago and wanted to share.

"Hi Marilyn,

Happy New Year!  Hope you are well at the start of this new year.  I have been meaning to send you some photos of a recent trip I made that reminded me of Maryknoll and blasts from the past.  Maybe you could post them to our Class of '66 blog for any of our classmates who may be interested in seeing these.

Last summer I had the opportunity to visit the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.  Even though my wife, Lela, has family in the Denver area and we visit them often, I have not been back to Colorado Springs until last July.  My stop at the Academy brought back so many memories of the two trips there in the Summers of 1964 and 1965 for the annual CAP Drill Team Competition.  The highlights were the Chapel building and the parade grounds.  Both are still outstanding.  Seeing these sights again brought back a closeness to all of the guys who were fortunate as I was to be there those two summers.

Have a great 2020! Hope to see more of our classmates in the new year.

Aloha,

Garrick Dung"

And pictures, too!!

A Blast from our Very Early Past!

With thanks to Sandra Lum Young, here are class pix from kindergarten through eighth grade, with the exception of third grade, when we all took individual pictures.

Enjoy!!

Kindergarten




First Grade




Second Grade




Fourth Grade




Fifth Grade




Sixth Grade




Seventh Grade




Eighth Grade

Happy Birthday, Marie Wong Wagner!

Celebrating Marie Wong Wagner’s birthday (September): Charlene Leong Santee, Nicky Agpalo, Marie’s sister Betty Kudo, Mary Jo Leineweber Culvyhouse, Pattie Wong Heatherly, Marie Wong Wagner,  Sandra Young, Linda Wong Kealoha, Suzanne Furuya Matsuda, and Sylvia Ching Ching.

Celebrating Tessie Villarama Adams' Visit to Honolulu!

Recent get-together at Sandy Lum Young’s place, catching up with Tessie Villarama Adams. From left to right: Nicky Agpalo, Wendell and Anne Konn, Mary Jo Leineweber Culvyhouse, Sandra Young, Marie Wong Wagner, Tessie Villarama Adams, John Adams, Suzanne Furuya Matsuda, Charlene Leong Santee, Pattie Wong Heatherly, and Frank O'calvey.

Another Blast from the Past - with Thanks to Malcolm Chang

From Malcolm's Facebook post:

"I was requested by someone that I was in the third through the sixth grades with to send her class photos of those years. Last time I saw her was when we were in the sixth grade together at Manoa Elementary School. While looking for those photos, I came across this "gem" that I thought I would post on this site. Enjoy the laughs folks....we haven't aged that much, have we ???"

Editor's Note:  I can name just about everyone in the 50+-years-old picture below - but I can't remember what I had for dinner last night.  Enjoy!!

Roy Shults: More Thoughts on Grandfatherhood and Some Other Stuff

Great reports and pictures!  Yes, I am enjoying my grandfather status far too much, maybe because the only other baby I ever helped raise was my brother, born the summer before our freshman year. My parents being, well, my parents, I had to take care of him a lot while juggling all we had to do as freshmen at Maryknoll. As a retiree, taking care of my grandson is a breeze in comparison.

And Brian [Spitzer], there was at least one other military brat at the reunion--ME! A Navy brat though, not Air Force. I'd love to reconnect with Susie Gerwig, too. Our years at Maryknoll didn't overlap, but by the small world phenomenon, we were classmates at Aliamanu Intermediate, as it was then called, for 7th and 8th grade.

I feel as Yuki does about Hawai'i, despite my minimal Polynesian ancestry and not living there. I have felt a powerful bond with Hawai'i and its people since I first stepped foot there in 1960, and that remains. I hope I live long enough to take my grandson there one day. With all that non-Hawai'ian humans have done to try to destroy it and the kanaka maoli, it persists as, to me, the most beautiful place on earth.

As Mr. Spock was wont to say, I say to all of you, "Live long and prosper."

With much aloha,

Roy Shults

Yuklin Aluli: Thoughts on Living in Hawai'i

I am always grateful to live Hawaii.  We have the tradewinds, occasional hurricanes and tsunamis, now the ongoing volcanic vog, 10 million tourists a year and the American military industrial complex, but it is always a blessing to come home.

Yuki

UPDATE 2018: Deborah Cotton Lipsett

I have a brand new granddaughter to announce! Clara Hope Lipsett was born yesterday, August 7th. The daughter of my son Andrew and his wife Emily. Clara joins her brother Henry, age 5. Their sweet sister Ida was stillborn in 12/15 so Clara's safe arrival feels like a miracle to us. I also have a granddaughter Abigail Martinez who is 18 months and SO adorable, the daughter of my youngest, Katherine, and her husband Rafael. Middle child Susan Lipsett remains single but very happy. ALL three children live in the Boston area near Roger and me. I cannot believe our good fortune in that regard. 

All my kids heard many stories of Hawaii while  growing up from me and from my mother Mary Cotton (1922-2011). My Dad died at 55 in 1977, alas, and never met his 6 grandchildren who started arriving in 1978.  He loved the Islands. After he died my mother never ventured back until our whole family, including my brother and his 3 kids, went back in 2006 for my 40th at Maryknoll. We ended up blindly renting houses that belong to Yuki! Susan Chong Wong, Patsy Wong Young, Yuki and others organized a party for us at the houses. Such a great memory. I miss Patsy so much. She was my closest friend and neighbor in those years and our mothers were also very close. I recently found a beautiful letter she wrote me after the birth of her daughter. If anyone knows how to reach her daughter, let me know so I can send it to her?

I have been back to Hawaii only once more since the reunion, in 2013, to Maui for a work trip. I flew right back as Henry was only a couple of days old  and I was eager to see him. 

Roger has retired and I plan to essentially retire at the end of the year. Hawaii is high on the travel list especially for winter trips! I stay in touch most closely with Marilyn Coffman through Facebook. It turned out Marilyn lived within two miles of my brother in Pasadena for decades but I did not know. He has now retired outside SF. How much fun we could have had during my visits to see him! For all that is wrong with Facebook I think it is going to be boon for keeping people together who are far-flung and as we age and cannot travel.

I hope you are all well. Remembering our youth with such fondness!

Deborah Cotton Lipsett

Clara, Henry, and Ida

Clara Hope Lipsett

UPDATE 2018: Roy Shults is a Grandfather!

From Roy Shults:

Meet Kallias Garrison Manolakas, our new grandson, born April 8 (the old wreck on the left is me). He’s only 1/8 Greek, but our youngest daughter identifies with her Greek heritage, just as my wife does. His first name is very rare, shared by only five others in the U.S. it means “Beaty” in Classical Greek, and was the name of a warrior who fought at Marathon and was later ambassador to the Persian Empire.

Mostly he is just an adorable, unfussy, enchanting baby. I babysit him 25-30 hours a week now. I utterly love him, and enjoy every minute with him, from playing to feeding to diaper changing, and it gives our daughter precious free time.

UPDATE 2017: Susan Chong Wong

I now have three grandchildren:  Henry 3 y.o. and sister Abigail, 8 mos. who live in Princeton, NJ.  They've been visiting now for a month and turned my life upside down in a good way.  

My oldest son and his wife also have a 3  month old, Kai and happily they live on Oahu.  

Thankful I'm healthy and able to keep up with the babies, but barely.  Going to be travelling a lot in the near future with my husband so he better stay healthy too!

UPDATE 2017: Frank Ocalvey

Hi! All,


Traveling the orient (Japan, Korea, Thailand, Brunei, Borneo, and Australia) with family this summer.  Son Keoni is home from Dartmouth, daughter, Micaiah is a sophomore at Kamehamaha.  Enjoying retirement, but find I'm busier now than when I was working.  Sorry I missed our reunion, but I was in South America.  Summer is our bonding time with our children and we travel for 2 1/2 months every summer.  The reunion must've been great.  Aloha to all,

Frank Ocalvey

UPDATE 2017: Brian Spitzer

This is weird as I was just looking at the reunion pictures before (yes before) your email.  I think I hear the Twilight Zone theme song in the background.  I also noticed I was only in one photo that I could see (I am camera shy?).  

The reunion for me was great as my first "official" reunion since graduation. I was, however, disappointed that none of the "military brats" showed up.  I have for some time tried to contact Larry and DeeDee Stillson, Peggy McClain, Susie Gerwig and others without any success. After I left for the Academy, Larry and DeeDee's dad committed suicide in his quarters on base at Hickam.  I did see Larry once when he was stationed at the army base as a medical corpsman in San Antonio in about 1972 after I returned from my Vietnam tour. Have not been able to find him since. I thought I heard that DeeDee married Chris Soares?

Anyway, I am two years into retirement, trying to travel while health is OK, playing tennis again, and enjoying Florida.  I am a "Admissions Liaison Officer" for the AF Academy and AFROTC (not a recruiter, BTW) but only mentoring those high school juniors and seniors that are interested in going to the AF Academy or AFROTC to become officers.  It has been fun to reconnect with high schoolers again.  Were we ever that young?

Appreciate your time and efforts for our class.  Many thanks.  

A photo or two?  Need to comb my hair?

UPDATE 2017: Tom Silva

Doing ok for now, I've been traveling with Cindy, but I continue to work for Chevron (full time) in my 9th year of retirement. Also continue to ride my road bike on the weekends. Oh, we did stop by and see Brian and Olena Spitzer  at their beautiful home in Florida last year.  We are enjoying watching our granddaughter grow up...really not much more to report.

I hope you are well and enjoying life.  Regards to all.

Tom

UPDATE 2017!

Do you believe it's been a year since our reunion?  Hope you all are doing well!

I thought I would send out an email to our class to see what they've been up to since then, and got a couple of replies:  one from Tom Silva, and one from Brian Spitzer.  Read on to see what they've been doing!

Congratulations to Jubilarian Award Winner Pattie Wong Heatherly!

The annual Maryknoll Alumni Luncheon was held on Saturday, July 23rd, 2016, at the Hawaii Prince Hotel.  Because it was our 50th Reunion, our Class of '66 had the spotlight.  In attendance were Wendell Konn, Linda Wong Kealoha, Dale McIntyre Lipton, Charlene Leong Santee, Susan Chong Wong, Luviminda Agpalo, Marie Wong Wagner, and Pattie Wong Heatherly.

During preparations for our reunion, requests were sent out for two things:  A vote for the individual who has given the most to his/her classmates and Maryknoll during the past 50 years (the Jubilarian Award), and, of course, donations for our Class Gift.

Pattie Wong Heatherly was presented with the Jubilarian Award for her unflagging service to Maryknoll over the past 50 years.

Our class gift of $12,000 was presented by Susan Chong Wong, to be used for a scholarship.

Here are some pictures of the event.  Many thanks to Linda Wong Kealoha and Marie Wong Wagner!!

Linda Wong Kealoha, Charlene Leong Santee, Pattie Wong Heatherly, Marie Wong Wagner

Luviminda Agpalo, Dale McIntyre Lipton, Charlene Leong Santee, Susan Chong Wong

Charlene Leong Santee, Marie Wong Wagner, Pattie Heatherly, Luviminda Agpalo

Dale McIntyre Lipton, Wendell Konn

Seated:  Susan Chong Wong
Standing:  Ann Konn, Wendell Konn, Pattie Wong Heatherly

Pattie 'n her Jubilarian Gift (Koa wood pen)!

Seated:  Abe Kealoha (spouse of Linda Wong Kealoha, Jensen Lipton (spouse of Dale McIntyre Lipton)
Standing:  Linda Wong Kealoha, Pattie Wong Heatherly, Dale Mcintyre Lipton

Wendell Konn, Jensen Lipton, Abe Kealoha

Susan Chong Wong, Linda Wong Kealoha

Perry Martin, Maryknoll Schools President, Susan Chong Wong, Blaine Gier, Alumni Relations

More Picnic! Sunday, June 12, 2016 (thanks again, Garrick!)

Anita (Nicky) Agpalo, Pattie Wong Heatherly, Roy Shults, Karen Yap Cahill

Anita (Nicky) Agpalo, Karen Yap Cahill, Roy Shults, Pattie Wong Heatherly

Alan Chung, Anita (Nicky) Agpalo,  Suzanne Furuya Matsuda, Marlene Dias DeCosta, Leslie Kula Craig

Linda Wong Kealoha, Kaala-Pat Ridley Jay

Marie Wong Wagner, Leslie Kula Craig, Pattie Wong Heatherly (if you look closely, you can see, on the left, Brian Spitzer and Tom Silva talking story)

From far left:  Jolyne Rego, (unidentified), Marie Wong Wagner, Sandra Lum Young, Leslie Kula Craig, Pattie Wong Heatherly

Maryknoll Schools Tour: Saturday, June 11, 2016 (with thanks again to Garrick Dung)

Second Floor, High School

Rogers Hall (do they still call it that?)

View from Second Floor 

Susan Chong Wong, Garrick Dung, Anita (Nicky) Agpalo, Sandra Lum Young, Dennis Nakahara, Karen Yap Cahill, Roy Shults, Marie Wong Wagner, Jolyne Rego, Marlene Dias DeCosta 

Roy Shults, Susan Chong Wong, Marie Wong Wagner, Marlene Dias DeCosta, Suzanne Furuya Matsuda, Karen Yap Cahill, Sandra Lum Young, Jolyne Rego, Brian Spitzer, Garrick Dung, Anita (Nicky) Agpalo, Tom Silva, Dennis Nakahara

More Photos! (with thanks to Garrick Dung)

Party at Paul deVille's:  Friday, June 10th, 2016

Marlene Dias DeCosta, Verna Nakanelua Makanani, Jolyne Rego, Leslie Kula Craig

Sylvia Ching, Mike Chock

Marlene Dias DeCosta, Shirlene Ishimine Conklin

First Row:  Sylvia Chun Kalama, Alan Chung, Sylvia Ching, Leslie Kula Craig

Second Row:  Mike Chock, Paul deVille, Marlene Dias DeCosta, Garrick Dung, Susan Chong Wong, Brian Spitzer, Jolyne Rego, Shirlene Ishimine Conklin, Dennis Nakahara, Verna Nakanelua Makanani, Walter Chun, Maria (Tessie) Villarama Adams, Steve Siu

Third Row: Tom Silva, Wendell Konn, Mike Kwak

Garrick Dung, Shirlene Ishimine Conklin, Marlene Dias DeCosta
Thom DeCosta (?) Steve Siu, Dennis Nakahara