Gaylord G. Tom, honorary consul of the Netherlands, center, was inaugurated as dean of the Consular Corps of Hawaii at the corps' annual Inaugural Ball Saturday at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Members of the corps and honorary consuls serve one-year terms as senior officer. Tom succeeds David Binns, consul general of Australia. Chris Kogami, left, Jessica Dixon, Tony Benauente, Pat Hansen, Ruth Rittmeister, Val Wind and Wilson Ho were among the friends who attended the gala event and congratulated Tom.

 
J. Hans Strasser, right, consul general of the Republic of Austria, chatted with Henry Akina, artistic director of Hawaii Opera Theatre, during the cocktail hour. Strasser and other corps members meet for a social activity monthly. One of last year's activities was a night at the opera.

 
Jim Nabors, center, shared some entertaining stories with Candes Meijide Gentry, left, Ronald and Deanna Levy, Wendalee Keating, Anna Meng and Nora Meijide-Gentry before the formal program began outside the Monarch Room with the posting of colors and the playing of the anthems of the United States, Hawaii, the Netherlands and Australia. Ronald Levy's medals include one presented by the president of Russia. Nabors' alter ego, Gomer Pyle, was recently promoted to lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps.

 
Worldster Lee, left, and his wife, Honorary French Consul Patricia Lee, greeted Stella Moon and her husband, Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon. The chief justice presided over the installation of the corps' officers and led the room later in a toast to the members of America's armed forces "for their sacrifices to preserving our way of life."

 
Adm. Timothy Keating, second from left, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, bid goodnight to Honorary Chilean Consul Gladys Vernoy, center, and Honorary Swiss Consul Niklaus R. Schweizer, fourth from left, the corps' historian (the Consular Corps of Honolulu traces its history to 1824). Ever-fashionable Nobuhide and Tiana Torii attended the ball as guests of Chile.