Main Article: Celebrating 100 Years of Storytelling
By Lesa Griffith ’80
Rev. Henry Hodges Parker, Class of 1842, now over 91 years old … is the one living member of the first Class at Punahou. Every week Mr. Parker enjoys riding over the Pali to his boyhood home at Kāne‘ohe.” This blurb kicked off the two-page “Personal Notes About Alumni” section of the first issue of The Punahou Alumni Bulletin, printed in January 1926.
Almost 100 years later, Class of 2025 correspondents Anna Sophia Dao and Troy Sarsuelo penned their inaugural Alumni Notes entry, reflecting on the first Alumni Lū‘au experience for their Class – and reaffirming a longstanding tradition of keeping our community informed, engaged and connected.
The Alumni Notes usually make up about half of the Punahou Bulletin and are wildly popular. When asked what she reads first when she receives the magazine, Lorie King ’80 Sides said without hesitation, “Our Class notes.” She likes to see what folks are up to. “These are people who are a connection to our past and whom we care about.”
It wasn’t until 1975 that the publication put out a call for Class Correspondents. Until then, notes were all handled by the Punahou Bulletin’s editor. Then in the Fall 1976 issue, the magazine announced, “We need Class Correspondents NOW … With so many classes (and larger in size by the year) behind us, the compiling of information for Alumni Notes is becoming an all-too-time-consuming job.”
The plea went on to say, “You need not be a great writer – just someone interested in passing on the facts of what’s happening to your classmates.”
Today almost every Class starting with 1941 has at least one correspondent. And they all report to Alumni Notes Editor Waileia Davis ’86 Roster, who loves working with her corps of 145 volunteers.
“It’s about connection – and staying connected,” says Roster. She points out how from the very first alumni publication, “they urged everyone to be part of the community, asking for graduates to send in news, about their marriages, their births. That started 100 years ago and the message is still the same – let’s celebrate together.”
Roster and Punahou Alumni Programs Officer (and former Alumni Notes editor) Patti Horii ’84 Oshiro came up with the nickname, Buff ’n Blue Glue for the dedicated Class correspondents reaching out to their classmates.
“Because these correspondents literally keep their Classes glued together,” says Roster. “No matter if they’ve done it for one year or 30.” That glue can be so strong that in some cases, to keep a Class’s memory alive, children and grandchildren have stepped in as correspondents, like Leslie Vanzant Montez, reporting on her late mother, Lois “Jayne” Shaefer Vanzant Polliard’s Class of 1941.
Roster has been the Alumni Notes editor since 2018, and in that time has gotten to know her contributors well. Such as retired lawyer Willson Moore of the Class of ’46, who is going strong at 97. When asked what motivates him to be a correspondent the straight shooter replies, “There’s no one else around to do it.” Moore estimates he has 10 classmates remaining out of 125 and his reports more often are of what he calls requiems for those who have passed. “The biggest reward is you’re forced to make an effort to see how everybody is. You don’t live in your own cocoon,” he says.
Of the alumni publication’s original seven correspondents, one is astoundingly still serving her class. Charlot Albao ’66 Boll got roped into writing Alumni Notes when she was working for IBM and Punahou was one of her accounts. Then Punahou Bulletin editor Martha Clifford ’41 saw Boll in the office and asked her to come on board.
“In the beginning I wasn’t sure what I had gotten into,” admits Boll, saying it can be hard when no one submits any news. But it is the appreciation she receives from classmates that keeps her going. In the Fall 2025 issue she shared her favorite poem, “Live with a Dancing Spirit” by Daisuku Ikeda, as a way to “keep everyone going and enjoying life no matter how old we get,” she says. She was tickled when a classmate emailed to thank her and in turn shared the poem with another classmate.
Jo Amanti ’56 Piltz says being Class correspondent is a gratifying “labor of love.” She started out thinking she would contribute for a couple of issues, and has now been doing it for about 20 years. “People started sending Christmas cards, and I got hooked,” she explains, talking from her home in Waimea on Hawai‘i Island. “I just really liked having contact with people I was fond of and had known for a long time.”
Alumni Notes reached a new milestone when 1984 correspondent Debbie Sharkey Linville’s son Holden Linville ’21 became a correspondent in 2025, making them the first mother-and-son duo serving their Classes. “I was pleasantly surprised,” says Debbie, who has been writing Alumni Notes since 2005.
When Andrea Ward ’78 retired and moved from Seattle to Kentucky in 2020, she had decided to also hang up her hat as class correspondent. “I didn’t want any more responsibilities and deadlines,” she recalls. But on visits back to Hawai‘i she got so much encouragement from classmates to resume her duties that she eventually gave in and now submits newsy writeups. She thanks classmate Scott Kawakami for filling in for a year. “She’s on fire the second time around,” says Roster.
Correspondents have different styles. When Dave Ciano ’93 found himself with little to report, he developed a Proust questionnaire tailored to elicit current news and Punahou nostalgia from his classmates. He has found the results fascinating. “I love it,” says Ciano. “I like listening to people’s stories. You interview Kevin Sakuda and find out he has his own speargun company. How the heck do you get into that? You learn the most interesting things.”
Roster welcomes new correspondents with a Class Correspondent 101 document, giving them the guidelines and resources they need to get the job done. A valuable tool is the alumni directory on the Ka ‘Ohana Punahou website. She also shares tips written up by 1996 correspondents Bryan Gammel and Shelley Tadaki. It includes advice such as how to work with multiple correspondents, how to gather news from social media and how to approach the death of a classmate.
After the issue is published, Roster often receives an email or call from an alumnus asking if she can help them to reconnect with a classmate from yesteryear. “I do that a lot,” she says. “Because of Alumni Notes, they feel that ribbon, that tie to each other. It’s an opportunity to reach out.” And she does it gladly.
“It’s the arc of life,” Roster says of Alumni Notes. From her vantage point, she has seen the focus of Class news shift about every five years. “When they’re fresh out of school they write about jobs, accolades, moving to new cities, pau hana and get togethers. Then people are getting engaged, married and having babies. Then you start seeing stories about those kids growing up. And then those kids have Punahou kids. They brag about their kids, then their grandkids, then they start talking about each other again. There’s a lot of talk about health; the language becomes more empathetic and comforting. Then you get to the place where people are transitioning and passing away – becoming an alumni angel. It’s seeing life through a buff ’n blue viewfinder.”
Bulletin Alumni Class Notes
Our Current Class Correspondents
Mahalo to our Class Correspondents – past and present – for your steadfast dedication to your classmates and community. Your time, energy, words and wit bring the Alumni Notes to life in every issue of the Punahou Bulletin. The depth of your commitment keeps our buff ‘n blue alumni world engaged and connected. Here’s to another 100 years of Alumni Notes!
