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Motokane
Beverly Motokane
St. Theresa’s
9/7/99
I first met Anna in 1954 when I began
the 4th grade at St. Theresa School. I don’t remember
much of any of my classmates. I just remember the teachers.
The whole Catholic school experience was very new to me.
I first noticed Anna in the 7th
grade. That’s when we had Sr. Bernard Clare, now known
as Sr. Clare as our teacher. She was the one that made our
class a cohesive unit. She made us do strange things, like
learning how to square dance, having a talent show, coming
to school at night and pointing out the various constellations
and teaching us about the stars that way.
I first noticed Anna because
she was one of the smartest kids in class. She was always
1st of 2nd. At the time, we sat in class according to our
grades. Starting at the back of the room, the student with
the highest grade sat in the first seat of the last row. The
next highest sat in the second seat of the last row, etc.
I usually ended up in the second
row, either in front of Anna or diagonally across from her.
Probable because of the seating, we became good friends.
There were times when we argued,
but we always made up and became better friends. One bad time
happened on the day that Hawaii became a State. She made a
thoughtless comment about the Japanese and WWII. I don’t
even remember what she said. All I remember is that I was
very upset. I was crying and ran away and hid behind the classroom
building. Anna ran after me and begged me to forgive her.
She said that she had been thoughtless and didn’t mean
to hurt me. After I had calmed down – a few days later
– we were friends again.
Fast forwarding to high school,
an outside interest that we both shared was belonging to the
Junior Chinese Catholic Club. Although I’m Japanese,
Anna was in the Club so I joined. That meant that we spent
a lot of time together.
We were a great bunch of kids,
if I do say so myself. Some of the gang that I recall are
Lorene Aki, Almira Chun Craig, Lauralei Yuen Nagai, Elaine
Kaneshiro, Joan Leong Nakashima, Peter Estomago, Rodney Go,
Gary Chang, Mel Leong, James Araki. The guys formed the sports
teams and competed while we girls went out to cheer for them.
We girls formed our basketball, volleyball teams and the boys
came out to cheer us on. Anna was very athletic. We also did
other things, like going on scavenger hunts. We had parties.
We did humanitarian things. At Christmas time we would go
to various hospitals and sing carols to those who were stuck
there, away from home during the holidays.
Anna also formed a girls social
club. The club would get together with boys’ social
clubs for dances. I only attended one function since I wasn’t
a member of the club. My parents kept pretty close tabs on
me. The only time that they felt comfortable about me being
around boys was if I was with the Chinese club. Anna had to
do some fast talking to convince my parents to let me go the
social club dance. You might want to ask Bernie Yee Gaskell
about the club. I believe she was in the club.
To show you how weird we were,
before our junior prom, Anna, Lorene, Elaine and I took our
dates to St. Theresa’s convent to show Sr. Clare our
prom dresses. Our dates thought we were strange. But they
went along with it.
We lost touch with each other
during college. She was at UCLA and I was at the UH.
After graduation, I moved to
Los Angeles and married. Since we still kept in touch with
our high school classmates, we eventually found each other
again and took up right where we left off.
My husband, Earl and I, (now
divorced) attended your parents wedding and went to their
home on Bundy Drive for an informal reception. During your
parents’ time in Los Angeles, Earl and I were invited
over to their home for get-togethers. One thing that I loved
about Anna was that she loved to get people interacting. She’d
have us playing charades and other games. She was a real people
person.
When she left L.A. I felt a void
and was deeply saddened. But this time we kept in touch, usually
with annual Christmas messages. Those picture Christmas cards
that she sent showed my how her family was growing and you
were all growing tall and strong.
She was the catalyst for our
class reunions, both for grade school as well as for high
school. She was a great organizer. The first high school reunion
I attended was held in Las Vegas in 1992. That was our 25th
high school reunion and it was great. It was a joint reunion
with the St. Louis High School class of the same year. So
we got to see the boys that we went to grade school with as
well as the guys in the Junior Chinese Catholic Club. I believe
that she coordinated the reunion with Randy Leong, president
of the St. Louis class. It was a great coordination effort.
I remember getting to the Main
Street Casino and finding out from Randy that Anna had gone
to arrange for the van rentals. Well, she was gone a couple
of hours and we laughed and said that she was probably trying
to get a better deal for the vans.
Guess what? That’s exactly
what she was doing. People were coming and going but at any
one time, there were about 40 of us crowded into one room
discussing logistic – who was going to which shows,
who would get the tickets, who was going shopping, where were
we meeting for dinner, for breakfast. Anna finally arrived
and told us what happened. Apparently, the rental company
wasn’t going to give us a good deal for the vans and
she was negotiating a deal. I believe she succeeded. However,
the result wasn’t as interesting as the fact that she
spent a couple of hours trying to get a better deal. That’s
a trait for which she was known.
Her last planning session was
for our 50th birthday reunion on 1995. Again, she did a great
job of organizing. That birthday was great. I know that I
use "great" a lot, but that describes the environment
that Anna created.
She taught some of our classmates
how to shoot craps on that trip. That made the reunion most
enjoyable for everyone. Those that won were happy. Of course,
that goes without saying. Those that did not play experienced
the same joy by hearing the joyous winning stories of the
others. By the way, no one lost when they were with Anna.
We planned our 30th reunion for
1997 without her. It turned out to be a small one. Several
things went wrong with the Hawaii contingent, the biggest
problem being that the travel agent our Hawaii classmates
were using filed for bankruptcy after taking all of the deposit
money. Anna would have been more careful when making the arrangements.
There was one unusual class reunion
in 1989. Anna organized our 8th grade class reunion. We all
chipped in and brought Sr. Clare to Hawaii from Minnesota.
It was the BEST ever. Now this wasn’t the only time
that she had gotten our 8th grade class together. Unfortunately,
I didn’t attend the other reunions. You may be able
to contact Dennis Freitas or Norbert Wong for more information
on those gatherings.
Anna and I got together periodically
between 1990 until her death. She would call me and tell me
when she would be in Las Vegas. If I could, I would fly out
of L.A. and meet her.
When we met, we would talk for
hours since there were only the two of us. I was going through
a bad time in my life and she helped me. She listened, she
advised, she scolded. She was a true friend.
She invited me to join her annual
trek to Vegas with THE GIRLS. THE GIRLS were your Aunt Beatrice,
Eric’s wife, Alex’s wife and Alex’s wife’s
mother. Beatrice’s friend also came along. It was a
really great trip. You have a wonderful family. They made
me feel most welcome, especially Alex’s wife and mother.
The last time we were supposed
to go to Vegas was in February of the year she died. It was
the annual trek to Vegas with THE GIRLS. I called her to confirm
the date. That was when she told me she really wasn’t
feeling well and that she was going to have some tests done.
So we postponed the trip to March. I was devastated when she
told me the outcome of the tests.
She had been complaining for
years that her back hurt. She was trying all sorts of exercises
to help her but nothing seemed to help. Of course, being Anna
she didn’t complain that often and she made it seem
as if it were only a minor discomfort.
I spoke with her a few more times
after that. I’m glad that I did. For me that was closure.
But I still think of her all the time. Her death hit me hard.
She was my friend, my peer, my memories of the good old days.
She was so energetic and full of life that I had a hard time
reconciling that to the fact that she was gone. Everything
happened so fast and I thought everything was going to be
alright, that I was shocked when I heard reports of her progress,
or lack thereof.
I sent her a letter while she
was in the hospital. She never read it. Jim said that it arrived
too late. She was unconscious. I’m sorry about that.
But I’m sure that she’s in heaven and knows that
I wrote that letter to her.
I visited Sr. Clare in Minnesota
September of 1998. We reminisced about the good old days and
about my former classmates and how their lives turned out.
A lot of the talk centered about Anna. Sister could tell you
a lot about Anna since Anna kept in close touch with her.
I think that Anna was her favorite. Sr. might relate to you
what Anna told her about a dream that she had. I don’t
want to relate it because I’ve forgotten parts of it.
I’m sure there are other
instances that personify Anna. Our class is reuniting for
our 55th birthdays in August of 2000. I’m sure we’ll
be remembering those of our classmates who are no longer with
us, Anna among them.
To capsulize Anna, she was honest,
kind, generous, considerate, organized and smart. She was
a leader by example as well as by word. She was a personality
that I will always remember.
She was and always will be my friend.
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