BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STARBULLETIN.COM The Wong family adults, from left, are Gigi Dang Johnson, Marjorie Wong Kum, Annie Mae Wong Ah Choy, Kyle Ah Choy and Charlene Wong Lum. All attended Maryknoll School, as do the Wong keiki, from left, Casey Johnson, Zackary Dang, Erin Ah Choy and Christian Ah Choy. Insets are high school photos of, from left, Marjorie (class of '51), Annie Mae ('50) and Charlene ('60).

Maryknoll creates tradition
for the extended Wong clan

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By Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.com

Appropriately, for a school run by sisters, the Maryknoll School experience is a family affair. Generations run through the school's alumni list like veins of precious metal.

Just take the family pictured here. At any moment in the 1950s, the school was educating the five Wong sisters -- Marjorie, Annie Mae, Charlene, Patricia and Barbara -- and nearly two dozen of their sons, daughters and grandkids attended the small school nestled near the giant Punahou campus. Two Wong sisters teach at the school, which this week begins to commemorate its 75th year in the islands.

"I'm vintage!" laughed Charlene Wong Lum, 1960 graduate and now a second-grade teacher. "I've been teaching here 32 years."

Ask them what they like about the school, and the family is pretty united: the family values, rooted in religion.

"I built lasting friendships here, and the sisters were role models," Lum said.

Annie Mae Wong Ah Choy, 1950, was practical. "It's close, right in our parish. Bingham Tract is Chinese Hollywood! We also knew of the school's reputation from Maryknoll schools in Hong Kong and China."

The small size -- the grade school has about 800 students -- was a factor for Marjorie Wong Kum, 1951. "It influenced you to be part of it, like a family. You knew everyone, from each of the different grades."

Kyle Ah Choy, class of 1982 and Annie Mae's son, liked Maryknoll because it was coed, unusual for a Catholic school.

"And even though I was small, I could play on the basketball team," he said.

"And the discipline was good," said Gigi Dang Johnson, Marjorie's daughter. "We had uniforms. Boys then wore long-sleeve white dress shirts, and ties."

"And no nail polish on the girls!" exclaimed Marjorie, looking pointedly at one of the grandkids.

FOUNDERS' DAY STARTS FESTIVITY

Today is "Founders' Day" at Maryknoll School, kicking off the school's 75th anniversary celebration.

Hearts will be strung around campus, upon each of which students offer words based on the school's motto, "Noblesse Oblige," and the question, "How could I give back to my school and/or community?"

Also occurring this week are celebrations of Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Valentine's Day and a traditional Maryknoll Sisters' ice cream social. More than 800 student-decorated Valentine's Day placemats will be delivered to Kapiolani Women's and Children's Medical Center, Hale Nani, Shriner's and other health centers. Letters and cards will also be sent to overseas deployed military personnel.

On March 17, the Monsignor Charles A. Kekumano Dinner will be held to raise funds for endowment.

The school is partnering with other local organizations celebrating their 75th anniversaries, such as the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Star Markets and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

For information, call 952-7330 or visit the Maryknoll Web site at www.maryknollschool.org.

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