Waimea public library hosting ‘Oral Histories of Civilians in World War II Hawaiʻi’

The oral histories of Waimea’s Hisao Kimura and Kukuihaele’s Nora Ka’aua will be among those featured in “An Era of Change: Oral Histories of Civilians in World War II Hawaiʻi.”

The free program will be at the Thelma Parker Memorial Public Library meeting room at 11:30 a.m. on June 20 in Waimea. It is appropriate for older elementary students and up.

The World War II years, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, were an era of dramatic transition and change culturally, socially, economically, environmentally and politically.

How those changes affected the lives of ordinary residents during that era were recorded and published by the Center for Oral History. Narrators from the Statewide Cultural Extension Program Readers’ Theatre Ensemble will dramatically interpret the words of Kimura, Ka’aua and others, with a sampling of music from that period. 

Kimura was born in Waimea, the fifth of eight children born to Masajiro and Hisamu Kimura. He attended Waimea Public School and graduated from Hilo High School in 1931. He enjoyed a long career at Parker Ranch, retiring in 1978 as head agronomist in charge of the Parker Ranch Pu’u ‘Opelu Tree Nursery. He was married to Elizabeth Purdy Lindsey (daughter of Kawanakakoa Lindsey).

Ka’aua was born in Kukuihaele, the youngest of 15 children. She lived in Waipiʻo Valley, where her family owned a taro farm. At 16, she worked part-time for the Honolulu Rapid Transit, then worked for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association. In 1943, she worked as one of the first female flight attendants (then called airline hostesses) for Hawaiian Airlines. She married Samuel Parker Ka’aua in 1949.

The program will feature Readers’ Theatre Ensemble members: Nyla Fujii Babb, Joseph Miller, Janine Oshiro, Dann Seki and Bailey Matsuda. 

This program is produced by the UH Mānoa Outreach College’s Statewide Cultural Extension Program with funding provided by the Friends of the Library Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, and National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, call 808-887-6067.