Kauai to celebrate retired teacher's 100th birthday
LIHUE » She plays golf, bridge and has a canary named Elvis, and her grandfather was the last governor of Kauai under Queen Liliuokalani.
Retired elementary school teacher Anna Sloggett will turn 100 this month with an old-fashioned poi luncheon and a golf tournament to benefit a scholarship program started in her honor.
Sloggett, who was born on Kauai in 1906, graduated from Kauai High School and Mills College in California. She went on to teach at Punahou and Kawananakoa Schools before returning to teach elementary school students in Lihue and Kapaa.
"I love kids," she said in a press release. "My first teaching job was at Lihue School for a salary of $105 a month."
She taught unconventionally, giving lunch and dinner to students for extra work, and running the bases with one student who had a fear of softball.
"She was warm and adventurous, and showed a personal interest in each one of us," said Sloggett's former student Dr. Kathy Hiyane-Brown, president of Normandale Community College. "She somehow created excitement around our spelling tests every Friday."
On Sept. 17 she will be honored by family, friends and former students on her 100th birthday with an old-fashioned poi luncheon. With entertainment provided by former students, the luncheon will be held at Gaylord's at Kilohana, a historic plantation estate, starting at 11 am. Tickets are $50.
Also in honor of Sloggett, a golf tournament will be held at the Wailua Golf Course at 7 a.m. Sept. 9.
The funds raised from both events will go to the University of Hawaii Foundation to establish the Anna S. Sloggett Endowed Scholarship fund at Kauai Community College to support Kauai students pursuing elementary education.