When Alice Gordines asked her son back in the ‘70s when he was coming home, he told her, “You don’t understand. I am home.” Johnny Gordines loved Hawaii so much he didn’t want to return to California where he grew
When Alice Gordines asked her son back in the ‘70s when he was coming home, he told her, “You don’t understand. I am home.”
Johnny Gordines loved Hawaii so much he didn’t want to return to California where he grew up. His passion for island living was contagious and brought Alice to the Garden Isle herself in 1976.
Now 85 years old, she hasn’t slowed down since retiring from a variety of careers, including home economics instructor, physical education teacher and as a controller for a property management company on the Mainland. She devotes her time to sewing using Hawaiian-themed fabrics.
“I like designing and creating something,” Gordines said.
Aprons, pot holders, dish towels, wine glass coasters, children’s clothing and sunglasses cases are her specialty. She sells them, including her chicken and rooster patterned fabrics, at craft fairs and in nine stores on Kauai.
“I get compliments on my color coordination and workmanship,” Gordines explained.
The Kapahi woman grew up in West Los Angles during the Great Depression. She and her six siblings were raised by a single mom.
“I remember climbing trees, running around in an empty lot pretending we lived in a forest and playing kick the can in the streets,” Gordines said.
Her mother sewed all of the children’s clothes.
“They were hard times,” Gordines said. “Then, when I was 12, my mother taught me how to sew. I remember making a red crepe party dress. My friends couldn’t believe I made it.”
Using her age-old sewing skills and accounting knowledge — she is a self-taught accountant — Gordines tackles the nearly 100 yards of fabric she purchased for her in-home craft business in Kapahi. It has kept her busy since a back surgery in 2000 took her away from her other passion which was, believe it or not, volleyball.
“It broke my heart,” Gordines said. “I’d still be playing if I could.”
When Gordines arrived in Kauai, there were no volleyball teams for women. With friends and former physical education students, they formed a team. By 1977, they were competing and came in second in an all-day tournament in Kekaha.
“I played center,” Gordines remembered. “And I was good at serving.”
Now the only thing that will tear her away from her sewing machine is a televised University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine volleyball game, the next best thing to actually spiking the ball herself.
“I’ll be yelling at the TV, ‘Back up! Block,’” Gordines said about her game-watching habits.
After a game, she returns to cutting and sewing, up to six hours a day. Besides Gordine’s devotion to a wahine game, the only thing stopping Gordines from whipping through sewing hundreds of her “Kauai-made” goods is a tiny bit of arthritis every once in a while in her pinkie finger.
“But not much, thank goodness,” Gordines said.
• Lisa Ann Capozzi, features and education reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
