That Is So 1974!
Members of the Class of 1974 from nine high schools are throwing themselves a 50th birthday party in Las Vegas, and inviting all Hawaii grads from that year
Seated, from left: Sheryl Sakuma, Jan Heiser, Aime Ogata,
Mary Sensui; standing, Gareth Sakakida, Alan Yamamoto,
Dean Nakasone, Vicki Tsukano, Philip Tom and Dean
Sensui
have business cards. ... The goal was to collect other people’s business cards, and you can (see) who are the fun guys, the surfer guys or the guys who have cars and you try to make events with them.”
In the spirit of catching up with old friends, here’s a little about this group: Dean Nakasone of Iolani, who still has his stack of collected social cards stored in a jewelry box, married a Kaimuki classmate of Heiser and Ogata’s. Referring to his high school picture, he says: “I actually met Sheryl at a social, but because I looked like that she didn’t want to dance with me.” (She doesn’t remember it.) Philip Tom of Roosevelt registered for the draft during high school but the Vietnam War was winding down and his number was never called. He got to attend dental school at the University of the Pacific and now practices dentistry in Kaimuki. He married McKinley grad Maria Woo, who once won $25,000 at keno by hitting nine numbers out of nine, and who is a classmate of Gareth Sakakida.
Sakakida’s glad he didn’t heed the advice of a counselor to “take a summer class and graduate before senior year.” He cherishes the time spent working on publications that year. “I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” he says. “It was a great experience.” (A lobbyist, he still does a little writing on the side, putting out the Na Koa newsletter for University of Hawaii football boosters.)
Dean Sensui and Mary Alejado Sensui of Pearl City and Vicki (Young) Tsukano of Kaiser, all have the distinction of marrying classmates and being in their schools’first graduating class. And back then, Leilehua was a football powerhouse. Alan Yamamoto remembers the Mules going against Kamehameha in the 1974 Oahu Prep Bowl, losing by one point, 20-19, at Honolulu Stadium. If Yamamoto has favorite memories of Vegas, he’s not sharing. “Whatever happens in Vegas,” he says, “never happened.”
Contact the organizers at http://hawaii74.com to attend. School spirit is required. False eyelashes and platform shoes are
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