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The Irish and Kaua‘i
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| Tom Driskill, president and chief executive officer of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, inspects the inner workings of the co-generation power generator at the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital at West Kauai Medical Center. |
By CHRIS COOK - TGI Editor
St. Patrick's Day is an auspicious date to recount the unique ways Kaua‘i and Ireland are knitted together.
While no mass immigration of Irish workers ever happened during the 1800s when workers from around the world were recruited to work on the island's plantations, the Irish have played key roles here.
On March 17, 1942, first defenders from the Mainland came ashore at Port Allen to defend Kaua‘i's shores against a Japanese military invasion. Those men where members of the famed Fighting 69th Irish regiment of New York City. The soldiers later left to fight in the South Pacific and other Pacific combat zones of World War II.
Other Irishmen came to Kaua‘i as individuals, and made their way into key positions in government and business. Prominent Irish surnames found recorded in Kaua‘i's history include Moragne and Coney.
The famed Leprechauns, the little people of Irish fame, are sometimes compared to the legendary Menehune of Kaua‘i. The roots of this comparison is likely a turn-of-the-century elaboration on the Menehune legend made by Waimea merchant C. Hofgaard. Hofgaard related the Menehune to the Norwegian brownie, giving a face to the Menehune, according to Christine Fayé, director of Gay & Robinson's sugar mill and plantation tours.
A significant chapter of Kaua‘i history beings with the arrival of an Irish Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. A. Walsh. Walsh came ashore at Koloa on Dec. 22, 1841, and celebrated the first mass on Kaua‘i, according to the text of "Saint Catherine Parish 1887-1987," a book published to mark the centennial year of the Kapa‘a church.
Walsh established a small chapel and school at Koloa, which became the mission of St. Raphael the Archangel, and worked at establishing Roman Catholic missions on the North Shore, founding St. Maxine's at the mouth of the Hanalei River, and St. Stephen's at Moloa‘a.
The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Hawaii offers a way for those of Irish descent to celebrate their heritage in a Hawai‘i setting. The charitable and fraternal organization was founded in Honolulu on March 17, 1955, and is best known for its annual St. Patrick's Day parade, Hawai‘i-style.
"From the Emerald Isles to the Hawaiian Isles" is a motto of the group, which traces its roots to the first Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which was formed in Philadelphia in 1771. Membership information is available on the Internet at webtaylor. com/fsons.
Editor Chris Cook may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 227) or ccook@pulitzer.net.
While no mass immigration of Irish workers ever happened during the 1800s when workers from around the world were recruited to work on the island's plantations, the Irish have played key roles here.
On March 17, 1942, first defenders from the Mainland came ashore at Port Allen to defend Kaua‘i's shores against a Japanese military invasion. Those men where members of the famed Fighting 69th Irish regiment of New York City. The soldiers later left to fight in the South Pacific and other Pacific combat zones of World War II.
Other Irishmen came to Kaua‘i as individuals, and made their way into key positions in government and business. Prominent Irish surnames found recorded in Kaua‘i's history include Moragne and Coney.
The famed Leprechauns, the little people of Irish fame, are sometimes compared to the legendary Menehune of Kaua‘i. The roots of this comparison is likely a turn-of-the-century elaboration on the Menehune legend made by Waimea merchant C. Hofgaard. Hofgaard related the Menehune to the Norwegian brownie, giving a face to the Menehune, according to Christine Fayé, director of Gay & Robinson's sugar mill and plantation tours.
A significant chapter of Kaua‘i history beings with the arrival of an Irish Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. A. Walsh. Walsh came ashore at Koloa on Dec. 22, 1841, and celebrated the first mass on Kaua‘i, according to the text of "Saint Catherine Parish 1887-1987," a book published to mark the centennial year of the Kapa‘a church.
Walsh established a small chapel and school at Koloa, which became the mission of St. Raphael the Archangel, and worked at establishing Roman Catholic missions on the North Shore, founding St. Maxine's at the mouth of the Hanalei River, and St. Stephen's at Moloa‘a.
The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick of Hawaii offers a way for those of Irish descent to celebrate their heritage in a Hawai‘i setting. The charitable and fraternal organization was founded in Honolulu on March 17, 1955, and is best known for its annual St. Patrick's Day parade, Hawai‘i-style.
"From the Emerald Isles to the Hawaiian Isles" is a motto of the group, which traces its roots to the first Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which was formed in Philadelphia in 1771. Membership information is available on the Internet at webtaylor. com/fsons.
Editor Chris Cook may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 227) or ccook@pulitzer.net.
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Ronald Pray wrote on Oct 17, 2009 5:14 AM:
I am a former U.S. Coast Guard Search and rescue team member at Barbers Point. I never read the scathing November 28 article about a rescue I did in 1977 while on leave.
In November of 1977 I had visited Kauai on leave and hiked the Na Pali coast to go camping. On the trail I saw some hikers in front of me ignore the cries of a man saying he was poisoned by mushrooms he had eaten. I know that there are many poisonous varieties from the orange mushrooms to the copelandia varieties which are deadly. I stopped and he was vomitting and telling me that he was dying. I laid my sleeping bag down onto the ground and made him comfortable then lit my coleman stove and cooked him soup to eat. He ate the soup and continued vomitting. He said that he needed immediate attention. I ecouraged him to vommit everything out of his stomache.
I asked him if he would be OK while I ran back to Haena for help and he said please do that.
I ran from his location sometimes skipping the zig-zags in the trails steep inclines jumping straight down to the trail below. I had injured my Achilles tendon by twisting my ankle which put me on light duty upon returning to Barbers Point.
I then knocked on the first door I found and asked them to contact the U.S. Coast Guard that there was a man stranded on the trail who needed immediate attention.
The Fire Department went in on the trail and found the man walking out on his own. This is why the writer in 1977 claimed that I had misread the situation and that is why he called my rescue "The Rescue that wasn't". I believe that had that man died, his death would have been on my ticket and given that rescuing folks was my business I had a responsibility to perform.
We may never know what part my inducing vomiting played in the recovery of this man. I'd like to believe that it played a major role in his quick recovery.
I am proud that I stood for the highest traditions of the U.S. Coast Guard on that fateful day on the Na Pali Coast.To this day, I have a lump in my Achilles Tendon which hurts on certain days to remind me of that day I ran into that man.
Malama Pono,
Former 3rd Class Petty Officer Ronald Pray "