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Two words can best describe Joseph I. Arakaki, retired nighttime editor for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retired Star-Bulletin
editor Arakaki
‘lived for golf’By Tim Ruel
Star-BulletinLoyalty. Golf.
Arakaki, 74, who worked for the paper from 1953 to 1988, died Aug. 25 at Castle Medical Center.
"He never missed a day of work, even when he was sick," said reporter Helen Altonn, who was working at the Bulletin when Arakaki joined the Honolulu desk from the Kauai bureau, in 1964.
"I guess I would just have to say that he was a fine newsman," Altonn said.
But outside the newsroom, Arakaki's life was golf, she said.
Arakaki himself recently speculated that in the past 50 years, he had played more than 6,000 rounds of golf -- about once every three days.
"I think he lived for golf," Altonn said.
Arakaki, born in Kekaha, Kauai, on Dec. 19, 1925, served for three years in the Military Intelligence Service at the end of World War II, including a year of interrogating Japanese nationals being repatriated to Japan from Manchuria, China.
He later graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1951 with a major in chemistry and a minor in math.
Having no luck finding work as a chemist, Arakaki joined the Bulletin as a part-time correspondent for kicks, planning to stay for a year or two. He'd never written a story before.
He quickly proved to be an extremely productive writer. Less than year later, in 1954, Arakaki became the paper's first neighbor island bureau chief, based on Kauai, and ran the desk for the next decade.
Arakaki transferred to Honolulu as a nighttime general assignment reporter following a restructuring of Kauai's coverage. He became night editor in 1975.
"He was a feisty guy, a good guy," said Trini Peltier, who has worked at the paper for 45 years.
Altonn praised Arakaki's attention to detail in stories.
Precision also paid off on the golf course. At one point, he had a 5-stroke handicap, nearly the best an amateur golfer can have.
"I'm sure that he was golfing right up to the end," Altonn said.
Arakaki is survived by sister Marjorie Habu and brothers Larry Y., Charles T. and Carl T. Arakaki.
Services were private.
Raymond S. Arabia, 69, of Honolulu, retired from the Pearl Harbor liquor department, died Aug. 28 at home. He was born in the Philippines. He is survived by wife Rosalind T.; son Fidel "Fish"; daughters Loida and Arlene; brothers Felipe and Jose, sister Mercedes Abad and a granddaughter. Mass: 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa. Call from 9:30 a.m. Burial: Hawaiian Memorial Park. Casual attire.
Barbara M. "Bobbi" Daffron, 70, of Panama City, Fla., formerly of Grand Prairie, Texas, died Sept. 1. She was born in Honolulu and was a long-time Classified Sales Representative for the Hawaii Newspaper Agency. She is survived by daughters Marcie Farias and Susan Brewster; son Howard Farias Jr.; sister Velma Martin Angelly; brothers Herbert and Clarence Martin; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Services held in Florida and Texas
Henry "Hank" A. Festerling Jr., 61, of Wahiawa, administrator of of the Protective Services Division of the state Department of Public Safety, died Aug. 28 at home. He is survived by wife Nancy, son David, daughter Lani Festerling-Ho and four grandchildren. Memorial services: 6 p.m. Thursday at Borthwick Mortuary. Call from 5 p.m. No flowers. Casual attire.
Chancesten K. Torres, infant son of Chance Torres and Mandy Iwane, died Aug. 17 in San Diego Childrens Hospital. He was born in Honolulu. He is also survived by sister Amber Iwane, grandparents Kui and Pat Iwane and Cheryl and Ryan Choi and Abraham and Bernie Torres, great-grandparents Joseph and Margaret Poole, Earl and Margaret Ortiz and George and Catherine Kaimiola, and aunt Janice De Rego. Service: 11 a.m. today at Waianae Protestant Church. Call from 9 a.m. Cremation to follow. Casual attire.
Priscilla Udaundo, 85, of Lihue died Saturday in Wilcox Memorial Hospital. She was born in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte, the Philippines. She is survived by husband Calixto; sons Alejandro and Roberto; daughters Maria Caoili, Cristina Benas and Rosalina Valdez, 33 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. Service: 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Lihue. Call from 8 a.m. Burial: Lihue Public Cemetery. Casual attire.
You can also search the Hawaii State Library System's
Hawaii Newspaper Index online for older obituaries at:
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/education/hcc/library/hiindex.html
The index, which goes back several decades,
is available via Telnet software.
