With friends, peers and former employees uncertain about the long-term future of the royal coconut grove behind the Coco Palms Resort, a plan to plant a special coconut palm tree for the hotel’s late former manager has been shifted to
With friends, peers and former employees uncertain about the long-term future of the royal coconut grove behind the Coco Palms Resort, a plan to plant a special coconut palm tree for the hotel’s late former manager has been shifted to Lydgate Park.
Grace Guslander, who managed the Coco Palms with her husband Lyle Guslander and then on her own after he died, will forever be the standard by which Kaua’i hotel managers are judged, say industry insiders.
There are various proposals for a Kapa’a bypass road, with one route moving smack through the middle of Guslander’s beloved coconut grove. So, for the tree’s sake, a more reliable spot near the lifeguard stand at Lydgate Park has been agreed upon.
The gathering is the day spring begins – March 20, at 4:30 p.m.
The event, which began as a simple tribute from her sisters in the Mokihana Club, has blossomed into something much bigger, with chanting from Nathan Kalama and words of wisdom from Lopaka Mansfield, a Guslander student who is now general manager of Waimea Plantation Cottages.
A special coconut tree which Guslander, while still alive, allowed Randy Wichman to raise from seed will be planted. A commemorative plaque will be attached to a rock shaped like the island of Kaua’i and picked out by a former Coco Palms employee.
The Ka’ahumanu Society and Royal Order of Kamehameha have been invited to attend.
Guslander was a longtime member of the Mokihana Club of Kaua’i, a ladies’ social group which annually funds music scholarships and does other humanitarian deeds, explained Gini Stoddard.
Stoddard came to Kaua’i with husband Joe on repeated vacations. They were so impressed with Guslander and the Coco Palms they decided to relocate to Kaua’i.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
