It’s a gorgeous Waimea day, the snow covered summit of Mauna Kea seems to float atop Pele’s cloud, her mysteries well hidden for now. At the nature park, Bob “Uncle Bob” Lindsey, sits at a picnic table, engrossed in his IPad while the activity of the day swirls around him. Repairs to the outdoor stage, walkers strolling and an artist heading for a creative niche; this place feels like the heart of the village. Bob greets me and immediately includes me in his field of aloha. Within the swirl of his work as the newly elected president of the board of trustees for OHA and his many other non-profit affiliations, Bob has found time to write four books and a play. “Writing is my therapy. I have a book coming out in March called, God is Aloha and a play that will be coming out this fall: Sunny Kuniho: Profile in Hawaiian Courage.”
Born in Hilo, but raised in Waimea, Bob and his brother Ben grew up working hard, never missing school or church and he has taken that attitude with him as he’s made his way through a life of fulfilled opportunities. “It was like a triangle, the big pieces at least in our household, home, school and church. At home, our mom, she was a fundamental Christian and for her idle hands was the devil's workshop. It was work, work, work.”
After completing ninth grade at Waimea School, Bob was accepted at Kamehameha Boy’s School in Kapalama. “The first week there. It was on a Friday afternoon and I had to go see my counselor who was Mrs. Wise.” After telling her that, “Living at Kamehameha is like living in a hotel,” and that, “Work squad is a piece of cake, she gave me this piece of pink paper. I thought nothing of it. But when I looked at it, it was an appointment to go to Kaiser Hospital. She thought I was crazy.”
After graduating from Kamehameha School in 1966, Bob returned to Hawaii Island and began school at U.H. Hilo in the fall. “I actually started out in economics and that was the direction I was going in and then I took a sociology class from Al Yanagizawa and I was just so inspired by his teaching and his philosophy that I switched and I made Dr. Yonagisawa very happy but I made Dr. Swan very unhappy. People for me was a better pathway.”
Meeting his wife Kathy was perhaps destiny. After two years at U.H. Hilo, Bob transferred to U.H. Manoa, while at the same time his wife to be, Kathy, had transferred from S.F. State to complete her teaching degree. After they married and finished school, they were able to return to Hawaii Island. “When we were first married she (Kathy) said, ‘I’ll give you three choices of where we could live, Waimea, Waimea, Waimea.’”
Bob had a position working in the family courts where he honed his people skills. “Maurice Payne who was the parole officer here in Waimea told me that he was retiring and that I should apply for his job. I was lucky enough to get the position and I did that kind of work for seven years. It was fun work, but it was taxing work. I had Kohala, Hamakua and Waimea. I had fun working with the kids. We'd take them hiking, swimming.”
But after seven years, he needed a break and having been denied a furlough, (goofing off was what he put on the application) he left and took a position at Pu`ukoholā Heiau. “The Heiau had just become part of the NPS (National Parks System) system so we were just starting to build up an interpretive program. At the time we had the tiny little office at the top and then the heiau was in shambles so it was being stabilized. The old road into Spencer was still in place. It was fun telling the story about Kamehameha, telling the story about the place and helping develop materials. On a busy day back then we averaged 30 people.”
In 1980, after a two year farming venture with his brother (there were four storms in one year), Bob started work with Kamehameha School as a secretary receptionist but soon moved on to become the East Hawaii coordinator. “What we did in terms of outreach was we were the link between the Kamehameha campus and folks in the East Hawaii community. So if a family had a question or they needed help with some kind of issue regarding their child and the school we would come in and be a resource to them. Part of the job entailed admissions work and I still run into kids today that will come up to me, Ala Moana Center or the airport in Honolulu. And of course the question is, 'Oh Mr. Lindsey, do you remember me? You interviewed me.'"
In the 24 years that Bob worked for K.S. he held various positions but he brought his people skills and balanced life view to each one of them. His next position was as liaison to the office of the president. “My role was to represent the office of the president with different community or Hawaiian organizations: Board of Education, Alu Like, Liliuokalani Children's Center. I served three presidents in the course of a year. Jack Darville who was retiring and Bob Springer who was his interim replacement. And then when Mike Chun became president, I worked for him as well. He wanted me to stay but then the trustees said, 'No. We're having problems on the Big Island within our land group so you're gonna go back to the Big Island.'” Bob returned to Hawaii Island in the role of Government Relations Officer to put out some fires that were sparked from the Honolulu office. “Someone on our Honolulu staff had upset our farmers in Kona and made the statement that all of the farm land at some point would be converted to residential, covered over in concrete and that incensed the farmers. Virginia Isbell (then serving as state representative for district 4) in particular became a great advocate for our Bishop Estate farmers. When I was brought back over, my job was to find a fair balance between what the lessees thought was fair and what our trustees at Kamehameha thought was fair. Some of the trustees would ask me, 'Who do you work for? Do you work for us or for the lessees?' And my comment was no, no. We're all in this together.”
Listening to people and working to create balance and cohesion are the special skills that Bob has brought to the OHA Board of Trustees. In 2007 Bob was “happily retired” when he got a call from Mike Chun, Kamehameha School, Kapalama headmaster. “He said, 'I really think you should go back to work and I want to put your name in the hat (for OHA board).” Bob got the appointment and has been serving on the OHA board since March 2007 and was recently elected to president of the board.
OHA was formed in 1978 as a result of the Con-Con or Constitutional Convention that began the process of formalizing the Hawaiian Nation and has, “Two roles: policy formulation and the other is oversight of assets. When it comes to the whole governance issue, we have spent so much money already, around $25 million on registration. People are very disappointed in seeing all the resources, well some people say, being wasted on this effort to just create a roll, a register of people to elect delegates to convene a convention out of which will come hopefully some kind of model, a governing structure that a majority of us feel good about.”
The oversight of assets is also an indirect process. “People don't feel connected to OHA and that's because they don't see any direct benefit. We provide services through others. OHA is not a direct provider, so when it comes to housing, I'm thrilled to say that we partner with Hawaiian Homes and Habitat for Humanity. We here in Waimea are benefitting greatly through them and by being at the table, I can help guide the conversation so that our people get to share some of the blessings that come out of these conversations.”
One of those blessings is well-supported Hawaiian focused charter schools. “Working through our Hawaiian focus charter school movement, OHA has been contributing more and more resources to finance that effort. Our Hawaiian focus charter schools have a model. The pedagogy is called ‘Education with Aloha’ and that is why I have so much confidence and so much aloha for our Hawaiian focus charter schools because what they provide for our kids is a very caring environment where they can thrive.”
And to thrive as an island community, it’s important to develop sustainable economics. “There's political sovereignty but for me what's more important is economic sovereignty. And I think Mike Hudson at Wow Farms, he's got the model for us. And his model is to help all of our farmers in the Waimea area become economically self-sufficient. I'm hoping that Mike and all of his efforts will develop an economic sovereignty model that we can export to other communities across the state so our people will be able to do for themselves. We used to be sovereign a long time ago but then we became consumers. We need to go back to being producers. But we live in the time we live in now. We can think about the past, but we can't hang on to all of it. We got to take the best of the worlds that we exist in and look forward and move forward for the sake of our kids.”
Born in Hilo, but raised in Waimea, Bob and his brother Ben grew up working hard, never missing school or church and he has taken that attitude with him as he’s made his way through a life of fulfilled opportunities. “It was like a triangle, the big pieces at least in our household, home, school and church. At home, our mom, she was a fundamental Christian and for her idle hands was the devil's workshop. It was work, work, work.”
After completing ninth grade at Waimea School, Bob was accepted at Kamehameha Boy’s School in Kapalama. “The first week there. It was on a Friday afternoon and I had to go see my counselor who was Mrs. Wise.” After telling her that, “Living at Kamehameha is like living in a hotel,” and that, “Work squad is a piece of cake, she gave me this piece of pink paper. I thought nothing of it. But when I looked at it, it was an appointment to go to Kaiser Hospital. She thought I was crazy.”
After graduating from Kamehameha School in 1966, Bob returned to Hawaii Island and began school at U.H. Hilo in the fall. “I actually started out in economics and that was the direction I was going in and then I took a sociology class from Al Yanagizawa and I was just so inspired by his teaching and his philosophy that I switched and I made Dr. Yonagisawa very happy but I made Dr. Swan very unhappy. People for me was a better pathway.”
Meeting his wife Kathy was perhaps destiny. After two years at U.H. Hilo, Bob transferred to U.H. Manoa, while at the same time his wife to be, Kathy, had transferred from S.F. State to complete her teaching degree. After they married and finished school, they were able to return to Hawaii Island. “When we were first married she (Kathy) said, ‘I’ll give you three choices of where we could live, Waimea, Waimea, Waimea.’”
Bob had a position working in the family courts where he honed his people skills. “Maurice Payne who was the parole officer here in Waimea told me that he was retiring and that I should apply for his job. I was lucky enough to get the position and I did that kind of work for seven years. It was fun work, but it was taxing work. I had Kohala, Hamakua and Waimea. I had fun working with the kids. We'd take them hiking, swimming.”
But after seven years, he needed a break and having been denied a furlough, (goofing off was what he put on the application) he left and took a position at Pu`ukoholā Heiau. “The Heiau had just become part of the NPS (National Parks System) system so we were just starting to build up an interpretive program. At the time we had the tiny little office at the top and then the heiau was in shambles so it was being stabilized. The old road into Spencer was still in place. It was fun telling the story about Kamehameha, telling the story about the place and helping develop materials. On a busy day back then we averaged 30 people.”
In 1980, after a two year farming venture with his brother (there were four storms in one year), Bob started work with Kamehameha School as a secretary receptionist but soon moved on to become the East Hawaii coordinator. “What we did in terms of outreach was we were the link between the Kamehameha campus and folks in the East Hawaii community. So if a family had a question or they needed help with some kind of issue regarding their child and the school we would come in and be a resource to them. Part of the job entailed admissions work and I still run into kids today that will come up to me, Ala Moana Center or the airport in Honolulu. And of course the question is, 'Oh Mr. Lindsey, do you remember me? You interviewed me.'"
In the 24 years that Bob worked for K.S. he held various positions but he brought his people skills and balanced life view to each one of them. His next position was as liaison to the office of the president. “My role was to represent the office of the president with different community or Hawaiian organizations: Board of Education, Alu Like, Liliuokalani Children's Center. I served three presidents in the course of a year. Jack Darville who was retiring and Bob Springer who was his interim replacement. And then when Mike Chun became president, I worked for him as well. He wanted me to stay but then the trustees said, 'No. We're having problems on the Big Island within our land group so you're gonna go back to the Big Island.'” Bob returned to Hawaii Island in the role of Government Relations Officer to put out some fires that were sparked from the Honolulu office. “Someone on our Honolulu staff had upset our farmers in Kona and made the statement that all of the farm land at some point would be converted to residential, covered over in concrete and that incensed the farmers. Virginia Isbell (then serving as state representative for district 4) in particular became a great advocate for our Bishop Estate farmers. When I was brought back over, my job was to find a fair balance between what the lessees thought was fair and what our trustees at Kamehameha thought was fair. Some of the trustees would ask me, 'Who do you work for? Do you work for us or for the lessees?' And my comment was no, no. We're all in this together.”
Listening to people and working to create balance and cohesion are the special skills that Bob has brought to the OHA Board of Trustees. In 2007 Bob was “happily retired” when he got a call from Mike Chun, Kamehameha School, Kapalama headmaster. “He said, 'I really think you should go back to work and I want to put your name in the hat (for OHA board).” Bob got the appointment and has been serving on the OHA board since March 2007 and was recently elected to president of the board.
OHA was formed in 1978 as a result of the Con-Con or Constitutional Convention that began the process of formalizing the Hawaiian Nation and has, “Two roles: policy formulation and the other is oversight of assets. When it comes to the whole governance issue, we have spent so much money already, around $25 million on registration. People are very disappointed in seeing all the resources, well some people say, being wasted on this effort to just create a roll, a register of people to elect delegates to convene a convention out of which will come hopefully some kind of model, a governing structure that a majority of us feel good about.”
The oversight of assets is also an indirect process. “People don't feel connected to OHA and that's because they don't see any direct benefit. We provide services through others. OHA is not a direct provider, so when it comes to housing, I'm thrilled to say that we partner with Hawaiian Homes and Habitat for Humanity. We here in Waimea are benefitting greatly through them and by being at the table, I can help guide the conversation so that our people get to share some of the blessings that come out of these conversations.”
One of those blessings is well-supported Hawaiian focused charter schools. “Working through our Hawaiian focus charter school movement, OHA has been contributing more and more resources to finance that effort. Our Hawaiian focus charter schools have a model. The pedagogy is called ‘Education with Aloha’ and that is why I have so much confidence and so much aloha for our Hawaiian focus charter schools because what they provide for our kids is a very caring environment where they can thrive.”
And to thrive as an island community, it’s important to develop sustainable economics. “There's political sovereignty but for me what's more important is economic sovereignty. And I think Mike Hudson at Wow Farms, he's got the model for us. And his model is to help all of our farmers in the Waimea area become economically self-sufficient. I'm hoping that Mike and all of his efforts will develop an economic sovereignty model that we can export to other communities across the state so our people will be able to do for themselves. We used to be sovereign a long time ago but then we became consumers. We need to go back to being producers. But we live in the time we live in now. We can think about the past, but we can't hang on to all of it. We got to take the best of the worlds that we exist in and look forward and move forward for the sake of our kids.”
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