Paniolo House Stories: From the Kupuna of Waimea, Hawai'i Volume 2

By Friends of the Future

Paniolo House Stories Volume 1 includes interviews with Yoshio Hara, Eva Kealamakia, Elizabeth Kimura, Hisa Kimura, Mary Bell Lindsey, Katy Lowrey. Volume 2 includes interviews with Dan Miranda, Bea Nobriga, Blanche Rapoza, Grace Shigematsu, Ichiro Yamaguchi, and Shigeko Yoshikami.

The purpose of the Paniolo House Stories project is to guide the restoration of a hundred-year-old paniolo (cowboy) family home, as a living museum of daily life, health and healing practices before World War Two in the ranching town of Waimea on the island of Hawai`i. The Paniolo House is to be a museum which perpetuates the local history of families and life in this special town of Waimea. Friends of the Futures Paniolo House Committee works in partnership with the North Hawaii Community Hospital, where the house is located. In this way, the North Hawaii Community Hospital honors its historical community roots and keeps community values central to its continuing success.

In order to gather the stories on which to base the interpretive exhibits at the Paniolo House, the Paniolo House Committee initiated a project to collect oral history interviews with twelve kupuna, or elders, from the Waimea community. These interviewees kindly shared their stories for the project.

The Paniolo House Committee continues to guide the renovation and interpretation of the Paniolo House as a living history museum to help connect the eldest and the youngest generations in the Waimea community.

The Paniolo House Committee has been blessed by the dedicated work of Wally and Marge Bright, Balbi Brooks, Jean and Gilbert Davis, Barbara and Nelson Elliott, Gordon Hills, Hisa and Elizabeth Kimura, John and Katy Lowrey, Maile Melrose, Bea Nobriga, Nancy Piianaia, Phyllis Richards and Quentin Tomich.

The Committee was founded in 1995 in conjunction with the North Hawaii Community Hospital, with Susan Pueschel helping at the start.

Assisting the Paniolo House Committee is Susan Maddox of Friends of the Future with David Tarnas as project manager and Tom Quinlan as the architect specializing in restoring historic buildings. Four members of the Committee who generously assisted the Paniolo House project, but who have passed away in recent years, are Nelson Elliott, Gordon Hills, Hisa Kimura, and John Lowrey.

Nancy Piianaia was the Humanities Scholar for Paniolo House Stories and main interviewer with the assistance of Maile Melrose. Megan Mitchell transcribed the interviews. Nancy Piianaia was chief editor with the assistance of Alexander Tarnas and David Tarnas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 17, 2005
• ISBN: 9781465331076

Friends of the Future

Paniolo House Stories is a collection of oral history transcripts of kûpuna (elders) from Waimea, Hawai‘i, describing daily life, health and healing practices in this diverse paniolo (cowboy) community of Hawaiians and Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and haole (American or European) settlers before World War Two. Volume 1 includes Yoshio Hara, Eva Kealamakia, Elizabeth Kimura, Hisa Kimura, Mary Lindsey, and Katy Lowrey; Volume 2 includes Dan Miranda, Bea Nobriga, Blanche Rapoza, Grace Shigematsu, Ichiro Yamaguchi, and Shigeko Yoshikami. Paniolo House Stories is produced by Friends of the Future, working to create trust and harmony among the diverse cultures of Hawai‘i (www.friendsofthefuture.org).

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Copyright © 2005 by Friends of the Future.

Library of Congress Number:               2004090040

ISBN :                Hardcover                  1-4134-4464-4

                     Softcover                    1-4134-4463-6

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE ISLAND OF HAWAI’I

WAIMEA TIMELINE WITH AN EMPHASIS ON HEALTH

INTRODUCTION

ORAL HISTORIES

Daniel Alfred Miranda

Beatrice Bea Lei’na’ala Hookahi Nobriga

Blanche Ah Fong Rapoza

Mitsue Grace Shigematsu

Ichiro Yamaguchi

Shigeko Yoshikami

GLOSSARY

Paniolo House Stories

From the Kupuna of Waimea, Hawai’i

Volume 2

Dan Miranda, Bea Nobriga, Blanche Rapoza,

Grace Shigematsu, Ichiro Yamaguchi, and Shigeko

Yoshikami

A Project of the Paniolo House Committee,

Friends of the Future

The Paniolo House Committee includes

Wally and Marge Bright, Balbi Brooks,

Jean and Gilbert Davis, Barbara and Nelson Elliott,

Gordon Hills, Hisa and Elizabeth Kimura,

John and Katy Lowrey, Maile Melrose,

Bea Nobriga, Nancy Piianaia, Phyllis Richards and

Quentin Tomich.

Acknowledgements, Introduction, Timeline, and Glossary

written by

Nancy Piianaia, Humanities Scholar

Oral History Interviews done by Nancy Piianaia and

Maile Melrose

Transcribed by Megan Mitchell

Edited by Nancy Piianaia, Alexander Tarnas, and

David Tarnas

Project Management by Friends of the Future,

Susan Maddox—Executive Team Leader

Financial support for the project was generously

provided by the

Earl and Doris Bakken Foundation,

Hawai’i Council for the Humanities,

Stable Foundation,

LeBurta Atherton Foundation and

Friends of David Tarnas

For more information on Friends of the Future

please visit us at www.fofhawaii.org

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Paniolo House Stories is a project of Friends of the Future, a Waimea-based non-profit organization whose mission is to create trust and harmony among the diverse cultures of Hawai’i through a process where all people can openly contribute their deepest values, create shared visions and continuously improve their communities.

The purpose of the Paniolo House Stories project is to guide the restoration of a hundred-year-old paniolo (cowboy) family home, as a living museum of daily life, health and healing practices before World War Two in the ranching town of Waimea on the island of Hawai’i. The Paniolo House is to be a museum which perpetuates the local history of families and life in this special town of Waimea. Friends of the Future’s Paniolo House Committee works in partnership with the North Hawaii Community Hospital, where the house is located. In this way, the North Hawaii Community Hospital honors its historical community roots and keeps community values central to its continuing success.

In order to gather the stories on which to base the interpretive exhibits at the Paniolo House, the Paniolo House Committee deeply appreciates the support and cooperation of the interviewees. Each interviewee gave much of themselves so the history of Waimea could be told. These kupuna (elders) are Yoshio Hara, Eva Kealamakia, Elizabeth Kimura, Hisa Kimura, Mary Lindsey, Katy Lowrey, Dan Miranda, Bea Nobriga, Blanche Rapoza, Grace Shigematsu, Ichiro Yamaguchi, and Shigeko Yoshikami.

The Paniolo House Stories project was made possible with the generous financial support provided by the Earl and Doris Bakken Foundation, Hawai’i Council for the Humanities, the Stable Foundation, the LeBurta Atherton Foundation and the Friends of David Tarnas.

To set the course of the interviews, the project’s humanities scholar, Nancy Piianaia, met with a number of resource people who generously assisted in many ways. These people included William Akau, Dr. Billy Bergin, Dr. John Lowrey, Kepa Maly, Warren Nishimoto of the UH Manoa Oral History Center, Helen Wong-Smith, Robert Tanoue, Quentin Tomich, Kiyome Yoshimatsu, along with Leilani Marshall, Carrie Ann Cabral, and Laura Gerwitz of the Mamiya Medical Heritage Center, Hawaii Medical Library.

Photography services were generously provided by Sandra Wong Geroux (for photographs of Yoshio Hara, Hisa Kimura, Mary Lindsey, Katy Lowrey, Dan Miranda and Ichiro Yamaguchi), Kelvin Nakano of Positive Image (Waimea) (for photographs of Eva Kealamakia, Elizabeth Kimura, Bea Nobriga, and Shigeko Yoshikami), Sarah Anderson (for the photograph of Grace Shigematsu), Nancy Piianaia (for the photograph of Blanche Rapoza), Georgine Busch (for the photograph of the Paniolo House), David Tarnas (for the cover photograph of Waimea’s landscape), and NASA (for the photograph of the island of Hawai’i—with place names added by Berkeley F. Fuller).

The Paniolo House Committee includes Wally and Marge Bright, Balbi Brooks, Jean and Gilbert Davis, Barbara and Nelson Elliott, Gordon Hills, Hisa and Elizabeth Kimura, John and Katy Lowrey, Maile Melrose, Bea Nobriga, Nancy Piianaia, Phyllis Richards and Quentin Tomich. The Committee was founded in 1995 in conjunction with the North Hawaii Community Hospital, with Susan Pueschel helping at the start. Assisting the Paniolo House Committee is Susan Maddox of Friends of the Future with David Tarnas as project manager and Tom Quinlan as the architect specializing in restoring historic buildings. Four members of the Committee who generously assisted the Paniolo House project, but who have passed away in recent years, are Nelson Elliott, Gordon Hills, Hisa Kimura, and John Lowrey.

Mahalo to everyone who helped on this Paniolo House Stories project. Waimea is truly a special place.

THE ISLAND OF HAWAI’I

Image368.JPG

WAIMEA TIMELINE WITH AN EMPHASIS ON HEALTH

INTRODUCTION

The Project—History and Background

The purpose of the Paniolo House Stories project was to capture, in audio and written form, the histories of a group of twelve individuals who grew up in Waimea and North Hawai’i before World War Two. The project developed out of an awareness of the urgent need to record the experiences and daily lives of these individuals, now in their eighties, during the period before vast changes occurred in the area as a result of World War Two, population growth, and the emergence of the island of Hawai’i as a popular tourist destination.

The project developed under the auspices of the Paniolo House Committee, which is guiding the restoration of a hundred-year-old paniolo (cowboy) family home as a living museum of daily life, health and healing practices before World War Two in the ranching town of Waimea on the island of Hawai’i. In addition to recording the lives of the subjects, the interviews focused on the ways in which medical and health problems were handled during this period when Waimea was an isolated community without immediate access to clinics or hospitals.

Throughout the Project, the project was given strong, active support from the Paniolo House Committee, a group of local residents. Most of the Committee members grew up in Waimea and understood the value and importance of recording the lives and experiences of members of their community. Their knowledgeable input and involvement throughout the project, as well as the leadership and project management support provided by the Friends of the Future, were important factors in the completion of this publication. We are also grateful for the funding from several organizations, including the Earl and Doris Bakken

Foundation, Hawai’i Council for the Humanities, the Stable Foundation, the LeBurta Atherton Foundation, and Friends of David Tarnas whose generosity made the interviews, transcriptions, and publication of the oral histories possible.

The Importance of Oral History

In attempting to reconstruct and interpret the past, historians use a variety of documents, journals, and memoirs as they form a pattern of what life was like in earlier periods of time. As we move into a world of electronic communication, these traditional sources of information are disappearing, and historians have turned increasingly to other sources in attempting to reconstruct the recent past.

Oral history has become an important technique, helping to fill the gaps in the lives and individual interpretation of events that are an important part of recreating a historical period. In addition to filling the empty spaces created by the lack of personal reminiscences, it permits us to focus on the lives of less prominent individuals whose stories would not otherwise be told. Oral history is a modern discipline, although oral traditions are older than the written word. In Hawai’i, the profession of oral history was stimulated by the ethnic studies movement in the 1960s, when demands were made that the history of Hawai’i include all of its people—native Hawaiians, plantation workers, laborers, union organizers, and the successive groups of immigrants whose hard work helped to create modern Hawai’i.

For the time period of this project, oral histories are especially important because very few records and narratives exist for the ranching town of Waimea. Tragically, the majority of the records which Parker Ranch kept during this period were destroyed. Unlike the plantations which retained many of their records as well as additional information kept by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA), there is very little written documentation of the first half of the twentieth century in Waimea. Oral histories have become our most valuable tool for learning about what life was like before World War Two. Fortunately, many of our residents still have clear recall of this amazing and increasingly distant time in our past. The stories they tell of their individual lives and their families, as well as their impressions of the environment in which they lived help us to better understand the past. Told in their words, the interviews resonate with emotion, humor, philosophy and struggle. They speak of a town which was a community, where there were no strangers.

Methodology

The primary objective of the project was to interview individuals who represented a wide range of ethnic groups and occupations present in pre-World War Two Waimea and its surrounding communities. At the beginning of the project, names of possible interviewees were solicited from members of the Paniolo House Committee as well as from different segments of the community. Initial lists were prepared and reviewed by both the interviewers and the Committee to select a broad cross-section of potential interviewees. Because a limited number of individuals could be chosen, criteria for selection were developed including ethnicity, gender, and occupation.

The interviewers then conducted preliminary, unrecorded interviews with potential interviewees, explaining the project to them while learning about their individual backgrounds and determining their suitability as subjects for an oral history. A detailed list of topics was developed, providing a focus for the interviews. This was shared with the interviewees so that they could prepare themselves in advance for the content of the recorded interviews.

The interviewers met to select the most suitable candidates and returned to conduct two ninety-minute tape recorded interviews with each interviewee. The recorded tapes were then transcribed, edited, and returned to both the interviewers and the interviewees so corrections could be made for accuracy or for the removal of content deemed objectionable or sensitive. The interviewee then signed a form giving the project permission to use the transcribed interviews for scholarly and educational purposes.

Use of the Hawaiian Language

Recognizing that diacritical markings are crucial in the proper pronunciation and word meaning of the Hawaiian language, we have used ‘okina and kahako when appropriate for Hawaiian words. For spellings and pronunciations our sources have been Place Names of Hawai’i by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel Ebert, and Esther T. Mookini and, especially for geographical locations and place names, the Atlas of Hawai’i, edited by Sonia and James Juvik. For plant names we utilized Plants in Hawaiian Medicine by Beatrice H. Krauss, and as a source for locally grown fruits, Fruits of Hawaii by Carey D. Miller, Katherine Bazore, and Mary Bartow, first published by the Hawai’i Agricultural Experiment Station in 1936 and more recently by the University of Hawai’i Press.

In determining the proper spelling or pronunciations for Hawaiian words used in the interviews, we attempted to follow the above sources as closely as possible. However, on several occasions we were faced with local usage that did not conform with our sources or was unclear. When several of our proper nouns predated the use of diacritical markings, we left them as they have been traditionally spelled. An example of this is the use of the name for Richard Smart’s Waimea home, Puuopelu. Many interviewees were used to the spelling Puu Opelo; others knew it by the most recent spelling, Pu’u Opelu. After consulting both the Parker Ranch and looking over copies of Richard Smart’s 1960s’ newspaper, Paka Paniolo, which he edited and which had numerous references to his home, we decided the spelling he gave his home would be most appropriate. In other instances, ranches or dairies which existed in the early twentieth century were given their original names, without diacriticals, such as Kukaiau Ranch or Puukikoni Dairy. Occasionally, our spelling differed from that of an interviewee, as with Waialea Bay near Puako. In such cases we have attempted to choose the correct spelling after consultation with the interviewee and include their choice when appropriate.

Our Glossary also contains non-English words which were used by the interviewees. Non-English words which appear in a standard English dictionary, such as taro, were not included.

Health and Healing in Pre-War Waimea Overview of Period

The Paniolo House Oral History Project focused primarily on Waimea, a small ranching town in the northern corner of Hawai’i Island between the Kohala and Mauna Kea mountains. Once home to a large settlement of Hawaiians, Waimea developed into a cattle-ranching center after the arrival of Europeans at the end of the eighteenth century. The gift of five hardy cows and a bull to Kamehameha I by Captain George Vancouver in 1798 set in motion a great transformation of land, society, and economy in this area, resulting in the emergence, in the early twentieth century of one of America’s largest privately-owned ranches.

By the 1900s, Waimea had become a small, isolated community with a population of approximately three hundred residents. There were no telephones, and very few people had automobiles. The roads were unpaved and single-lane; and travel was by horse, buggy and in later years, taxi. Inter-island travel, when necessary, occurred most often by steamer from Kawaihae, a port down the hill from Waimea, where passengers could board ships designed to carry cattle and produce to O’ahu. With a shortage of automobiles, few townspeople ventured beyond Waimea to the nearby towns in Kohala or along the Hamakua coast except for an emergency.

Waimea’s population was composed primarily of Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians with the addition of Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese settlers. A small number of haole lived in Waimea, and as with the other residents, most were connected to the Parker Ranch. The majority of townspeople found employment as paniolo (cowboys), handymen, carpenters, dairy workers, blacksmiths, fence builders and other types of ranch work. Working outside of the ranch were the Chinese and Japanese shopkeepers and the Japanese who had moved to Waimea to become farmers after finishing their labor contracts on the sugar plantations. The ranch provided for its employees, while those on the outside had to fend for themselves.

Physically, Waimea was divided into three sections. At the crossroads was the commercial center with the ranch headquarters. It was conveniently located next to the Parker Ranch Restaurant, several stores, and the courthouse, jail, and police station. Going down the road toward Kawaihae was the Hawaiian community of Waiaka, home to the Lindsey clan and other Hawaiian families. According to Elizabeth Lindsey Kimura who grew up in the area, From the park down actually it was the ‘Lindsey Street’ because the Lindseys had their homes on both sides of the road below the park. And it continued all the way down to where Anna Perry Fiske lived. After that Lindsey homes were scattered all the way down the road.

Extending in the opposite direction toward Honoka’a was the predominantly Japanese community of farmers and shopkeepers who built their homes along the road as well. Elizabeth’s husband, Hisa Kimura, recalled with fondness his early years spent among the Japanese in that area: On the upper side was the Japanese community. And within that community there was Mr. Wakayama’s store which we called I. Oda Store. I. Oda Store was the heart of Waimea as far as we were raised. This was the main section where we always congregate, we always sleep over there, and because we didn’t have any bank those days, I. Oda acted to help the Japanese with cash or buying food or whatever groceries or credit.

Daily Life

Despite differences in location or employment, life for the majority of families in Waimea in the early twentieth century was quite similar. Most of the interviewees came from large families with nine to twelve children. Family planning and contraceptives were not available, and women often had children nearly every year. The older children were given responsibility at an early age whether it was doing chores or helping with the care of their younger siblings. Being the eldest girl in a family meant extra work and responsibility after school or on weekends. For some it even meant helping their mother deliver a baby sister or brother if the midwife or auntie did not arrive on time. For others it was the daily chore of heating bath water and bathing the younger children before dinner.

Most houses were small with two or three bedrooms. Children shared beds or slept closely together on futon. No one had electricity, refrigeration, or indoor plumbing. Every family had an outhouse as well as a bathhouse which contained a furo or a tub for bathing. Each interviewee mentioned that their family bathed daily, usually before dinner. Many Japanese families at Parker Ranch were supplied with redwood baths built by ranch employees. Some families, like the Yamaguchis who lived in the Paniolo House, shared their furo with Japanese bachelors who would come over and bathe in the evening after the family. For the non-Japanese, bathing was more of a chore because heated water often had to be carried into a bathhouse or an indoor bathtub for the daily wash. In the large families, small children were bathed three together by their older siblings.

Indoor plumbing was not installed until the 1930s or 1940s, and outhouses were built adjacent to each home. Occasionally, neighbors even shared the same large hole for their outhouse. Everyone interviewed could not forget the outhouse experience, especially the trips during the night when, as young children, they needed to be accompanied by their mother holding a lantern. Toilet paper was not available, and families were creative in finding suitable tissue to use in their outhouses. Newspapers were readily available although the Sears Roebuck Catalogue was preferred. And the best was the delicate tissue paper wrapped around apples or oranges which were a rare treat.

All of the children went to the small public school, walking barefoot along the dirt road every morning. There were no school buses in the early years, and some children walked almost five miles each way. They began with a baby school, similar to today’s kindergarten. Waimea School initially went through the sixth grade; eventually it was extended to the ninth. After graduating from school, students whose families could find a way to have them continue their education were sent to Hilo Intermediate or High School or Konawaena High School. A few Hawaiian students also attended Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu. And eventually, girls from the ranch were sent to Kohala High School, boarding at the Kohala Seminary. Although homesick at first, all of the interviewees who left Waimea to live at the Seminary fondly remembered their days with their friends from Waimea and the very different life they lived under the watchful eye of Mother Hill.

Education beyond the elementary or intermediate grades was a sacrifice for most Waimea parents. Especially for the independent Japanese farmers, schooling of their children meant great hardship and sacrifice. After the one-room school at Waiki’i closed, Yoshio Hara, who was born at Waiki’i, was sent with his brother down to Waimea to stay at a small Japanese hotel adjacent to where the Kamuela Liquor Store now stands. Later his parents moved down into the village in order to be with their sons who were then sent, after graduating from Waimea Elementary, to Honolulu for further study.

One of the most interesting patterns that emerged from the interviews was the difference between the first sons or daughters of the Waimea families who were often unable to continue with their education and their younger brothers and sisters who were able to complete high school and even college as their parents became more economically secure. Those interviewees whose education was cut short due to family hardship displayed no resentment or sense that they had been denied opportunity. They were proud of their younger siblings and grateful for the efforts and the struggle of their parents.

Waimea School held strong memories for the interviewees. Many remembered teachers who had been kind and helpful; others remembered the harsh discipline and punishments that were handed out with no explanation. Rarely was a student late for school, and staying after school as a punishment was dreaded. All of the Japanese students took daily Japanese lessons after school while the other students went home to help with chores or played at friends’ homes.

Everyone remembered school lunch although very few in the large families were able to afford the five cents charged by the cafeteria. Most brought simple home lunches. The Japanese took rice balls, the Hawaiians dried meat and taro or poi. Others had pancakes left over from breakfast, Saloon Pilot crackers, or homemade biscuits stuffed with canned sardines. Mary Haena Bell Lindsey recalled that, "Mother saw to it that we had enough and we took home lunch which we shared with friends. Of course I loved to eat with the Japanese children because I loved their daikon, and I would give them my Hawaiian foods such as sweet potato, taro, poi, dried fish or dried meat…  Mother would ask me, ‘Why do you eat their food?’ and I said, ‘No, we exchange.’ They tell me, ‘Oh! I want that!’ ‘I want that!’ I say, ‘Here, take this one! I want that too!’ And my mother tells me, ‘You’re a beggar, you’re hoi toi!"

During hard times some children would bring very little for their school lunch. Sometimes interviewees said that they had no food for lunch. Some said that they were ashamed and didn’t want others to see what little food they had brought. Everyone carried paper bags which were carefully folded and reused for an entire week of lunches.

Outside of school, all of the interviewees remembered their family’s diet as being quite adequate. Parker Ranch supplied its workers with 18 pounds of fresh beef a week, plus rice or a large bag of poi and milk, cream, and butter from the dairy out on Mana Road. This was supplemented by wild pig and sheep caught by the paniolo as they worked on the mountain pastures and smoked or salted after being brought home. Familes who were not Parker Ranch employees depended on their vegetable gardens and their chickens for their diet, plus tofu which was made by the Ryusaki family and sold for five cents. Rice in hundred pound bags, buckets of miso, cooking oil, and shoyu were purchased from the I. Oda, Fukushima or Sakamoto stores to complete their diet. Occasionally, they bought meat from Parker Ranch, but most often the families engaged in a friendly barter system with the Parker Ranch families exchanging beef for vegetables.

Blanche Rapoza, whose family lived in the Paniolo House after the Yamaguchi family, recalled that, sometimes when my mother used to send us to go buy maybe just eight corn, you know, eight ears…  they gave the whole bag! So we’d go home and then my mom would get sometime meat [from the supply provided weekly by Parker Ranch] and she’d tell us, ‘Go back and take meat to them.’ They were so grateful. They’d send us home with the corn and the vegetables, you know all pickled, preserved?

There was no bakery but Portuguese families occasionally made and sold bread to their neighbors or exchanged it for food. Love’s Bakery delivered to the stores as well as a bakery in Honoka’a owned by the Yoshikami family from Kawaihae and later by the Hori family.

Most interviewees remembered the weekly arrival of the mule train loaded with bags of poi wrapped in ti leaves out of Waipi’o Valley. It would come up the side of the Valley onto Mud Lane with a young man leading the heavily laden mules. Along the route, people would wait to buy large bags of poi which were not reserved by the stores or Parker Ranch and which were carried on the back of the last mule. As the driver came closer to town and had no more poi to sell, he tied the last mule to a tree to await the return of the empty mule train after its deliveries were completed. During Prohibition, a number of interviewees said that beneath the bags of poi, some of Waipi’o’s popular ‘okolehao was hidden.

Okolehao was a popular home brew, and parties and weddings were not complete without the gallon jug of the strong spirits. Waimea was not a drinking town, however, due to the influence of Alfred W. Carter, the strong-willed man who managed Parker Ranch for thirty-seven years. A.W., as he was known, strongly disapproved of drinking among his workers, believing that it would interfere with their work performance and family life. Upon hearing about an employee who had imbibed, he would call him in for a session in his office. He was less concerned with residents who were not part of his ranch, but maintained a tight control over the amount of liquor sold in Waimea up through the World War Two years when Waimea was a dry town, despite the presence of thousands of GIs.

Sake, an important part of Japanese culture, was freely consumed by many of the local farmers as a way of relaxing after a long day out in the fields. New Year’s visits from house to house were always accompanied by heavy drinking, either of sake or of ‘okolehao. A few of the interviewees recalled having to go and pick up a gallon of liquor for their fathers from someone who had brewed locally or who had access to the liquor brought up from the Waipi’o or Waimanu Valleys. Because the male guests tended to remain until the bottle was empty, more than one farmer transferred his liquor into smaller jugs to share with his friends.

During this period there was little time for celebrations or holidays. The work of the cowboys, dairy workers, and farmers frequently required that they work long hours regardless of the day of the week. Most families, however, tried to spend Sunday together, either at church or at home. For the girls, Sunday was a day to wear their best clothes and a precious pair of shoes saved for these weekly occasions. Some clothing was ordered through the Sears Roebuck catalogue but most was sewn by the mothers on hand-cranked machines. Additionally there was a Chinese tailor in town named Goo, and sturdy work clothes and boots were sold at the Parker Ranch Store.

As with other general stores throughout the island, the Waimea stores operated primarily on credit sales. For the Parker Ranch families, charges were set up and the amounts of goods purchased were taken from their paychecks. At the end of the month, some families received very little cash after their receipts had been totaled. The farmers charged as well and made payments from their earnings or on some occasions bartered the vegetables they grew. During drought years when crops were not plentiful or when prices were low, farming families accumulated debts at the stores that were difficult to pay off. Up until World War Two when the vegetables of Waimea’s farmers were in high demand, farming families survived with very little excess income and often on credit. As mentioned above, the Japanese stores also served as banks for the families in addition to giving advice, counseling, and writing of letters home for those in the first generation who were unable to write.

Although Waimea residents celebrated few holidays, everyone looked forward to the annual Christmas party given by Parker Ranch for the entire community. Held at Barbara Hall, now on the Parker School campus, the event featured a huge, elaborately decorated Christmas tree and gifts for all of the children of Waimea. Brown paper bags contained apples, oranges, and nuts. Everyone looked forward to an evening of songs and the appearance of Santa Claus. With few cars, families walked from all over town to the Hall, carrying their kerosene lanterns for light. Interviewees all fondly remembered the Christmas parties with bright lights, gifts, food and songs. The ice cream served to all the children was one of the fondest memories of interviewees. Parker Ranch families received additional gifts, including the famous Parker Ranch turkeys caught up at Waiki’i and on the Mana Road. The majority of the turkeys were shipped to Honolulu for the holiday market.

For the Japanese families, New Year’s Day was also an important event with special foods prepared for the occasion. A chicken might be slaughtered for hekka, and sashimi, sushi, and nishime were served in most households. On the following day, the farmers went back to work, but continued to make evening visits to each other to wish everyone a happy new year and drink sake. These visits did not include the women who remained at home to care for their large families.

An additional celebration that was an integral part of the Waimea community were wedding parties. Hawaiians would put on a pa’ina, or feast. Like today’s lu’aus, these feasts were put together by family and friends who seemed effortlessly to produce great quantities of food for the newlyweds and the community. When Mary Haena married Prince Bell, his parents gave the pa’ina at their Pu’ukapu homestead. Her father-in-law, Peter Bell, was the "kalua pig man," and her mother-in-law Hattie supervised the women preparing the ‘opihi and raw fish. Hattie was also accomplished at delivering babies and helped Mary when she was not able to make the long journey to Kohala Hospital for the birth of two of her sons.

For the Japanese, the wedding feast was an important part of the tradition surrounding marriage and was carefully observed. Just as in Japan, o-nakodo, or go-betweens, were essential to the courtship, even if the prospective bride and groom already knew each other. Mr. Wakayama, the storekeeper, and his wife often served as go-betweens, helping to bring both families together. Even for families who were living far from Japan, following the proper etiquette was extremely important. Many families bought wedding kimono for their daughters at birth, fearing shame if they were not able to give their daughters away in marriage in beautiful gowns. Mrs. Ogawa, whose husband was the supervisor of the Parker Ranch garage, was needed to dress the brides properly. In between weddings she also taught the young girls how to sew kimono. Wedding receptions were held at home—there was no other suitable location. The actual wedding ceremony was usually small and attended only by the immediate family and the go-betweens, but the feast afterwards was for the community. Often a Japanese chef was hired to create the food, the quality and volume of which reflected upon the girl’s family. Liquor was important and even non-drinkers would order an ample supply of sake or ‘okolehao for the guests. Recalling her own wedding, Shigeko Yoshikami said, If you don’t have that liquor it would be the story of the town!

Medicine and Healing

In the early twentieth century, Waimea resembled much of rural Hawai’i by the absence of what are considered modern healthcare systems. In the early years there were no hospitals, dispensaries, or doctor’s offices. By the 1900s, the sugar plantations had begun to establish hospitals for their workers on the outer islands. Hawai’i’s first plantation hospital was built in Pepe’ekeo in 1910. Hilo already had a state hospital, Hilo Memorial; but the distance was prohibitive for people in North Kohala.

During this period, the Territory of Hawai’i hired physicians to provide emergency healthcare in rural areas, sometimes using young doctors who were also hired by the plantations. Traveling by horse and buggy or on horseback over muddy and treacherous terrain, they were adventurous young men, often fresh out of medical school. Armed only with a small supply of medicine and equipment and covering a large territory, they handled all kinds of medical emergencies at very low pay. A few kept journals which have become legendary for their recounting of the challenges of the profession. Dr. Fred Irwin, who arrived in Hawai’i in 1903 and spent three years along the Hamakua coast, gave a detailed account of the some of the challenges he faced:

The hospital situation during the first three years of my practice in Hawaii could very easily be described because there were no hospitals…  . Traumatic surgery was taken care of almost where it happened—such as, for instance, the amputation of both hands just above the wrist joint, the patient having had both hands rolled flat in the mill rollers. The anesthetist for this job was the plantation bookkeeper, the operating table a door taken from the patient’s quarters [where] he lived with his wife, and the light, an ordinary lantern.

In extreme emergencies the patients were removed to Hilo Hospital over very rough roads by improvised ambulance, for at that time there was not a real ambulance on the island of Hawaii. The distances ranged anywhere from fifty to one hundred miles.

Gradually, as Parker Ranch developed, doctors were hired with a direct responsibility for Parker Ranch employees. A succession of doctors came to Waimea to handle the basic medical needs of the Parker Ranch population. This practice continued until well after the war years when state-wide group medical practice organizations replaced the individual physicians. Interviewees who belonged to

Parker Ranch families all remembered these doctors. Among them were Dr. Richard Treadwell who practiced in Kohala in the 1920s, Dr. William Dutcher Whitman who served as Parker Ranch physician from 1932 until 1942, and Dr. Timothy Woo, a native of Kohala who moved to Waimea during the war years and was able to set up a hamburger stand while administering to his patients. Possibly because of the years during which Dr. Whitman practiced in Waimea, he was remembered most often by the interviewees.

When Matsuichi Yamaguchi was brought home in 1936 after his critical head injury at Kemole II, Dr. Whitman examined him and determined that he would have to be sent immediately to the Kohala Hospital in Kapa’au where, sadly, he passed away. This was the period when doctors were accustomed to making house calls, and Dr. Whitman spent countless hours at the side of patients suffering from pneumonia, whooping cough or other serious illnesses. Often, he slept at the family’s home in order to be near his patient at all hours. Blanche Rapoza, who lived with her family at the Paniolo House, remembered when her seven-year old sister was dying from pneumonia. Dr. Whitman came with his nurse, Miss Doyle, and spent four days in their home trying to relieve the coughing and alleviating the suffering and pain of the child.

For those families who were not part of the Parker Ranch, illnesses were treated at home without a doctor whenever possible. Japanese families relied upon a traveling salesman who visited each community every few months to replenish their supply of Japanese medicines. Known as the Medicine Man, the salesman gave all his customers a bag filled with remedies for stomach ache, colds, and indigestion, including a popular pill called "jintang." Families would use what they needed and would pay for the medicine which had been used when the salesman visited.

Non-Parker Ranch families could not use the Parker Ranch doctors and went instead to Kohala or Honoka’a for serious emergencies. The Japanese families also were treated by Japanese doctors who had their own hospitals, several of which existed on the island of Hawai’i. The tradition of being cared for by a Japanese doctor began in 1885 when the Japanese government sent a

Japanese physician to care for the immigrants who came to the plantations. For the first generation issei, it was comforting to be treated by a doctor who spoke the same language and to stay in a facility where patients were given Japanese food and a daily bath in a furo. Relatives were encouraged to stay with the patient to help with basic needs, and a bed or futon was often provided. Usually the doctor was assisted by his wife whose responsibilities ranged from helping in the operating room to making the food for the patients. The doctor lived with his family at the hospital and was on call twenty-four hours a day.

The first Japanese hospital on Hawai’i Island was established by Dr. Koshiro Tofukuji in Honoka’a. For fourteen years he cared for patients of all nationalities from as far away as Kohala. He traveled on horseback and sometimes was gone for several days. For many of the Japanese interviewees, the doctor whom they best recalled from their youth was Dr. Haruto Okada who was born in 1904 in Pa’auhau. When Dr. Tofukuji left for Maui in 1937, Dr. Okada built another hospital which he operated until 1956. Dr. Okada, an obstetrician, delivered many of Waimea’s babies and cared for many of its children. His practice was an important alternative for those families who were not employed at Parker Ranch. He was remembered by many of the women as a tall, handsome man with a good heart. Like the other doctors, he made frequent house calls that took him away from Honoka’a.

In the early years, Waimea families were very self-sufficient in their handling of illnesses and childbirth. Children were delivered at home with the help of relatives or a midwives. Hawaiians tended to have help from older relatives, and the Japanese turned to mid-wives who lived in Waimea. For the first generation of Japanese women, there were no relatives to help, so the professional midwives performed an important role in the community. Mrs. Tadaki, the wife of the Japanese school teacher, was the first midwife that interviewees could recall. She was succeeded by Mrs. Wakayama. Bea Nobriga’s grandmother, Caroline Kanoelani Kaanaana, also had a busy life delivering babies. Bea, who lived with her grandmother, spent many nights in the car with her grandfather outside a home, wrapped in blankets to keep out the cold, while her grandmother attended the birth of another baby. During this period, doctors were called in only if the midwife encountered a complicated, dangerous pregnancy, or delayed labor.

Some of the interviewees have memories of the births of their brothers and sisters at home. Generally unaware of their mother’s pregnancy until her stomach swelled, they were told to stay in a separate room while the birth took place. Occasionally, when the baby came too soon, an older daughter might be told to help her mother during the birth. Elizabeth Kimura remembers when her aunt was late arriving and her mother calmly lay down on the kitchen floor and gave her instructions for boiling water, and finding scissors and clean towels. She was only ten years old at the time.

After giving birth, the mother would remain at home and stay close to bed for anywhere from a week to a month, depending on what kind of help she had from her family or the community. Some midwives came back for a week to bathe the baby and help the mother while others made only one or two visits. Mothers with many young children were often back on their feet before they were ready. That is possibly why when their daughters had babies in the hospital, they were not allowed to leave for at least two weeks. When Shigeko Yoshikami had her children at Dr. Okada’s hospital in Honoka’a, she wanted to leave after a week but was told by both the doctor and his nurse that mothers who left too early came back with complications.

Home remedies were used to help women recover from childbirth when they gave birth at home. For many of the Hawaiian families, drinking a liquid poured through ashes and strained through cheesecloth was supposed to help to clean out the leftover blood, as Mary Haena Bell Lindsey’s mother said. They were often even more restrictive than the doctors, having the woman remain inside the house for thirty-five days after childbirth and not coming in contact with any cooking utensils during that time.

Home remedies were also an important part of dealing with injuries and sickness, despite the increasing presence of doctors for Parker Ranch families, and for those families who did not work for Parker Ranch. For Hawaiian families, plants that grew in the Waimea vicinity were the source of traditional healing and parents used them more frequently than Western medicine. When Bea Nobriga was extremely ill with pneumonia, her grandmother used the technique of pulo’u, the placing of a covered head over a basin of very hot water infused with eucalyptus oil to open up the lungs—a technique which was used after the grandmother believed that modern medicine had failed to heal the young girl. Other commonly used remedies included guava shoots for stomach aches and to relieve tooth aches, laukahi leaves rubbed with salt to bring a boil to the surface, juice from the young popolo leaves for asthma, ‘uhaloa for sore throats and asthma, and mai ‘a for childhood diseases like thrush and other problems. For Hawaiians, the method of using these plants was an important part of the healing process, as Elizabeth Kimura related in her description of how her mother gave the medicine:

Before you take the herbs she gave a prayer. And she would tell us, Well, we’ll do it five times. Kualima means five. We’ll take five different times of the herbs. We’ll start from six o’clock in the morning or before the sun comes up. Another dosage at lunch, and another dosage before the sun sets. And then continue the next day…  . After you’re done with your medication they called it "pani—-pani means to close—that you have finished taking your herbs. And what she would do is boil an egg and the patient would have to eat that egg. That means that you are done taking your herbs. And she’ll never throw away any one of those herbs in the rubbish can or in the trash. She would wrap everything that she used in a bag. She would take it down to the river and the river would wash it down. Then she said, "You hana’ino" That means that you treat the herbs with respect. You don’t just treat it like