TheBuzz
TheBuzz
In this case,
age does matterHere's the scenario: You're on vacation when the office tracks you down. What are the odds that it's good news?
It was unbelievable news for 77-year-old James S. L. Yee, an assistant vice president in the Audit Division at First Hawaiian Bank.
Yee, on vacation in California, was told he had won a national honor and was not to come home until he received it. (Not the bank's exact words.)
"I just happened to dovetail it to my vacation," Yee said.
The national nonprofit organization Experience Works selected Yee as the 2002 Hawaii winner of the "Outstanding Older Worker" award, which was presented in Washington, D.C.
FIRST HAWAIIAN BANK
First Hawaiian Bank's 77-year-old assistant vice president, Jimmy Yee, says his job keep him young.
As a 16-year-old immigrant from Shanghai, Yee started his career with FHB forerunner Bishop National Bank of Hawaii. He began in the mailroom four months before the Pearl Harbor attack, 61 years ago.
The Experience Works Prime Time Awards program seeks out a person aged 65 or older, working 20 hours a week or more from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Candidates are evaluated based on character and contributions, according to the Web site at www.ExperienceWorks.org.
Yee was impressed with the winner of the "America's Oldest Worker" award, presented to 102 year old Dr. Ray Crist, visiting professor of environmental science at Messiah College in Carlisle, Penn. "He's still working full-time," Yee said, "doing research work on purifying drinking water.
"I have 61 years in the same job," Yee said, "He's 102 and still going. I'm only 77 so I still have a long way to go to catch him up."
The festivities included a dinner cruise on the Potomac River, "and boy the energy that was on that boat," Yee said. "One guy got up on stage, and at 90 years old he played the trumpet. He's an entertainer by trade and was real good, too."
Trumpet-playing awardee Leonard "Rosie" Ross of Arizona is 96. A ballroom dancer, Yee took a turn on the dance floor and said shyly, "I think I added a little bit of energy too."
In addition to dancing, Yee also plays golf "a little, not that much," he said, "but for an old fella like me that's enough."
While some struggle to find the energy to get out of bed for yet another work day, Yee told TheBuzz what keeps him going.
"I find I'm learning new things as I go along," he said. "I have an interesting job.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com
