T. David Woo’s highly textured memoir of his life as a Hawai‘i Island plantation doctor provides a fascinating look at the days when sugar cane was king.
Plantation Doctor: A Memoir of Hawai‘i is filled with anecdotes, rare photos and detailed maps of ethnic camps during Hawai‘i’s booming plantation era.
Woo was born on the Big Island just after the turn of the century. He left home at age 14 to attend school in China. After earning his medical degree in 1935, he returned to his island home to become a self-professed “cowboy doctor” at Parker Ranch; physician for the Hakalau, Pepe‘ekeo, Honomū and Onomea plantations; and co-founder of the Hilo Medical Group, providing medical care for thousands of ranch hands, plantation workers and other Big Island residents.
His interests also extended to horticulture, a field in which he hybridized award-winning orchids. He was also a horse-breeder, playing a key role in continuing kanaka mustang (Hawaiian horse) bloodlines.
The posthumously published memoir was compiled by Woo’s three children, who shared, “As we age, we have come to more full… appreciate his optimism and positivity in serving his fellow man, community and family.”
Available at www.bookshawaii.net
($19.95 for softcover, prices may vary)
Did you or a loved one work for the plantations on Maui during the 20th century? Do you enjoy reminiscing with children and grandchildren about simpler times, when family came first and neighbors looked out for each other? Lahaina Restoration Foundation’s (LRF) Plantation Camp Map project helps tell your story.
Over seven years, the Plantation Days annual event in Lahaina allowed members of West Maui sugar and pineapple plantation communities to view and fine-tune details on large paper maps originally drawn up by Taketo Okamitsu. By locating their family homes on the maps, they preserved details for future generations.
By the end of 2016, residents and visitors will be able to view camp maps in a permanent display at the Plantation Museum, located on the top floor of The Wharf Cinema Center in Lahaina. Historic photos and antiques, including appliances, tools, furniture and heirlooms will illustrate poignant, real-life stories on display panels. Learn how migrant workers traveled to Hawai‘i; view the workings of a sugar mill and pineapple cannery; see homemade toys, games and community sports; explore the bango system and mid-century labor strikes. Visit the museum with your family and share your memories of plantation life.
Everyone has a story to tell. And what better way to leave a legacy, and pass down family values and traditions than through your own words, in your very own book that can be passed down through the generations, inspiring legacies to come.
The U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii in Waikīkī was once a battery built to protect the state from invading forces. Today, it is home to stories of military past, including exhibits of the Vietnam War, Korean War, World War II and more. But more than that, the museum is a great place for senior veterans to volunteer — a majority of the volunteers are retired veterans.
The museum is always looking for additional volunteers, and you don’t have to be a veteran to be considered.
Picture Bride is a remarkably engaging read, and from a historical sense, a body of research that brings to the forefront something that has escaped attention — Japanese-American culture. Everyone in Hawai‘i should read it!
Persons with the will to endure and turn adversity to success inspire us. Meet Uncle Roberto Deuriarte from Maui. From his soft voice and amiable manner, you would never guess his story. He comes from a fine family in Mexico City. In second grade, polio nearly killed him. He missed two years of school and never regained feeling in his right leg. “I learned early that you can endure a lot more than you think you can,” Uncle said with a smile. In his teens, surgery to stimulate his bad leg was tortuously painful. “Running marathons is nothing, compared to that,” he said.
