Matsuda thanked for saving life back in ’68

LIHU‘E — How many people can say they can turn back time?

Feodor “Fefe” Matsuda of Kaua‘i and Jim Cunningham of Sonoma, Calif. can.

Last week, Cunningham, in his early 80s, was able to thank Matsuda, 51, for having saved his life 36 years earlier.

In 1968, Cunningham was a U.S. merchant marine who worked aboard a ship in Nawiliwili Harbor. About 47 years old at the time, Cunningham went on a swim in the bay after work.

As darkness approach, currents swept Cunningham out to sea. Although alone, he was determined to make it back to shore, even though the currents were strong enough to pull him out to the ocean open.

Matsuda, then a teen-age employee at the old Kauai Surf Hotel (now the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club), was surfing offshore, saw Cunningham in distress, and offered help. Together, the two swam safely back to shore on Matsuda’s surfboard.

Apparently because of the excitement and because Matsuda was used to helping others who had gotten in trouble swimming in the bay, the two talked only briefly and parted company.

Jim Cunningham remembered the heroic act, and has always wanted to thank the one who helped him, his family says.

With the help of Helena Cunningham, his grown daughter who visited Kaua‘i with her husband and child in June, Cunningham linked up with Matsuda, and personally thanked him in a phone conversation last week.

In a way, Matsuda’s heroics changed the course of three lives.

Had Jim Cunningham drowned, his wife and two children would have gone through financial and emotional hardship.

Matsuda, who today is a husband and father of two grown children and the service manager at Kauai Toyota, downplays the rescue, but understands its significance.

“I was glad I was there to do what I did,” Matsuda said. “I am a father, and I am glad he was able to be returned to his family.”

As a Father’s Day gift, Helena Cunningham, a resident of El Dorado Hills, Calif., pledged to do her best to find her father’s rescuer, although she had no idea as to his identity.

With tips from folks at the Marriott, where she was staying, and others, Helena Cunningham was able to track down Matsuda.

She met Matsuda at his work place at the second phase of the Lihu‘e Industrial Center last week, took Matsuda’s picture, and was to send it to her father for identification purposes.

Through a telephone conversation with Matsuda, Jim Cunningham became convinced the Kaua‘i resident was indeed the youth who helped him.

In 1968, Matsuda recalled he was “the only guy who was working on the beach (in front of the old Kauai Surf), and that he helped pull many tourists out of the bay fronting the hotel.

Matsuda first began working at the hotel in the mid-1960s. Matsuda recalled he was only 14 years old when he started working at the hotel.

Matsuda lived with his family at their home on Kress Street in Lihu‘e. His father, Wallace Matsuda, owned Matsuda’s Jewelry in Lihu‘e.

Back then, the younger Matsuda worked under the late Percy Kinimaka, then the beach manager for the hotel.

Kinimaka is the father of Kaupena Kinimaka, who today is the head of security at the Marriott.

Matsuda recalled his job at the old Kauai Surf as fun and carefree. “After I lit the (ground) torches for Mr. Kinimaka, I gave surf lessons and taught people how to sail.”

Matsuda recalled the special responsibilities of his job. “There were no lifeguards at the beach. I wasn’t even a lifeguard, but I saved lives. Plenty.”

On rescues, he recalled, Percy Kinimaka “would blow the horn, and he would help the boys (other hotel employees) save people.”

Of the rescue of Jim Cunningham, Matsuda recalled the man “was almost out at the jetty” just after sunset, and darkness loomed.

“It was in May or April, and the waves were big,” Matsuda said. “I was surfing outside in the middle of the bay, and I saw him trying to swim to shore.”

Helena Cunningham said her father, an avid and strong swimmer, knew he was in trouble, and was ready to employ a strategy he felt would save his life.

He was going to relax and let the waves bring him to shore, the man’s daughter said in an interview with The Garden Island last month.

She said her father knew the risks involved, that he could be slammed against the rocks on the northern side of the bay.

But he was calm and resolute, and was willing to take that chance to survive, Helena Cunningham said.

Matsuda said rip currents flowed along the northern shoreline of the bay and flushed out to sea. Had Jim Cunningham followed through on his survival plan, the current probably would have swept him out to the open ocean.

“It was night, and nobody would have seen him,” Matsuda said.

Because of his youth, Matsuda said he didn’t understand the significance of the rescue.

“I was only 14 or 15 years old at the time, and I thought what I did wasn’t really a big deal,” Matsuda told The Garden Island. “After all that had happened, you actually don’t think about it.”

The incident faded from memory as Matsuda moved forward with his life. He graduated from Kaua‘i High School in the 1970-71 school year and took automotive classes at the Kaua‘i Community College from now-retired teachers Walter Yamaguchi and Bob Tsuda.

While attending KCC, he worked at Stan’s Super Service in Lihu‘e.

Matsuda graduated from KCC in 1973, and worked for Grayline Hawaii from 1973 to 1984, worked at Toolmaster Hawaii on Kaua‘i, and while working with Toolmaster, he served as a lecturer on auto repairs at KCC. Yamaguchi offered Matsuda a job as an automotive instructor at KCC in 1995, a job he stayed with until 2001. Today, he is a service manager at Kauai Toyota. He has been married to his wife, Wanda, since 1976, and has two grown children

His daughter, Lisa Matsuda-Telles, is owner of Island Diva, and his son, Scott Matsuda, is assistant manager with Star Market on O‘ahu.

Helena Cunningham’s visit to find him touched him, Matsuda said. “I am grateful. Her coming back to say ‘thank you’ after so many years means a lot to me.”

Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang @pulitzer.net.