2008 Distinguished Alumni & Service Award

2008 Distinguished Alumni & Service

Gay Porter

Gay Porter was born in Japan, is one of three siblings, and the only daughter of a Green Beret. Porter was not only a top academic student while attending the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (graduating with highest honors and listed in the Who’s Who in American Universities and Colleges), she was also a great athlete, lettering in 3 varsity sports: volleyball, softball and basketball. Porter’s family moved quite a bit during her childhood and at the tender age of 11, moved to the Honduras. Living in Honduras made Porter appreciate America - the freedom to vote and to strive for a better life. Porter’s father always stressed that in order to succeed, you couldn’t just be smart- you had to combine that with other qualities, such as determination.

At 17, she decided to leave Texas for a college located in a small town called Hilo, Hawaiʻi. She liked the idea of UH Hilo because of its small class sizes and individualized attention. At UH Hilo, she quickly became involved in school and athletics. She graduated with honors in 1977 with a BA in sociology.

Porter was determined to go into business, and set her goal to be successful by age 32. In her early years, her articles on Lava Zones, auto insurance and rental car coverage issues were published in the Hawaiʻi Tribune-Herald. In 1990, she became First Insurance Company of Hawaiʻi, Ltd’s newest agent and in 1991 was its outstanding rookie sales agent of the year. Since 1993 she has served as president of the General Insurance Association of Hilo. She also served on the State of Hawaiʻi Independent Insurance Agents Association (HIIA) board, eventually becoming its first neighbor island woman president.

In July 2001, Porter established the Hilo Branch of Business Insurance Services, Inc., one of the largest locally owned independent insurance agencies in the State of Hawaiʻi. In June 2007, she became the agency’s sales manager where she oversees the development of new agents Statewide.

Gay and her husband, Chuck Porter, are also very active in the community. She has been involved with the American Lung Association council in Hilo, the State Board of the American Lung Association, girls cross country coach for Hilo High School, the Casey Family Program in Hilo, the Hawai’i Island Chamber of Commerce, and the Rotary Club of Hilo. She also served on Governor Linda Lingle’s Cable Advisory Committee for 2 years, UH Hilo College of Business and Economics Advisory Board, contributed to the Performing Arts Theatre and is a member of Hui Kaua.

Porter has always been a self-motivator and believes that in order to succeed in life it is important to think “outside the box.” Porter says limitations are only things that other people place on you, and that opportunities are out there. You just have to look for them.

Hansen Tsang

Hansen Tsang was born on a tiny island in Singapore when it was still a British Colony. He is the eldest of two siblings, and growing up in Hong Kong was a very different experience as there were many political changes occurring during that time. When he turned 18 he was required to return to Singapore to join the Army. However Hansen had asthma and although he wanted to join, his parents were against it. As a result, his family sent Hansen to the United States to live with an uncle in New Jersey.

Hansen didn’t speak very good English, and there weren’t many Asians in his high school class. He took up photography to help him communicate with people. He applied for and was granted admission to Rutgers University in 1974. He started as a pre-med student since his family wished for him to become a doctor. However, in a biology lab class he was asked to dissect a rabbit that was pregnant. Hansen refused to complete the assignment and after that experience decided he needed to re-think his career goal.

In 1975 he left New Jersey for O`ahu after learning that his mother had immigrated there. Hansen went to UH Manoa and watched a mass of kids heading to class on University Avenue. He remembers thinking that he wanted a different experience from Rutgers, and as he filled out the UH application he checked off a place called Hilo College. After getting accepted, Hansen got a big surprise that Hilo College was on a different island! He remembers flying to Hilo for the first time with torrential rainfall. It would be months later after arriving back to Hilo on a beautiful day and looking at Mauna Kea that he realized Hilo was home.

At the time there was no such thing as pre-engineering at UH Hilo so Hansen took classes in both Accounting and Economics. He also got involved in scuba diving. Hansen became a scuba instructor and got involved in the UH Hilo Marine Option Program. After graduating with a BA in Economics in 1982, he was offered an accounting position and in 1989 joined Mauna Kea Electric and became its bookkeeper. He worked his way up until he took over the business in 2000.

Hansen has been a true pioneer in developing renewable energy technology for the Hawaiian Islands. His company, Mauna Kea Electric, Inc., installed the Pakini Nui Wind Farm at South Point, which provides enough power for 10,000 homes, and installed the wind farm at Kaheawea in the West Maui Mountains, which now produces enough clean, renewable power to meet 9% of Maui’s electrical energy needs. Hansen has been unselfish with his time in serving the local community in several capacities over the years. He volunteered as the golf coach for Hilo High School, and repairs and even purchased equipment for the team. He also served as an officer for the Hawaiʻi Island HIV/AIDS Foundation.

Following his graduation from UH Hilo, Hansen has not shied away from service to his alma mater. When duty called, he served on the selection committee for the first director of Imiloa, the Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi.

Robert Dircks

Robert Dircks was born in San Francisco, California, the only child to Robert Ronald Dircks of New York and Margery Emmalyn Fujikawa of Waiohinu, Ka`u, Hawaiʻi.

Dircks graduated from Saint Louis High School in 1971 and joined the US Navy where he served in the Vietnam War before assuming various positions with the Department of Defense. After resigning from the shipyard on O`ahu, his family returned to the Big Island where he looked into a career in teaching. He was told that UH Hilo had an excellent and well-respected teacher education program, and one of the UH Hilo faculty members, Dr. Don Hemmes, interviewed Dircks for his entry into the science program. Dircks credits Dr. Hemmes with opening the door to his future endeavors.

Dircks went on to pursue his educational goals and earned several diplomas, including a BA in Liberal Studies in 1989 from UH Hilo, and subsequently an M. Ed. from UH Manoa.

Prior to his current position as principal of Hilo High School, Dircks held many jobs, including a US Navy damage control/firefighter, fire investigator, fire safety officer (Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard), and teacher for the Department of Education.

He put his education to good use teaching at Kohala Elementary and Kohala Intermediate Schools, serving as assistant principal at Kohala High, and Kealakehe Intermediate and Hilo Intermediate Schools before becoming the principal of Mountain View Elementary School.

Dircks decided to become a school administrator because those around him believed he had what it took to lead, and fortunately for this community, he listened. Dircks is a member of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, International Center for Leadership in Education and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

In spite of his many demands, Dircks makes time to spend with his wife of 30 years, Julie-Beth Ah Sam. Together they have 3 children, Raven, Ashton and Manta, and two grandchildren, Ocean and Rain. Dircks’ goals are to continue to acknowledge that there is a higher being that made him who he is, to be a good husband, father and grandfather, and continue to serve others whether it be through education or through basic human service.

In receiving the 2008 UHH Distinguished Alumni Award, Dircks said, “I am still reeling from this honor. I will say my three years at the University was a very satisfying experience.”

Dr. Don Hemmes, 2008 Distinguished Service Awardee

Dr. Don Hemmes is the second child of a Midwest farming family in Iowa. His mother was a school teacher and his father a farmer. Growing up in Northern Iowa, Hemmes was very active in sports and the band. In fact, his claim to fame was being part of a 76-piece trombone band with 110 cornets and 1000 reeds that participated in the Mason City parade that included the 50 best bands from the states. His first job showcasing swine across Iowa during the summer helped pay for his college tuition.

Hemmes attended Central College of Iowa in Pella, Iowa. It was a liberal arts college and all students were expected to be well-rounded. Although he didn’t know what he wanted to do after graduation, he had a professor that became his mentor and Hemmes became his undergraduate research lab assistant. Interestingly, he met his wife Helen in one of the classes that he taught.

After graduation, one of his professors convinced Hemmes to apply for a position in Hawaiʻi. At the time the only idea he had of Hawaiʻi was the pictures he saw in encyclopedias. Hemmes admits that he thought Hawaiʻi was an atoll until he stepped off the plane. After getting his Ph.D., traveling around Europe researching and having their first child Kimo, the Hemmes family headed to Hilo. Hemmes will never forget the Sunday when he was watching the Boston Celtics and received the call that he was being offered the job at UH Hilo. Hemmes remembers fondly the potlucks with the other professors in those early days and Professor John Chan who showed him around the island.

In 1983 Hemmes was asked to teach botany even though his degree and expertise was in microbiology. He was so excited to teach that he quickly agreed. He remembers his first class in Wentworth when he started the class with a 100-point question test. The average score on that test was 6 out of 100 and that was only because the postmaster’s son got a 96 and raised the score. Teaching from a botany textbook written on the mainland, a student from the South Pacific told Hemmes that she had no idea what a pine tree looked like. This gave him the idea of starting a green house at UH Hilo to showcase different plants not found in the tropics. His hope is to set it up so students can go to each station and learn about plants.

Hemmes’ research area and training is in molecular biology. His expertise has also become fungi. An educator at heart, he decided to study mushrooms and eventually received two grants and wrote the Field Guide for Hawaiian Mushrooms.

Hemmes is also an outstanding faculty member, receiving the prestigious Regents Excellence in Teaching and Biology Professor of the Year Award. Hemmes has contributed greatly to the community by mentoring many high school students on their science fair projects and presenting talks at schools, civic clubs and community organizations on the Big Island and on O`ahu. He has assisted in over 200 directed research projects on top of his workload. In 2007, Hemmes was bestowed the prestigious role as the 76th president of the Mycological Society of America.

In his spare time, he enjoys traveling with Helen to visit their children, Kimo and David, and their grandchildren.

George Martin, 2008 Distinguished Service Awardee

George Martin spent his youth growing up in the plantation towns of Laupahoehoe and Papaikou when sugar dominated the social fabric of the entire Territory of Hawaiʻi.

Martin graduated from Hilo High School in 1943 and began working at Onomea Sugar Company as a mechanic’s helper. His union family quickly recognized Martin’s people skills and his dedication to improving working conditions by electing him as Hawaiʻi Division Director of the United Sugar Workers, Local 142 of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) at the age of 26.

His early years with the union were marked by a series of major strikes involving sugar(1946), pineapple(1947) and longshoremen(1949). Those events helped Martin develop a special appreciation for education. Although his formal education was limited, he developed a keen understanding of how education, in concert with the goals and objectives of the union, could become a force for improving social conditions.

It came as no surprise that Martin and the ILWU became strong proponents of establishing a community college system throughout Hawaiʻi as well as a strong community college program in Hilo. When he was approached in 1969 to play a leading role in supporting the expansion of the Hilo campus, Martin had no second thoughts about accepting the challenge.

Martin was moved by the arguments of University of Hawaiʻi Regent John Farias, Mayor Shunichi Kimura and key community leaders who called expansion to a four- year program “a top island priority.”

His political talents proved critical in the fight for expansion of the Hilo campus as he tapped his considerable network of friends and supporters to mobilize community support for the program. The massive turnout of nearly 800 people at the Board of Regents meeting in Hilo prompted the Regents to approve funding for the all important third year, which effectively secured four-year status.

His role in UH Hilo’s expansion may or may not have been his greatest community contribution, but there is no question that his crowning career achievement would occur two years later in 1971. Following the untimely death of highly-respected union leader and friend Jack Hall, Martin was appointed International Vice-President-

Director of Organization for the ILWU, the highest position attainable for a member representing the sugar industry. His appointment marked a distinct honor for both

Martin and Hawaiʻi since he became the State’s only native son to ever serve the union on the national level.

Eddie De Mello, 2008 Distinguished Service Awardee

Eddie De Mello was born in Puunene, Maui. Growing up during the Great Depression, De Mello dropped out of school in the eighth grade. To make a living, he sold newspapers on the streets of Honolulu where he learned to stand up for his rights. After employment stints in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and construction, De Mello went to work as a longshoreman clerk, which marked the beginning of his lifelong relationship with the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union (ILWU). There, his natural intelligence, street smarts, understanding of other people’s interests and keen sense of justice made De Mello and the ILWU a perfect fit.

A highly respected union negotiator and organizer, De Mello emerged as a leader in the labor movement during a series of lengthy strikes in Hilo. ILWU National Vice President George Martin described De Mello as “one of the key guys who could keep the troops together under very difficult and trying conditions.”

De Mello was known during his early years as an outstanding athlete who excelled in baseball and basketball. Teammates and opponents alike remember him as an aggressive competitor who always played hard. Those qualities carried over to his work with the union and the community as he became a tireless fighter for the underdog. His tenacity and determination came in handy in 1969 when he waded into the public furor surrounding UH Hilo that threatened its future.

Together with George Martin, the two worked in concert with Regent Emeritus John Farias, Mayor Shinichi Kimura and the passion and solidarity of students as well as committed faculty to organize a massive turnout at a crucial meeting of the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents.

Nearly 800 Big Islanders packed the meeting where the Regents heard speaker after speaker urge them to include nearly $142,000 in the University budget to fund expansion of a third year on the Hilo campus. But it was De Mello who set the tone for the meeting in his testimony when he told the Regents “we will lobby for the money for expansion. And we’ll fight anyone who gets in the way.”

De Mello’s contribution was acknowledged in a February 24, 1969 letter following the Regents landmark decision that gave the University a 3rd and 4th year, and subsequently, a four-year degree program. Louis P. Warsh, chairman of the UH Hilo College Faculty Senate and professor of history, wrote, “your (Eddie’s) presence in Hilo and your trenchant (forceful) remarks to the Board of Regents on the union’s position supporting expansion for the Hilo Campus carried enormous weight and muscle. We are extremely grateful to the ILWU for this understanding and support for an enlarged and truly statewide system of university education.”

De Mello died in 1974. But through his efforts and deeds, he helped bring about an institution for educational advancement, enrichment and an avenue for social equality for the people of Hawaiʻi. Eddie married the former Kay Watanabe. Together they had six children. Tonight, Kay and her daughter Debbie are with us to accept the Distinguished Service Award on Eddie’s behalf.

John Farias, 2008 Distinguished Service Awardee

John Farias Eddie De Mello was born in Puunene, Maui. Growing up during the Great Depression, De Mello dropped out of school in the eighth grade. To make a living, he sold newspapers on the streets of Honolulu where he learned to stand up for his rights. After employment stints in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and construction, De Mello went to work as a longshoreman clerk, which marked the beginning of his lifelong relationship with the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union (ILWU). There, his natural intelligence, street smarts, understanding of other people’s interests and keen sense of justice made De Mello and the ILWU a perfect fit.

Stanley I. Hara, 2008 Distinguished Service Awardee

Stanley I. Hara was born in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, graduated from Farrington High School in 1940, attended Honolulu Business College in 1941, and the then University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo Branch from 1955-1956.

Hara enrolled at the University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo Branch the year after he began a long, distinguished career as a member of the legislature and State constitutional convention. He was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives in 1954, which became the State House of Representatives following Statehood in 1959. Hara served in the House for 14 years, chairing the committees on Agriculture and Forestry, Water Resources, Forestry, Reclamation and New Industries, and eventually assumed the chairmanship of the all-powerful Finance Committee in 1959.

As chair of House Finance, Hara established himself as a powerful advocate for expansion of the University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo Branch, and supported moving the College of Agriculture to Hilo to become a part of the school. Roger Mosely, who served as director of the University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo Campus from 1958 –1960, described the respect his former student commanded as a legislator when he wrote, “as Chairman of the House Finance Committee, Stan Hara was one of the most feared by Manoa, I believe.” Hara relinquished that chairmanship in 1965, but remained a key player. He spent his final two years in the House as Majority Floor Leader, where he was charged with the critical task of being the Speaker’s chief vote counter.1968 was a watershed political year for Hara who won election to the State constitutional convention where he served as vice chair of taxation and finance. He was also appointed by Governor John A. Burns to fill a vacancy in the State Senate, and subsequently elected outright to the upper chamber where he served for the next 12 years. Hara immediately assumed a leadership role as his colleagues selected him to serve as assistant majority leader and chair of the Education Committee.

The timing of Hara’s election to the Senate proved fortuitous for UH Hilo. When the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents approved the University’s expansion to a four-year degree program, Hara was well-positioned to push for passage of initiatives he had supported in the House. He joined together with fellow Big Island lawmakers to secure financing for the creation of the College of Agriculture baccalaureate degree program.

As Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, his vision, leadership and political skills proved vital to moving forward the newly approved four-year institution. Working in concert with his colleagues, capital improvements flourished during Hara’s time in the Senate. The UH Hilo Theatre (1969/1979), Office of Student Services (1973), Campus Center (1975), Administration Building (1978), UH Hilo New Gym (1980), Edward H. Mookini Library (1981) and Edith Kanaka`ole Hall were among the developments taking place during this period that came to be known at UH Hilo as the “Golden Age.”

An internationalist with a global perspective, Hara saw UH Hilo with its strategic location and diverse student population as a major player in the Pacific Region. He was instrumental in promoting the influx of students from the South Pacific and Federated States of Micronesia that have become a foundation of the University’s international student population and rich, cultural diversity.

His ultimate vision for UH Hilo was a high quality four-year institution offering various advanced degrees. With a current student population of 3,608 as of Fall 2007, his dream is being realized.

Hara married the former Diane Hisako in 1945 and had two sons, the Honorable Glenn S. Hara, and Bradley.

As UH Hilo observes its 60th anniversary, it also celebrates the vision for quality growth at UH Hilo that Stanley I. Hara developed and pursued as a member of the Territorial and State Legislature as we honor him tonight with the Distinguished Service Award.