By Bowman Olds
Special to the Herald
In all my years as a faithful Hawaii Catholic Herald subscriber, I have always been captivated with the “Heralding Back — News From Pages Past” feature. As we now approach the 61st anniversary of Hawaii becoming the 50th State on Aug. 21, 1959, I came across this photo taken in the Secretary of Interiors office in Washington, D.C. in December 1958.
My classmates and I (on the far right) from St. Joseph and Waiakea-Kai schools in Hilo were known as the 10 young ambassadors pushing for statehood as we embarked on a tour playing Hawaiian songs and dancing the hula from Hawaii to Hollywood and then to Chicago, the New England states, New York and Washington.
The entire trip included a tour of the White House on Christmas Eve, a sleigh ride in New York’s Central Park, visits to numerous historical and scenic sites, Disneyland, and multiple interviews on TV and radio talk shows as we continued our push for statehood.
This is a journey and memory I shall never forget.
Bowman Olds is a Hawaii Catholic Herald reader living in Washington, D.C.
