KAUMAKANI — Collectively, the fathers of Pat Pablo, Becky Komaki and Roland Pablo have more than 160 years of service to the Gay & Robinson sugar plantation. “They worked hard so that we wouldn’t have to,” said Pat Pablo, laughing.
KAUMAKANI — Collectively, the fathers of Pat Pablo, Becky Komaki and Roland Pablo have more than 160 years of service to the Gay & Robinson sugar plantation.
“They worked hard so that we wouldn’t have to,” said Pat Pablo, laughing. “So now, we all work for the state.”
Pat is a nurse with the Department of Health Public Nursing Department, Komaki is with the Department of Human Services and Roland is a retired Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officer.
The trio was joined by Pat’s sister, Glenda Miyazaki, a principal at Waimea Canyon Middle School, and Placido Valenciano, a physical therapist at Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital, who had to adjourn his malasada session to officiate for the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Football League.
That group from the West Kaua‘i Methodist Church had love in each scoop of the special malasada recipe that was developed during the plantation era and continues to be a crowd pleaser at events such as the Waimea Town Celebration and the upcoming Kaua‘i Museum Christmas extravaganza on Dec. 4.
The batch prepared for the special luncheon celebrating 120 years of G&R sugar was a tribute to their fathers, memories being mixed in with each scoop that dropped into the hot oil.
“When I started working for the Robinsons, I got $93 a month,” said Carmelita Gante, retired after 30 years of service. “I started in 1963 and stopped in 1993, but my husband Jose, he worked for 40 years.”
Carmelita said Jose is now 98 years old and resides in a care home in ‘Oma‘o.
“I struggle,” Carmelita Gante said. “My husband, he suffer. He used just a pick and shovel to clean the ditches up the mountain. When we (retired), there were 30 ladies who had 30 years of service. Today, only four of us left.”
Gante said she always remembered what Sinclair Robinson told her when she got her first $93 paycheck.
“The money the Robinsons give you, we want you to buy something so you remember the Robinsons,” she said.
“It was hard work, but I work honest because I know I going get good fruit in the end.”
Raising three children, she now has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
“Everything done now,” Gante said. “I just bought a lot in the Pikake subdivision (sold by Grove Farm). The children are all grown and the lot in Pikake is my souvenir from the Robinsons. I tell my children, ‘No sell that lot because that is all our hard work.’”
Eddie Taniguchi said he wore his paniolo outfit because he is the oldest paniolo who worked for the Robinsons.
“My back got busted when I was a paniolo,” Taniguchi said. “My neck got busted and all my ribs got busted from when I used to get kicked. It was hard work.”
A member of the Paniolo Hall of Fame, Taniguchi said after he retired from the Robinson Ranch, he signed up for a stint as a security guard because he wanted to enjoy life.
While the sugar plantation is closing, the ranch will remain open.
Marcia Emayo said her mother and father were employees of the Robinsons and she grew up in the area of the Kaumakani Avenue Park where then-manager J.C. Carter would walk through and check the yards of people living there.
“If your yard was not clean, you had to get a new yardman,” said Julia Nabeshima, whose grandfather and father worked for the G&R sugar operation. Nabeshima was celebrating attending her first football game, talking about her granddaughter, Dayna Fujii, who reigned as Kaua‘i’s homecoming queen.
“Everything was good at one time,” Emayo said.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
