Hawaii
High-mileage
wheelchairTHIS is like "La Ronde," only with a wheelchair. Some 10 years ago, former Honolulu magazine editor David Eyre got a wheelchair from Kaiser for his wife, Cynthia, who was was battling Parkinson's Disease. When she finally lost her battle, Eyre called Kaiser and asked if they'd like the chair back. They don't take return chairs, he was told, and the inherently cynical editor figured what a sweet deal for the wheelchair manufacturers. Then author Ed Sheehan had need of a wheelchair in his declining time, and Eyre loaned it to him. After Ed died, Eyre passed the chair along to the brother-in-law of the Star-Bulletin's Bud Smyser, who returned it when he left town. It was then passed along to Greg Hackler, and soon after he died it went to Kingie Kimball of the Halekulani Kimballs. (Follow this closely, now.) When Kimball died, Eyre presented the chair to Babe Woollett, who was then in his 90s and unable to move about as well as he did all his life. After Babe died, and Ed Sheehan's widow, Sally, needed a chair, it returned to her and she's now using it. Sally (who says she hasn't quite lost all her eyesight as I'd mentioned earlier) is now about to get a larger wheelchair and is returning Eyre's to him. Eyre notes that thus far, the Sheehans have been the only husband and wife duo to use the chair, but he's getting up there in years and plans to keep it handy, just in case. And, he notes dourly, those wheelchair manufacturers lost a lot of business thanks to him ...
Colorado saga hits home
IF you're anything like me, you're sick to death of hearing about Littleton, Colo. But the story of the two students and their shooting and killing spree there isn't likely to go away soon. Locally, more than 700 delegates attending the Hawaiian Island Ministries conference sent cards of condolence to families and victims of the Columbine High massacre. Conference speaker Tom Phillips, who's a Colorado resident and president of International Students Inc., was personally touched by the tragedy, as one of his ISI volunteer families lost their son in the massacre ...IN the midst of so much bad news, Kimo Wilder McVay was buying yesterday at Columbia Inn. He'd just come from visiting his doctor who's given him a clean bill of health, telling him his cancer is gone. And with the client he manages, John Hirokawa, doing so well with his big magic show in Waikiki, Kimo is smiling like you haven't seen him since the days when he owned Duke Kahanamoku's and employed Don Ho ...
NICE to see some national recognition for Roxanne Scocos. The former owner of RoxSand's Patisserie in Ward Warehouse, she was named best chef in the Southwest by the James Beard Foundation for her restaurant, RoxSand, in Phoenix. She was formerly partnered with Indigo chef/owner Glenn Chu both professionally and personally ...
Bridge of size
THE newest and grandest casino/ resort in Las Vegas -- at least this week -- is the Venetian. It cost $1.5 billion to build and contains 3,036 rooms. Local architect Don Goo says it's all right for localites visiting there to feel a bit of hometown pride as they oggle replicas of the Doge's Palace, the Rialto Bridge, St. Mark's Square and the Grand Canal, complete with water and gondolas. Goo's firm, Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (in collaboration with TSA of Nevada) were the architects of the latest Strip extravaganza ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.