Front row: MaryAnne Mark, Diane Kam, Eva Taba, Helen Chang, Fay Nishimoto, Jo-Anne Matsuba, and Cheri Kato. Back row: Leslie Oshita, Elton Fukumoto, Allen Wong, Jed Taba, Mitchell Chun, Scott Shimabukuro, Dale Nishikawa, Ross Yokoyama, Bob Shimizu, Jeffrey Hackler, Cyrus Tamashiro, Kenney Krumm, Howard Matsuba, Donn Tokairin, Ernest Kam, Wayne Fujita, Dennis Nagata, Randall Hayashi, Bob Kamemoto, Patrick Taomae, Keith Fujio, and Lloyd Nishimoto.
L-R: Ryan Okuhara, Corey Fujii, Jeff Miyazawa, and Dave Shimabuku “The third was a little more complicated to under- stand, and it comes from a book, which I’ll paraphrase. ‘What would be your reckless dream?’ Stated another way, ‘What have you always wanted to do but haven’t gotten around to doing it for one reason or another?’ What lies in the back of your mind about something you’ve never done before but have always thought about doing? What would that be? There are two times in life when we can pursue our dreams recklessly. First, before we become entangled with responsibilities. The second is now. So, I remember before I had responsibilities in life in general, I took Spanish for 40 weeks and I decided to go to Spain for two weeks on my own. I don’t think I could do that now. So, what would you want to do, which is sort of a reckless abandon, sort of a reckless “On a recent trip to see three college roommates and my high school best friend, Ben Phillips, on the mainland, I realized a few things. One of the things I learned is that Ben and I have been friends for 58 years, and for some of you — three of you in this room — you’ve been friends for 66 years, and we’re all still alive and kicking. “But I came up with three ideas I thought I would like to share with you. “The first one is ‘Live with Intention.’ “The second one was ‘Do Something 10% Better.’ Whatever it is, do it 10% better, and it’s an easy philosophy to follow. bestowing a lovely kukui nut lei with ‘Iolani- colored ribbon for the guys and corsages he personally made for the ladies. Jeffrey Hackler started the evening off with opening remarks he’d written. Here are some excerpts:
L-R: Ryan Ho, Sean Scanlan, Ken Kawahara, Ward Higa, and Blake Fujii “‘Iolani used to be on the grounds of the present St. Andrew’s Priory, then it moved to Nu‘uanu. Then from Nu’uanu, it moved to the Ala Wai site, our present site, in 1953. David Coon came to ‘Iolani in 1957. Our class is linked to Dave Coon because Dave Coon became Headmaster in the “As we are in this second phase of life and we think about replacing knees and hips and things like that, what is it that you’ve been putting off that you’d like to accomplish? And I’m thinking of Donn Tokairin, who finally fulfilled his reckless dream of walking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. (Applause) “Those are the three thoughts that I wanted to share with you.” NOTE: Jeffrey’s second reckless dream was shared with the group on the night of the dinner but will be kept a secret so he can surprise everyone when he accomplishes it. Elton Fukumoto followed Jeffrey’s opening remarks with his remembrance of Headmaster David Coon, who passed away on December 12, 2023, three weeks shy of his 96 th birthday, and how he was tied to the Class of 1971. Here are some excerpts from his speech: dream? I’m not talking about jumping off and doing bungee jumping. “For me, doing something reckless would involve two things. One, I always wanted to walk the hills of Switzerland, where you walk from one hotel to another hotel and it’s like a six- or seven- hour walk and someone takes your bags from one place to another and another. So, every night, we have a nice bath and a good meal. But I never had a chance to do that, and I hope I can do that sometime.
academic year 1970 to 1971, our year. So we are the first class that fell under the Dave Coon Era. Dave Coon was the longest-serving Headmaster in ‘Iolani history. He served from 1970 to 1992. “I was Chairman of the Senior Prefects, and one of my duties was to go into Dave Coon’s office once a month and talk to him. So I would talk to him, and he had these really laser-like blue eyes, and I’d be almost blinded. I also remember Dave Coon for his laughter and his good humor. “The final thing is Dave Coon is going to be remembered for turning ‘Iolani co-educational. Years after that, for the first time, ‘Iolani produced more National Merit Semifinalists than Punahou did. So that year, ‘Iolani produced 32 and Punahou produced 24. That was not supposed to happen because Punahou was a much larger school in terms of student body. The (Honolulu) Star-Bulletin asked Dave Coon for his reaction to this. Not that Dave Coon would say, ‘Well, this showed that ‘Iolani was the best school.’ No, Dave Coon did not do that. He said, ‘We’re very happy with our students who made National Merit Semifinalists and we’re happy for the Punahou students as well.’ That was it. In other words, from Dave Coon’s point of view, he was not going to gloat. He was not going to say, ‘We’re the best school.’ No, that’s not how it’s done at ‘Iolani School. We’re humble. … No, we’re not going to go there, that’s beneath us. We’re just going to say we’re happy for everybody. And I think that this is the philosophy that Dave Coon had. “So, in conclusion, I just want to say that for this reason, we are related to Dave Coon because we are the first class in the Dave Coon Era. Our class, for this and many other reasons, is special.”
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