Back to school, 50 years later

One of the two 1963 St. Anthony, Kailua, fourth grade classes was taught by Miss Susan Frank, who is expected at the upcoming Class of 1968 reunion. Reunion committee members Scott Leong, second row, fifth from left, and Allison (Chow) Durkin, top row, fifth from left, were interviewed for this story.

Reunion organizer Rick White is pictured in the bottom row, second to the right of the sign, in the third grade class picture for Beatrice Affatica’s homeroom in 1962.

Half of the St. Anthony School, Kailua, Class of 1968 is set to reunite for the first time since their eighth grade graduation

By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald

Most haven’t seen each other in 50 years but they couldn’t be more excited to get together.

The St. Anthony School, Kailua, Class of 1968 will have its first-ever class reunion at the end of this month.

While it’s more typical to have high school and college reunions, eighth grade reunions are less common. What makes this St. Anthony’s reunion particularly exciting is how many class members are planning to attend. Out of the 130 students who were at one time or another part of the Class of 1968, around 60 people have said they are coming to the June 22-24 gathering.

Classmates are coming from as far away as Guam, Florida, Boston and the west coast. A 1968 reunion committee has even recruited Susan Frank-Kama, the class’ fourth and sixth grade teacher, now retired and living in Waimanalo, to join the celebration.

“For some reason, there’s this driving interest in seeing everybody after 50 years,” said Rick White, who is leading the reunion committee. “I think a lot of it is probably because for at least a core group of us, we went to school together from kindergarten to eighth grade.”

For class members who can’t attend, the committee plans to compile a booklet with class member-submitted biographies and to create a class video and digital copies of old school photos.

The first idea for the reunion came up when White and five or six of his classmates got together several years ago. Then last year, with their 50th anniversary approaching, Fred Chow, White’s St. Anthony’s classmate and childhood neighbor, brought up the idea again. It spurred White to start looking up classmate emails. The reunion idea snowballed from there.

The St. Anthony School Class of 1968 in their two eighth grade class photos. The class on the right is dressed in graduation attire.

The way it was

The year 1968 was a turbulent one for the U.S. The outlook on the Vietnam War was increasingly poor. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. University campuses across the country were experiencing unrest and protests. In the Catholic Church, Pope Paul VI published the encyclical “Humanae Vitae,” which banned artificial birth control and focused on marriage and sexuality. It stood in contrast to the sexual revolution of the time period and the previous year’s “summer of love” in San Francisco and other parts of the country.

Class of 1968 member Scott Leong said aside from the rock n’ roll he enjoyed at the time, a lot of what was going on in the country then didn’t dawn on his eighth grade self.

“We were just trying to get through [junior high],” he said.

St. Anthony, Kailua, opened in 1952, and by 1968 was bursting with kids. At the time it was the only Catholic school in that Windward Oahu beachfront community. Classes had around 50 kids each and there were two classes per grade.

A St. Anthony School, Kailua, classroom scene circa 1963. It’s hard to read, but the blackboard lists “Music – Miss Trapp” on the day’s schedule. (Photo courtesy of St. Anthony School, Kailua)

A faculty made up of both Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and lay teachers included Hedwig von Trapp, one of the younger “Sound of Music” von Trapp children. Leong and Allison (Chow) Durkin, who are both on the reunion committee with White, recall von Trapp wheeling her portable organ from class to class and vigorously tapping a pointer along to music.

While von Trapp was memorable, eighth grade teacher Sister Sheila was one of Leong’s favorite teachers. “You felt like you really wanted to do well for her,” he recalled.

Durkin remembers convincing the school that girls should be able to raise the flag at flag raising along with the boys.

“The teachers were tough,” Durkin said. “They had high expectations of us.”

Leong remembers what a big deal it was to the class to be the first to graduate in the newly opened St. Anthony Church.

Reunion plans

Events planned for the June 22-24 weekend include cocktails and appetizers at Uncle’s Fish Market & Grill on Friday night. On Saturday, there will be a 10 a.m. memorial Mass to remember 13 deceased classmates that will be presided over by St. Anthony’s alum Msgr. Gary Secor followed by a lunch and school tour. And on Sunday, there will be a dinner at Mid Pacific Country Club.

The reunion committee has been planning since last fall. They started off with monthly conference calls and more recently upped that to weekly check-ins. They’ve enjoyed the calls almost as much as they anticipate enjoying the reunion, said Durkin.

“We’ve just been working on it and having a great time,” she said. “It’s blossomed into more than we expected.”

Other members of the reunion committee include Angela (Marcella) Avicolli, Iris Lindo Kauka, Fred Chow, Gary Makowski, Paula (Himenes) Sumida and Keith Nathalie.

White took the lead on tracking down classmates, which included anyone who attended St. Anthony’s between the 1959-60 kindergarten class and the eighth grade graduating Class of 1968. He and other committee members contacted people online, by email and phone, and even through snail mail. From a roster of about 130 names, they were able to reach around 80 people.

“I can’t believe it, that we have actually found this many people,” White said. As recently as the first week of June, he found yet another classmate, who isn’t able to attend but sent a donation and biography to include in the class reunion booklet.

“Half the people on the committee I haven’t seen in 50 years,” he said. “People are just really excited to get together.”

The Class of 1968 might also start a trend. After members of other St. Anthony’s classes heard about the reunion, either through church bulletin announcements or other means, they expressed interest in getting their classes together too.

“It feels right to do something like this,” Leong said.

Are you a member of the St. Anthony, Kailua, Class of 1968 and want to come to the reunion? Email Rick White at bigfish@hawaii.rr.com.

Send aweaver@rcchawaii.org your own favorite Hawaii Catholic school photo and we’ll add it to an online album.