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Hamilton Kupper: Hamilton Kupper's courtship and marriage to Jane Abarao

Jo Ann Inoue Lee, Suzanne Lee and Robin Wong, interviewed by Arlene S. Ching

Table of Contents

  1. Hamilton Kupper's courtship and marriage to Jane Abarao
  2. Plantation home on 'Aiea Heights Drive
  3. Pete's Taxip

Hamilton Kupper's courtship and marriage to Jane Abarao

And so, Jo Ann, um, your father, first met your mother here in ‘Aiea and your mother is an ‘Aiea girl.  Can you tell me how your father and mother met?

JO ANN: My mom was a waitress at Pete’s Place.  It’s a restaurant.  And my dad was in the military, and, uh… He would frequent Pete’s Place for dinner and my dad met her.  She would wait on him and so, um, you know, obviously, they struck up a conversation, and then, the rest was history.  (Everyone laughs)  And they had you!  (Looking at Robin) (Everyone laughs)  And dad never left the islands.

What did your mother and father look like, at that time?

SUZANNE: Oh, my dad was good looking!  I mean, all the way up to the end.

JO ANN: We have a lot of pictures of him, when he was younger.  And, he looked like an actor.  No exaggeration.  Tall—(sisters chime in), dark and handsome.

ROBIN: He was a really good athlete.  He played baseball for the Navy, and one year, he made the All-Star team.

JO ANN: He was the All-Star team, and he was supposed to play for the pros, but he had a knee injury.  So---He was a very good ball player.  He was a second baseman for the Navy.  Excuse me, first base.  First base for Sub Pac.

So, what brought him here to Hawai‘i?  He enlisted in the Navy?

JO ANN: Yes.  And he was stationed here.  He did tours to Japan, for six months.  On the submarine, the U.S.S Wahoo.  He was an engine man.

And, when he came here to ‘Aiea, and was going to this restaurant, Pete’s Place, was he stationed at Pearl Harbor?

JO ANN: Yes. 

And he would drive?  Or take the shuttle from the boat?

JO ANN:         I’m not sure.  I don’t know.

ROBIN: Maybe he caught the taxi in.  (Everyone laughs)

Well, tell me about your mother Jane?  At that time, she was raising---

JO ANN: Raising all of us. 

How big was your family?

JO ANN: We have an older brother.  And at that time, it was my older brother Mike, myself, Suzanne, three of us.  And she was working as a waitress.

Raise the family during the day, and then nighttime, work at---

JO ANN: She would work during the day also.  It wasn’t day and night but some days, she worked during the day.  And I remember some, during the night.

And what kind of food did Pete’s Place serve?

JO ANN: One side, it was a lounge.  And the other side was like a family restaurant. 

SUZANNE: Something like a Spencecliff type of restaurant.

ROBIN: Oh, it was mostly like a Flamingo (restaurant), maybe?  (The sisters agree)  Just American food.

You sit in the booths---

JO ANN: Yes.

Did your father try to sit in your mother’s area?

ROBIN: I think he did that.  I think he mentioned once, he knew where, what area she waitressed, and so, he would make it a point to be in that area, and go and see her.

JO ANN: Our mother was very attractive too.  She was a glamorous type, our mother.  She was very glamorous until the day she died.  (All laugh)  She’d always have her makeup on.  Every single day, she would wear makeup.  Never went without makeup until the past few days before she passed away.

And so, um, your father proposed to her?  He already knew he was going to have this instant family?

JO ANN: Yes, yes. 

And about how old were you, when all of this happened?

SUZANNE:    Gee, I must have been, like three, yeah?  Three or four?

JO ANN: So I was maybe, about---I remember being older!

In school already?

JO ANN: Yeah, I was in school.  Was it late elementary years?  All I know, was one day, I was walking up ‘Aiea Heights Drive, and I saw my mom and my dad, coming down from the hill, and they turned around and they waved at me, like---they waved at me.  And that’s when they were going to get married!  (Laughed)  I think they just got married!

SUZANNE: Where was I?

JO ANN: I don’t know.  (Everyone laughs)  I wasn’t with them.

SUZANNE: You were watching me?  I was three years old?

JO ANN: But that was the day, that I knew, they got married.

So, they got married, like, in a civil court, not a, you know---

JO ANN: No.  They got married privately.  Because I don’t remember being there---present, when they got married.

So, when you remember them waving at you, and you waving back, it was like—huh?

JO ANN: Yes.  “Hi”?  (Arlene and Jo Ann laugh)  “Where are you going?”

And then after that, he’s, uh, living in your home?

JO ANN: Um-hmm.

SUZANNE: A lot of times, he was on the submarine, too, because he was still in the military.

JO ANN: He was still in the military.  He retired after he married to my mom.

So then, she became a Navy wife, but he was serving his duties.

JO ANN: Right.  He would be away six months at a time.

ROBIN: Mom had her family here.  He didn’t uproot us.  We stayed here and he did all the traveling, so it was nice that we always had the family together, in one area.

And still with your grandparents? It’s unusual, with the military; you didn’t have to go station to station.

JO ANN: Right.  But our grandparents were already deceased.

JO ANN: They died pretty young, on my mother’s side.

So, um, you mentioned the family store.  Who was running this?

JO ANN: Aburao Store?  It was one of my aunties that were running the store.  And then after, there was ‘Aiea Appliance right next to it, an appliance shop.  And my uncle, Kenji Tokuno, he had that store, ‘Aiea Appliance.

 [Continue to Part 2]

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Table of Contents

  1. Hamilton Kupper's courtship and marriage to Jane Abarao
  2. Plantation home on 'Aiea Heights Drive
  3. Pete's Taxip