Posted on: Saturday, June 23, 2001
Carol Rogers used art to revive Big Isle town
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HOLUALOA, Hawai'i — Carol Rogers, credited with breathing new life into a Kona "ghost town" 36 years ago, died Thursday after a brief illness. She was 90.
Rogers, a lifelong art educator, came to the Big Island with her husband, Don, in 1965. They founded the nonprofit Kona Art Center in a closed coffee mill.
They painted the former mill pink and acquired an old Hilo sampan to ferry students home after classes. Their painting and ceramics classes drew students from ages 6 to 88.
She and her husband, who died in 1994, coached several contemporary Kona artists, including international figure Hiroki Morinoue. The painter produced a 90-foot mural at the Hawai'i Convention Center on O'ahu and his works have been featured throughout the United States and Japan.
From his Holualoa home, Morinoue yesterday said the Rogers trained him in painting and drawing while he was working as a butcher by day and a bellhop at night.
Morinoue said he "had all the basics from Don" when he entered the California School of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, Calif. Morinoue returned in 1972 and soon was presenting one-artist shows around the state. He later served a series of residencies from Volcano to Japan.
Carol Rogers was born in Richmond, Calif., and had worked as a Bay Area schoolteacher until she and her husband elected to take early retirement to live in Mexico or Hawai'i. Kona won their hearts.
Before the Rogers came to Holualoa, a new road had diverted traffic, robbing the town of its vitality. Their Kona Art Center helped revive the community, and today five galleries, restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts have taken root in the picturesque village on the slopes of Hualalai Volcano.
"They lived every day for art," Morinoue said. "They had a vision and they revived our town."
"People like them come far between," added Kona community leader Norman Sakata. "They just fell in love with Kona."
In a 1976 Advertiser interview, Carol Rogers described the arts center as "a happy place." It still is, added Sakata, who said "the best thing that happened to us since statehood was when Uncle Bob and Auntie Carol decided to make Kona their home."
That comment came last year when he introduced her as one of the recipients of the biennial Richard Smart Achievement Awards for exemplary community service.
Rogers died at Kona Community Hospital, where she had been been a patient since May 25.
At Rogers' request, there will be no funeral. Ashes are to be scattered some time later, according to Sakata.
Rogers is survived by a sister, Florence Cole, and a godson, Lawrence Rehag, both of California.
