Philanthropist Muriel Flanders takes part in the dedication
of the mini park at Diamond Head Road.
But until five years ago, Diamond Head Road that runs along the oceanfront face of the headland was bordered with a tangle of scrub haole koa, weeds and rubbish. Today, all of that is gone. Instead, healthy stands of naupaka and parking areas marked with short lengths of wooden utility poles have added immeasurably to the beauty of the landmark.
The city pays the water bill and the state picks up the rubbish, but the cost of the plants and their maintenance is borne by private donors, often solicited by the parent organization, Friends For Diamond Head.
The most generous of these donors, Muriel Flanders, has endowed the project with a sum large enough to ensure its permanent maintenance.
"Now, don't mention how much," said Flanders. "That would be crass."
We'll just say that you could buy a small condominium with what she gave. To recognize her gift and support of the planting, a rest area for runners and walkers has been landscaped and named for 87-year-old philanthropist. The Muriel Flanders rest area is located on the mauka side of Diamond Head Road, .03 of a mile Waikiki of Triangle Park where Kahala Avenue begins.
It will be shaded by several rainbow shower trees and one Queen's shower tree with white and pale yellow blossoms. There are three benches where runners can rest and a water fountain with wheelchair access. The city gave the benches, and Sheila Watumull donated the fountain and arranged for the transportation of the huge rock to which the dedication plaque is attached.
"It came from Hawaii Kai, and the men who moved it called the rock 'pakiki,' which means stubborn. It took them two hours to drill the holes for the screws - it should take about 15 minutes," Watumull said. The men found it propitious that when they dropped the rock from the back of their truck, it fell exactly into place with its smooth face toward Diamond Head Road. It was not moved from where it fell.
Funds donated by Flanders also went into roadside plantings.
Flanders was delighted with the rock, and gave it a big hug. One of her daughters, Mary Philpotts McGrath, said that a veneration for rocks runs in the family. Her great-grandfather, Ewa pioneer James Campbell, had a large stone placed at the site of his first artesian well on what is now Fort Weaver Road. Campbell's discovery of water on the Ewa plain has made all of the development there possible.
"When we were small kids and we drove by, we'd all yell There's Grandpa's rock," McGrath added.
The little park was dedicated Sunday morning with a brief ceremony attended by Mayor Jeremy Harris, members of his beautification advisory committee, Muriel Flanders' husband Walter Flanders and several members of the Flanders family, and Kelvin and Chieko Shimokawa.
If not for Kelvin Shimokawa's labor and persistence in establishing the planting, there would be nothing for Flanders' endowment to maintain.
Shimokawa, a retired marketing executive with Qantas Airlines, has devoted countless hours to the actual planting of the roadside from Kapiolani Park to the lookout. He and a contingent of Boy Scouts planted the trees, which came from the city's nursery, at the park. Shrubs and grass will come from funds donated by the Outdoor Circle and the Garden Club of Honolulu. They are due to be installed this month.
Another of the participants was partly responsible for the fact that there is room for a park on Diamond Head. In 1960, Alice Woolaway and several other women founded the Save Diamond Head committee to prevent the building of high rise hotels and apartments on the landmark. With the support of the Outdoor Circle, they prevailed.
"This park for Muriel is really the culmination of everything we worked for back then," Woolaway said. "When you get enough people working together, you can accomplish a whole lot."
The mayor went on to an Arbor Day celebration, the Flanders family left for a luncheon, and the others gathered up their coolers and leftover cookies to take home.
The first jogger arrived to have a drink at the new water fountain and to study the plaque on the rock.
"Say, who's Muriel Flanders? Has she got anything to do with that plaque across the road for Amelia Earhart?" he asked.
No, not really, but the two women would have understood each other. You don't make a mark in life by sitting back and letting the world go by. You take part and you give.
A lei-draped rock plaque honors Muriel Flanders.
