Hawaii
IT was a peaceful Big Island weekend. I'd been asked to speak at the dedication of the Oncology Treatment Room of the North Hawaii Community Hospital to my old friend Michael R. Sweetow. His widow, Beth, made a substantial contribution to the hospital but was unable to be here from her mainland home. Hospital officials were so happy with a story about the facility and the Oncology Room dedication that they plan to print a supply of them and make them available to all cancer patients using the room ... NHCH President emeritus Dr. Earl Bakken would have been on hand, I was told, except he was in Minneapolis on business with his company, Medtronic. Among those who did attend were Sweetow's ex-wife, Dr. Cherilyn Garvey, who practices in Waimea, old Sweetow pal Dick Boyd, now living in Hawi, Waimea businesswoman Patti Cook and Honolulu insurance exec Puna Chillingworth ... Big Isle oncology room
dedicated to SweetowAFTER the ceremony we went to the Kahilu Theater, built by another benefactor, Richard Smart, and saw a circus performed totally by kids as part of a summer fun program. Chery Garvey's daughter, Malia, was in the circus and did some aerial work, pretty scary for a 9-year-old. Ex-Honolulan Loraine Dove, whose late husband was Rolls Royce salesman Harry Dove, lived in Waimea for many years but is moving back to Honolulu to be near her grandkids ... Also at the circus was local actor and director Bill Ogilvie, there visiting Dove and old pal Jo Diatolevi, who now heads arts programs in the Waimea area ...
Cuisine du Nord
WAIMEA has long had some fine eateries such as Merriman's and Edelweiss. Now Daniel Thibaut, no relation to late Maui restaurateur Rob Thibaut, has opened Thibaut's in the old Chock Inn location. Since he's newly opened for lunch, we took advantage of that and had a delicious repast. I noticed a familiar form passing through the dining room about the same time as she recognized me. It was Thibaut's chef Melanie Smith, who used to work for Ed Green and John Ferguson when they ran Jameson's next door to Murphy's on Merchant Street, where a dry cleaner is now located. Mel's now married to Parker Ranch exec Riley Smith and settled into the quieter lifestyle of Waimea. Also in Thibaut's was Peter Vitousek, named this week by Time magazine as one of 18 at the top of the game in science and medicine ...NOT only has Patti Cook run Cook's Discoveries in Waimea since the death of her husband, well-known journalist and business leader Bill Cook, she's now turned the downstairs part of her secluded, wooded home into a bed-and-breakfast spot. You can't see another man-made structure from there, and she has so many couches and chairs that I kidded her I've seen movie theaters with less seating that she has ...
On whose time?
ALOHA airlines is billed as having the best on-time record of any airline in the country. At 50 percent? I arrived in Waimea right on time but left precisely one hour and 40 minutes late because my original flight was oversold, and despite having an executive club card, couldn't get on board, though Sen. Dan Akaka did ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com