Ex-Dillingham VP Elverton Champion dead at 89
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
Elverton R. "Champ" Champion, a retired Dillingham Corporation vice president whose international construction career ranged from bricklaying to bridge building, died here Sunday at 89.
Advertiser library photo • 1972
"He traveled the planet, building the bridges and the landing strips and all kinds of things," said Champion's stepdaughter-in-law, Linda Buscher.
Champion's early projects included the Mayor Wright and Kalihi housing complexes.
Stepson Ward Buscher called Champion "a great man of tremendous accomplishments," citing in particular his round-the-clock work, at the ripe age of 31, to build a new underground command center for Admiral Chester Nimitz after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Heady stuff for a man who was born in the heart of the Canadian prairies in Alberta, Canada, on Sept. 30, 1911, and lived to change the face of places as distant as Honolulu, Maracaibo and Kuwait, rubbing elbows with royalty and national leaders, as well as laborers.
His civic contributions to Hawai'i were many, including his longtime leadership of the Hawaiian Humane Society (seven years) and the Hawaiian Kennel Club (34 years) where he often showed champion purebred cocker spaniels.
Educated at Huntington Park Union High School in California and holder of a bachelor's degree in architecture and structural engineering from Pacific Coast University, Champion came to Hawai'i in 1940 as an assistant construction superintendent on the Makalapa Housing project, then Pu'unene and Kahului air bases and the Naval Supply Center at Pearl Harbor.
One of his first Hawai'i addresses was the bachelor cabins at the Pacific Club, one of the many organizations in which he later served as president.
After three years with Raymond Concrete Pipe port projects in South America and the East Coast, Champion returned to Hawai'i in 1946 as general superintendent of Dillingham's Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Company.
He married the former Gladys Ivy Lambert in 1947, and, following her death in 1977, was the husband of the former Glenna Moore Buscher from 1980 until her death in 1994.
His early projects here included the Surfrider Hotel, Hawaiian Electric's Waiau and downtown power plants, Mayor Wright and Kalihi Housing, Johnston Island facilities, and the Standard Oil refinery.
He was the Dillingham man in Australia and Asia for years, and rebuilt the water system in Saigon during the Vietnam War.
Champion collapsed at his home at Arcadia Retirement Residence last week, and did not regain consciousness.
Although confined to a wheelchair in recent years, "Champ was one of the most cheerful people I have ever seen," said fellow Honolulu Rotary Club member Ray Engle, who remembered Champion as "a real gentleman who contributed significant amounts to the various Rotary funds."
He served as volunteer and often officer or director for Maunalani Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, Leahi Hospital, Boy Scouts, Salvation Army, National Crime Council, Friends of East-West Center, English Speaking Union, Navy League, Hawai'i Visitors Bureau, Arts Council, Friends of the Ballet, Advisory Board on Education, Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, and Tax Foundation of Hawai'i.
His many memberships included Masons, Chamber of Commerce, Engineering Association, Public Relations Society, Wai'alae Country Club, Kane'ohe Yacht club, and the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
Champion is survived by two sisters, Portia, of Oregon, and Vera, of California; and stepsons Harry of the Big Island and Ward of Honolulu.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
