By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

Volunteering is not the word 83-year-old Pauoa resident Hazel Hee uses to describe what she does.

"I prefer to think I'm helping," she said.

Her commitment today includes time devoted to the YWCA of O'ahu, St. Andrew's Cathedral, University of Hawai'i-Manoa Women's Campus Club Thrift Shop, and the Mun Lun Chinese School Alumni Association. Hee has also adjusted her schedule to help her daughter, Lola Hee Haas, with clerical work three days a week at Central Marine Center.

"I'm only 83 and I'm never not busy," Hee said, proud of her independent lifestyle and ability to still drive. "You might say I lead a busy, happy life. I like being with people and I think it all started at the YWCA.

It was at the YWCA's Laniakea building at 1040 Richards St., which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this week, that Hee began her career as a volunteer in 1939. She met her late husband, architect Arthur Hee, there in 1944 and was married at Laniakea three years later.

"When I got my feet wet at YWCA, it stayed wet," Hee said.

Hazel Hee, longtime Laniakea YWCA volunteer, among the building's trademark columns and archways. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I first met Hazel in 1978 when I was working with Leader Luncheon (the annual program which recognizes Hawai'i women in business)," said Diane Jardin, a sales and marketing representative who is one of the senior YWCA employees with 25 years. "She used to compile the information for the mailouts.

"I remember Hazel used to donate tables at the luncheon (for YWCA staff)," Jardin said. "If she hadn't bought the tables, staff would not have gone to those luncheons. Through the years, she's always been there to help."

Hee shows up at the YWCA these days whenever her services are needed. Otherwise, her schedule revolves around helping at morning services twice a week and on Sundays at St. Andrew's Cathedral, working at the Women's Campus Club Thrift Shop one day every other week, and helping to put together the 91st anniversary yearbook as secretary of the Mun Lun School Alumni Association.

"Helping at the YWCA gave me an awareness of life outside of church, school and family," Hee said. "I grew because it enriched my life. I think I have the ability to bring people together, get things moving."

She enjoys doing secretarial or clerical work as a volunteer. "I like doing that kind of thing because I'm not board material," Hee said.

Although she lived only a short distance away from Laniakea, which was designed by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan, the former Hazel Lum never had cause to visit the YWCA until she was 20 years old. Her life revolved around her home on Likelike Street, which was between the Hawai'i State Library's main branch and 'Iolani Palace.

"I was very provincial," Hee said. "For the 12 years between 1925 and 1937, my life was going to school at St. Andrew's Priory and Mun Lun (in Chinatown where the Chinese Cultural Plaza is now) and back home.

"The YWCA didn't mean anything to me until I went there looking for a job in 1939," she said.

Hee, the valedictorian of the Priory's Class of 1937, attended Cannon's Business College (now known as Heald College) for two years to become a secretary. She applied at the YWCA and was directed to the Personal and Vocational Counseling office.

"The lady there was a lovely person who told me they weren't hiring but that I could volunteer and learn," Hee said.

She agreed to become a volunteer and was assigned to the "International Institute" section. "They had Chinese, Filipino, Japanese and Korean women, mostly moms, who taught interesting programs, like cooking," said Hee, who did clerical work for the section.

Two months later, she was hired fulltime by the YWCA and worked for two years in the education office. Hee left the YWCA for a clerical position at Juvenile Court and later a secretarial job at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, where she worked from 1947 until her retirement in 1977.

Hee had been devoting time to the YWCA's "Young Adults" and "Business Girls League" programs before taking a brief hiatus in the early 1950s. Working full time and raising four children left her with little time to do volunteer work.

"I came back and started helping again, mostly with paperwork, in 1956," Hee said.

Before moving to its Richards Street building in 1927, the YWCA of O'ahu was in a small cottage on the property of B.F. Dillingham's home on Punahou Street. The YWCA serves more than 52,000 women and their families today at its three O'ahu sites — Laniakea, Kokokahi and Fernhurst.

To commemorate the June 18, 1927 opening of Laniakea, the YWCA tomorrow will be reopening its health and fitness center, which was refurbished for $1 million. A blessing ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m.

Other anniversary activities include an open house Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., health and fitness demonstrations, and guided tours. There will be free fitness assessments (8 a.m.-4 p.m.), aerobics, cardio kickboxing and fitball classes (9-11 a.m.) and swim coaching (2-4 p.m.) on Saturday and Sunday.