One of Teri's creations. It may look like a sushi boat but it is really a cake!

While Teri has enjoyed baking since she was little, her first “official” cake was for her sister Kathie’s ’82 wedding. With this project, she had a lot to learn about the structure of cake stacking but it was fun, and the cake was enjoyed by all. A few months later she was back in the kitchen making a cake for her cousin’s wedding.

A little "Pinot Kageyama" for your cake?

During the succeeding decade, Teri “practiced” new ideas, techniques and designs on her family, extended family and friends while on her way to becoming a cake artist. Says Teri, “I enjoy this particular ‘art medium’ because it is temporary.” A cake she recently made for her niece, for example, featured sugar stiletto sandals that were eaten right away.

This tiara on a pillow cake went to classmate Renee Ahuna Cabrinha. Talk about being made to feel like a princess on your birthday!

Teri pursues her hobby believing that the Lord placed a love and gave her the talent for baking and decorating because of the blessing it offers to the receiver. In 2009 she was inspired when she read of a Georgia woman who bakes and gives cakes to children whose families are in difficult circumstances; such as, being homeless, incarcerated, or living on a limited income. It was the first glimmer of what was to be, after much thought and prayer, a new ministry for her and her church.

It wasn’t until September 2010 that Teri felt the go ahead when the Lord spoke to her at a Women’s Service. Telling her “Beyond,” she knew that she was to go beyond baking, beyond her comfort zone. Seeking to take this step, she spoke with the Hawaii Directors of All Things Possible Ministries, and her life took a new direction.

Bake a Blessing: Sharing the Love of Jesus with Cakes

The Ministry meets weekly with youth at Kapolei’s Hale Hoomalu Youth Correctional Facility. Teri asked if she could provide birthday cakes to incarcerated youth for their birthdays. Her goal was to provide homemade birthday cakes to those who would otherwise not have a cake. She hoped to make a difference, one life at a time, by sharing the love of Jesus and to let them known that they are not forgotten. She’s been making their birthdays happier since October 2010.

Teri and husband Jim in Seattle to cheer on the Washington Huskies.

Today, the Bake a Blessing outreach ministry of her church, Hope Chapel West Oahu, involves twenty-five team members who financially support, bake, and drive baked blessings to those in need. From its initial focus, it has now grown to serve special programs youth and those in Waipahu’s Pupuole community, Olomana and Hale Kipa … with more to come!

While not in the kitchen, Teri enjoys time with her husband of 25 years, Jim, and son Anthony. She is a graduate of the University of Washington and a proud Huskies fan.

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A muddy promenade through the Punahou Carnival '76 grounds.

The official Honolulu Airport reading for the day was 2.68 inches of rain. Winds were 13 mph with gusts up to 28. Not exactly the kind of weather that calls out the crowds. The rain would continue throughout the weekend with 1.78 inches falling on Saturday and .91 on Sunday.

Like every class before it, ’77 had prepared long and hard for Carnival. Signs had been painted, carnival outfits sewn, and volunteers assembled to work. But hopes would be dashed as quickly as the rain fell. Riding the Ferris wheel in a driving rainstorm is not exactly one’s idea of fun.

To the parent chairman of the White Elephant’s Knick Knack booth, the rain was devastating. She described the impact as follows:

E.K. Fernandez should be requested to repair the very leaky tent or replace it. While it is admitted this was an unusually hard rain, it must also be recognized that at this time of year we frequently have rains and the tent had many holes–large and small–making our job that much more difficult. We pulled, tugged, lifted, shifted and hauled until we were thoroughly exhausted prior to carnival. And we still had much loss of merchandise due to water damage. In addition to the leaky tent we had much damage from water underfoot flowing though from mauka to makai direction. It is my suggestion that some sort of a dam be constructed at about the Diamond Head corner of the fruit booth in order to keep the water from flowing through in such large quantities. … This year drapes were a poor selling item because of … being quite wet.

(Editor’s Note: Ann Botticelli, Duncan McNichol and Valerie Van Brocklin were student chairs of this booth.)

Given the weather challenges, an unprecedented decision was made. Carnival would be cancelled for Friday. It would reopen for the full run on Saturday; an unprecedented Sunday run would be made in four two-hour shifts.

Umbrellas were the order of the day.

One can only imagine the impact of this last minute change. As described by the student chair of the hot dog and cold drink booth (a.k.a. “Young Frankenfurthers”):

Well–we Juniors had the unprecedented good (joke) luck of having our Carnival rained out. It was post-phoned until Saturday and Sunday. So, on Friday morning we watched the rain…and had several re-organizational meetings. Friday’s shifts would now be Sunday’s shifts (and only 2 hours long). Saturday would go on as usual. In case you’re interested, we had to call our Friday workers to see if they could work on Sunday, and check with the SBWC [Student Booth Work Committee] to make sure all was well.

So the call to reschedule went out: quite a feat in the days of land lines. Amazingly, despite the change of day and the conflict of the Hawaiian Open, volunteers showed up in droves. My mother, who chaired Diamond Head malasadas (my brother, Richard, was a ’77 graduate) that year told me that not one person of the dozens and dozens assigned to her booth declined her request to reschedule. Overall, no shows were few and largely relegated to the sick and those called off island.

So, as the saying goes, the show went on despite muddy thoroughfares, gusty winds, and diminished crowds. The hot dog chairman offered this description of the adverse conditions:

On Saturday we preceded as we normally would have on Friday. We got the large canec sign, and some maintenance men nailed it to the booth. (Unfortunately it was blown back on to the roof–it was very windy–so on Sunday we just put it on the ground in front of the booth.)

Strange. With mud all around why would one wear white shoes and slacks to the Carnival? Stranger still ... why are they still so white?

Sales were affected. After all, as noted by the student chair of the shave ice booth [a.k.a. "Alexander Grocery (The Chinx Store)], “Who wants to buy shave ice in a rainstorm?”

The skills division was especially impacted. Ten E.K. Fernandez games had been added to the Carnival that year. Between the added competition and the weather, the division chairman reported that sales were down:

Saturday our business was brisk, but Sunday morning it was very slow. With four hours less business, four games less than in ’75 … the Skills division grossed $8,998.11 compared to $16,761.25 the previous year, which was down $2,000 in gross from 1974. We sold some of our left over prizes; however, this was not income but our overhead.

Despite the challenges, Carnival ’76 was notable for the number of firsts that it accumulated:

• First in the 29 years to have Friday’s opening day cancelled. (The Carnival debuted in 1932 and was cancelled during WWII.)
• First to reach a gross of $120,000 on opening day (Saturday, February 7).
• First to schedule a Carnival on Sunday (10 a.m.-6 p.m., February 8).
• First to run an abbreviated 20-hour event.
• First to gross about $8,250 per hour.

Overall, the event grossed $192,000, a sum that included pre-Carnival events, and was noted in the Spring 1976 Punahou Bulletin to be “a mere bagatelle” below 1975′s record setting event. The school’s business manger, Paul Wysard, reported the net to be $83,750.

Despite the maudlin countenance of Judy Young '77, the '76 Carnival had plenty to celebrate.

The carnival was a demonstration of an indomitable Punahou spirit that the Punahou Bulletin wrote:

rose above the muck and the mire, torrents of rain, that took lightning and thunder in stride, accepted the elements and vagaries of capricious nature. Caught up in storm-enhanced camaraderie were students, parents, faculty, alumni–the thousands of workers on whose shoulders, and in whose hearts, Carnival success lies. Leadership, organization, and selfless service marked every aspect of the ’76 event.

To the class of ’77, good work. Or, as offered by the hot dog chair to future booth chairs: “Good Luck! (Like ours, maybe?)  ” … and may history never repeat itself.

Editor’s Note: In researching this post, I was amazed by the lack of information regarding this extraordinary circumstance. The following Friday’s Ka Punahou was an “April Fool’s” issue with spoof articles and no mention of the unique circumstances that week or thereafter. The Punahou Bulletin offered a two-page article that featured some of the pictures shown here but skirted the rescheduling issue. The ’76 Oahuan’s two-page Carnival spread showed only two “wet” pictures (individuals holding umbrellas) among the many standard Carnival photos of smiling students and Carnival attendees. The Honolulu Advertiser ignored the situation all together while the 2/7/1976 Honolulu Star-Bulletin carried a short and to the point four paragraph notice that was simply headlined: “Punahou Carnival Postponed”.  Sifting through the dozens and dozens of student and parent booth reports revealed but the four above mentions of the weather’s impact. It was almost as if everyone hoped that this was an extraordinary circumstance, one never to be repeated. Perhaps that is so. And, with any luck, Carnival ’76 will retain the unique place it now holds in Punahou’s history.

UH Football Logo

“It’s Chow Time” has become a popular local phrase ever since Norm Chow ’64 was named the UH Head Coach on December 22. With his BYU and Punahou ties perhaps it is no surprise that he chose to hire Keith Uperesa as an offensive assistant coach.

Chow has said that recruiting will be the main responsibility of his coaching assistants.

Keith comes to the job after having spent the past two seasons as the offensive line coach at Nicholls State. Previous coaching positions included UNLV, Utah, and Idaho State. While in these jobs he had the opportunity to coach NFL players including Joe Hawley (Atlanta Falcons), Chris Kemoetau (Pittsburgh Steelers), and Alex Smith (San Francisco 49ers).

Keith Uperesa sits second from the left in this Star-Advertiser photo. He was attending Norm Chow's (he is in the black shirt) first public appearance as Hawaii's head football coach at the Hukilau Restaurant on Jan. 11.

His coaching career began at Snow College where he amassed a 35-8 five year record as head coach.

As a player, Keith was an all-WAC tackle at BYU and played for both the Oakland Raiders and the Denver Broncos.

Keith holds both a bachelors and masters degree from BYU. He is married to the former Kaipo Souza ’72. They have three children.

Welcome back Keith and Kaipo!

The Star-Advertiser photo showing Suzanne in her Nature Conservancy office.

Suzanne’s work with The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii has received attention once again. The article describes her efforts to work with groups, private land owners, and agencies to conserve, protect, and restore land parcels. Just recently, for example, the Conservancy received a donation of a 7-acre parcel on the Big Island from Angus Mitchell, Paul Mitchell heir. They will be working with the nonprofit Hui Aloha Kiholo to restore the property.

Suzanne is the Executive Director of the organization. It has a staff of approximately 60, half located in field offices, and a yearly budget of $8 million.

The full text of the article can be read here. Unfortunately, it is subscriber protected and may be unavailable to many of you.

There are smiles aplenty as these Punahou74 classmates work aside the malasada batter bowl.

It’s a big job. As cited in the Spring 2011 issue of the Punahou Bulletin, Punahou’s Director of Food Services Marcia Barrett ’74 Wright calculated that 2011 Carnivalgoers ate a record-breaking number of malasadas: nearly 172,000. This topped 2010′s record by 20,000! Talk about dough on your hands.

(For the record, this was in addition to the 34,000 hamburgers, 6,600 chicken plates, 4,680 Hawaiian plates, 10,200 gyros, 5,000 taco salads, 12,500 ears of corn, and 2,100 gallons of Portuguese bean soup that were consumed at the 2011 Carnival.)

If the above number is true, then our class made 10,750 of the famous Carnival malasadas during our three hour shift. With numbers like that, you know that it will take many hands to make light work. Will you join us? Here’s when you’re needed:

• Friday, February 3, 2012

• 4:45 to 7:45 p.m. (Yes! We got the earlier shift!)

• Ewa Malasadas Booth

Punahou Carnival 2012 logo.

Ready to sign up and get your hands doughy? Let us know. Sign up online, comment on this blog, or email Nancy Dew Metcalf. Spouses, friends, and your adult children are welcome too. After all, we’re trying to fill the tent!

P.S. Still not convinced? Watch the video of our class working at its Carnival malasada shift last year. You’ll recognize many faces. Three pictures from this video, including the one shown above, were featured in the alumni section of the Punahou Bulletin. We’re famous!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 21,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 8 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

It’s amazing how engaging a garland bedecked hala tree can be …

The decorations are there for only about two weeks. According to my daughter, they are conceived, put up, and taken down by the students. You didn’t see this in the seventies!

Hope you enjoyed the show. Mele Kalikimaka!

Our mystery correspondent (R) poses with Jean Jacobi Longstreth (L).

I had a chance meeting with Annie Woodward Caufield (’75) in Juneau, Alaska which is where I live. Annie happened to tell me that Jean Jacobi Longstreth lived in Sitka, a mere 20 minute flight from Juneau.

I had been in Sitka several times in the twelve years that I have lived in Alaska but never knew that Jean lived there. I braved a chance at looking her up and calling her only to find that she is the same fabulous person. She and her husband, Dennis, welcomed me to their home for dinner!

Some of you may remember that Jean, Janette Herkes, and I were a close trio in 7th and 8th grades. While our paths may have diverged since, it is comforting to know that people never really change!

Jean is a speech therapy assistant in the Sitka schools. She also keeps extra busy with her business, Back Bay Botanicals, which makes fine herbal products featuring organic and wild-crafted herbs. Look at her website for some neat stuff!

I am a professor at the University of Alaska at the Juneau Center of the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. I happen to be putting together a killer whale skeleton as part of a summer position as a scientist in residence at Sitka Sound Science Center. While the skeleton articulation has run over the summer time allotment, the benefit is that I am able to keep seeing Jean about once a month.

Do you know or remember who I am?

I am Shannon Crowell Atkinson.

Editor’s Note:  Jean welcomes inquiries from (what I consider to be lucky) classmates traveling through southeast Alaska. Get in touch!

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Punahou School team football captain Al Harrington '54 celebrates victory with jubilant fans and teammates. Note the shave ice in his left hand.

The 1953 photo documents the celebration that occurred after Punahou defeated previously unbeaten St. Louis in “The Game”. Eking out a 22-20 come-from-behind victory, Punahou won its first ILH championship since 1924.

The game was memorable for its closeness. As recalled by Walter L. Curtis (Academy Teacher ’28-’44, Assistant to the President ’44-’45 and Academy Principal ’45-’69):

Another thing in the 1950′s I remember so very well was the football championship we acquired in November, 1953. It was the first one Punahou had achieved in 29 years and we all felt we had it in the bag. But as the game progressed, we found out we didn’t have it in the bag and at one point we found ourselves … something like 20-8 in St. Louis’ favor and we began to think, “Well, it’s not going to happen this year.” But then the boys came back and I think the final score was something like 21-20 or on that order anyway. We just barely squeaked by having made a couple of rather spectacular last-minute touchdowns.

But the party was just beginning. What would happen next was a singular celebration in Punahou’s history. The event was recalled by James P. Iams (Teacher ’46-’47, Director of Activities ’46-’57, Dean ’57-’75, Acting Principal ’62-’63, ’72-’73, Director of Career Exploration Program ’77-’78) as follows:

Finally in 1953 with John Godfrey as head football coach and Alvin Taa Harrington ’54 as our team captain we finally won a championship. … This was a great event and everyone in town was very happy for those haoles again. … we wanted to have something. So E.K. (Fernandez 1899-00) and I–only E.K. and I knew about it–arranged to have a great big Chinese New Years or Fourth of July. … So finally the game was over and everybody reassembled back on the campus and suddenly off goes the fireworks display. That was a great moment,  a big thrill, and the policemen came to raise Cain about it. But two or three of our coaches were police captains, like Eddie Hitchcock ’33 and Curtis Iaukea ’32. They took care of the police part of it and we had our celebration and that was the first football championship that we had to enjoy.

Will there be reason to celebrate this Friday, November 25, when Punahou plays Kahuku for the state football championship? Come to Aloha Stadium for the 7 p.m. game and find out for yourself. Buff up!

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