Hawaii
Adrienne & Ray Sweeney named their baby Erin Marie, and the Rev. Abraham Akaka contributed a Hawaiian name for good measure: Momiakamoanamalu, which means "pearl of the gentle seas." (Nov. 17, 1970) ... When Joe Torre of the St. Louis Cardinals was named the National League's Most Valuable Player, we were reminded of a favorite story of ours : When Torre was catching for Milwaukee and allowed a run to score by jumping out of the way of the sliding base runner, a bystander shouted, "Look at that chicken catcher Torre." (Nov. 11, 1971) ... Each night at his Garden Bar show at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Iva Kinimaka pulls a woman out of the audience to come onstage and do a Tahitian dance with him. Well, the other night, Iva almost had a stroke when he learned after the show that the woman he selected that night -- and who did a credible Tahitian, too -- was Marilyn Hilton, wife of Barron Hilton, head of the entire chain of hotels. (Nov. 15, 1973) ... 1982: Miss Hawaii prediction
comes true 5 years earlyBOTH John Henry Felix and Jean Ariyoshi plan to rise early Saturday morning, and she's going to light his fire. Let us hasten to explain: The governor's wife will be helping to kick off the Red Cross's 20-mile walk at 6:30 a.m. Saturday by lighting an Olympic torch which Felix, president of the Hawaii chapter of the organization, will carry as he RUNS the 20-mile distance. Felix has been active with the Red Cross since he was 13 years old, which, despite his youthful looks, was some time ago. Still, he looks to be in excellent shape. (Nov. 16, 1976) ...
QUITE an honor for local newscaster Les Keiter. Promoter Don King has signed him to be the blow-by-blow commentator for the closed-circuit TV cast of the Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran rematch Nov. 25 at the Superdome in New Orleans. His color man will be a fellow named Larry Holmes. Keiter has called some 10 heavyweight title fights, the last being George Frazier and Ron Stander four years ago. Said King, "I felt it was time to bring the Old Pro back." (Nov. 17, 1980) ... Back in August, I attended a luncheon for Miss Hawaii Gale Thomas and sat next to the emcee, Marci Mattich. At the time I wrote, "When I arrived for the luncheon, a tall beauty met me at the door, and I thought for a moment she might be Miss Hawaii. Nope. It was the, uh, 14-year-old daughter of Marci. Miss Hawaii in 1987, perhaps?" Well, Erika couldn't wait to become a Miss Hawaii titleholder -- Sunday she was crowned Miss Hawaii Teen USA. Emcee Mufi Hannemann, the ex-Harvard basketball star who crowned Erika, said of the 5-11 beauty, "She was the only one I didn't have to bend over for." (Nov. 17, 1982) ...
When Walter Dods was named president of First Hawaiian Bank, he celebrated with friends on Dom Perignon and Chossagne Montrachet at Canlis. If that weren't enough of a celebration, Gaylord Pang sent over two bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild to the Dods table, and Cedric Chun added another bottle of he same. Then Bill Aull bought a bottle of Mumms Cordon rouge for the happy celebrants, prompting Pang to send a bottle of Lafite Rothschild to Aull. Meanwhile, the sommelier was all smiles, and you can bet everyone else was as well. (Nov. 14, 1984) ...
Things are not always as they seem. Susan Flowers, wife of Dr. Bob, a whopping eight months pregnant, walked through the newsroom yesterday and said, "Thanks Dave. It was wonderful." She was referring to an item I'd run at her request, but I got some strange looks from cynical reporters. (Nov. 11, 1987) ...
Strange birds: Politics, it has long been said, makes for strange bedfellows, and it's no exception in Hawaii. Here was Ramona Harris, in the midst of her husband's campaign for mayor, finding time to care for her sick and dying parakeet, Million. She brought the ailing bird to Dr. Douglas Chang of Aloha Animal Hospital Associates, who ran tests and announced the animal had diabetes. Unfortunately, Million didn't survive, but the fact Jeremy Harris was re-elected must have eased Ramona's loss somewhat. (Nov. 14, 1996) ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com