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Hamilton Kupper: Plantation Home on ‘Aiea Heights Drive

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

Plantation Home on ‘Aiea Heights Drive

So, um, you lived in a home that was a plantation home, up in ‘Aiea Heights.

JO ANN: Heights Drive.

ROBIN: Right across from the sugar mill. 

JO ANN: Between the ballpark and the sugar mill.  On ‘Aiea Heights Drive.

And what kind of home was it?

JO ANN: Plantation home with a bath and outhouse.  It was a two-bedroom.  Two bedrooms with a living room, and a separate kitchen.  

And it was electrified but you said, outdoor outhouse.

JO ANN: Yes.  

ROBIN: With a ditch running continuously. 

JO ANN: Right.  With water running underneath.  And we had kerosene stove.

ROBIN: With a huge pine tree in the front.  Remember?  One of those big pine trees.

JO ANN: (It had a lawn) With Japan grass.

ROBIN: Dad cut the tree down.

And who were the neighbors, above you and below you?

ROBIN, JO ANN: The Sakumas, to the right of us.  The Miyashiros, to the left.  And behind us, was the Sakai family. 

And the same kind of home?  Plantation home?  (All agree)  Did you have yards in-between?

JO ANN: Yes.

ROBIN: But did you have fences?

JO ANN: No.  

ROBIN: One has, like, an avocado tree, in-between.

JO ANN: Our neighbor had a macadamia nut tree, believe it or not.  

ROBIN: We had a common mango tree---

JO ANN: And behind our yard, I was just mentioning it to them, that we had a grape vine.  And we had grapes!  Green grapes that was sour as can be!  But, people don’t believe we have a grape vine in the back, and I remember seeing grapes hanging.

ROBIN: You could have had a vineyard!  (Everyone laughs)

SUZANNE: A winery!

JO ANN: Very sour!  I don’t know if it was there when we moved there or what, but I don’t remember my folks planting it or anything.

Jo Ann, do you know if the home was there, I mean, that your mother and father were renting it?

JO ANN: I think there were renting it and they had an option to buy it.  And then they bought the home.

(Arlene finds out that their mother’s first husband had worked for Honolulu Plantation so housing was provided)  Then because he was working for the mill, then, the home could be lived in, because mill family, you know.

JO ANN: I think so.  I may not be correct in that, but I think so.  But then, they later purchased the land.  Then, people started to, um, build new homes, so we built---my mother folks built a Hicks Home with my (step) dad, Hamilton.   New home.  Three bedrooms.  With a bathroom.

You mean, until that Hicks Home was built, you all still used the outdoors toilet?

All: No, no.  Later on, they made an extension to the house, and they built a shower and a toilet in the house.  We had a place where you could put your washing machine.

(Arlene asked about all the siblings, and they describe the circumstances of their baby brother, who died shortly after his birth in 1959.)

SUZANNE: But he came home.

JO ANN: What happened, was, my dad, yeah, he did come home.  At that time, my dad was stationed in Japan.  He was on tour for six months.  And what happened was, when the crewmen heard what happened to our brother, they all chipped in and flew my dad home.  And when my dad came home---our brother’s name was Don; he passed away the next day. 

So, Robin, you were born in Tripler (Army Hospital), too, and your father served twenty years in the military, and retired, about what year?

JO ANN: It would have to over forty years, because, that’s when Dad went into the taxi business.

ROBIN: I want to say (he retired in) 1964.  We have a coffee table, that we still have, and it was gift when Dad retired, a koa table, and it has his retirement date on it.  So I can look at that.  And his papers too.  I think it was 1964. 

 [Continue to Part 3]

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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