Isle surgeon to be honored for Maryknoll contributions
Maryknoll School will honor Dr. Gabriel W.C. Ma with its 2006 Monsignor Charles Kekumano Award tomorrow at the annual fundraising banquet at Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Ma, 78, an orthopedic surgeon here for 40 years, is renowned as an inventor of techniques that are used worldwide, including innovative procedures to repair spinal injury and Achilles tendon rupture. He retired from surgery two years ago but still keeps weekday morning office hours to see patients and consult on medical evaluations.
"The rest of my time is for Maryknoll," said Ma, who is a major force behind the school's campaign to build a $12 million community center. The plans are drawn and the land is acquired, but "we still need a solid $4 million before we can build," he said.
Ma did not attend Maryknoll -- his two sons and three grandchildren did -- but he connects with the school motto, "To whom much is given, much is expected."
Ma said: "I've had a wonderful professional life. When you do fundraising, people will give money if they know you are for Maryknoll, not for the glorified personal stuff. Twisting peoples' arms is a challenge. This place doesn't have enough endowment funds."
"He just personifies the school motto," said Yvonne Morris, director of development. "He was given talent and believes it is natural to give it back. At Queen's Medical Center, he began holding dinners for the orderlies to honor the unsung heroes. Whenever priests or religious (people) have orthopedic problems, he doesn't worry if they have insurance. His life has been one of giving."
Students at the cramped high school campus are missing many of the amenities of other schools and that is part of Ma's pitch: "They don't have a place to eat, to talk story, play basketball." The new building will include meeting rooms, a fitness center and a gymnasium with 1,600 seats, space enough for all 1,400 students to assemble.
The gym is dear to Ma's heart: "I was a basketball hero in Hong Kong." He was on the Chinese basketball team for the 1948 Olympics and had a basketball scholarship to Adelphi College, where he earned an undergraduate degree. He captained a team while attending the University of Sydney Medical School.
Ma, who was born in Hong Kong, will endow a lecture room in the new building in the name of his parents Tsui Chiu and Yuet Hing Ma. He was baptized Catholic while attending a postgraduate orthopedic program at Harvard University.
Ma was on the Maryknoll board of directors for four years, on the search committee that selected current school president Michael Baker, and has been on the development committee for several years.
Also to be honored tomorrow will be a student who exemplifies the school motto, who will receive a Kekumano college scholarship.
