Posted on: Monday, September 3, 2001

Island Voices
Lemke among the many from Civic Club

By Margaret M. Boyd
Member, Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu

With the passing of Herman G. P. Lemke, so too passes a part of the history of Honolulu and the Hawaii-an Civic Club of Honolulu, founded in 1917 by Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole, whose birthdate we celebrate as a state holiday on March 26.

The club roster was littered with the names of the founding fathers of the City and County of Honolulu, beginning in the early 1920s and 1930s. We were instrumental in helping to establish a great city and shaping its policies to what it is now, from territory to statehood.

The list is endless: Neal Blaisdell, one of Honolulu's greatest mayors, (a civic center bears his name); John Bellinger of Bishop National Bank, later to become First Hawaiian Bank; Hung Wo Ching, the founder of Aloha Airlines; Chinn Ho, who founded a financial empire.

Then there is Douglas and Evelyn Freeth; he, considered to be the dean of architects in the 1930s and 1940s who helped build Honolulu; she, a stubborn social worker, who founded the Rehabilitation Center of Hawai'i, now known as REHAB.

Add to that list: Flora Hayes, who persuaded the territorial legislature to purchase wasteland in 'Ewa and Kane'ohe to build future public schools; Monsignor Charles Kekumano, who was much loved and respected and guided the club; Richard Lyman of the Kamehameha Schools; and "Sis" Widemann, national Republican Chairwoman in the 1970s who formed the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.

Not to mention Jan and Ululani Jabulka — he, the editor of The Honolulu Advertiser, circa 1970, and she, whose lovely portrait graces the entry way to the Planetarium at the Bishop Museum.

There are still a few good ones among us. Bruss Keppeler, who with Herb Kane, helped to form the Polynesian Voyaging Society in the early 1970s, which gave birth to the voyaging canoe, the Hokule'a. Let us also remember Dante Carpenter, who as chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the 1982-83 Legislature, walked the "Good Samaritan" bill through hearings to establish the Hawai'i Food Bank. The bill would help Father Claude Duteil, an Episcopal priest at St. Andrew's Church, whose "peanut butter ministry" was feeding the homeless and the hungry. Forty-nine states and Canada followed our lead to establish food banks throughout North America.

They were all visionaries. People of honor, integrity, trust, commitment, selflessness, graciousness and kindness, who believe in doing good for our people. They understood power and used it wisely to build the greatest city in the Pacific.

We are all richer for their greatness.