Ralph Thomas:
CLASS OF 1973
Maunaolu CollegeClass of 1973
Paia, HI
Ralph's Story
Although my family was in the Washington, D.C. area, I enrolled in Maunaolu right after I got out of the Air Force in September, 1971. My last duty station was in Yokota Air Base, Japan. I'll never forget how happy I was when I received my acceptance letter from Maunaolu College while I was in Japan. Prior to that, I served a year in Vietnam. Maunaolu was a welcome restful atmosphere after four years in the military. There were some great professors there, who took a personal interest in me and helped me a lot. I remember Mike and Peggy Ward, Dr. Doug Treadway, Felix Tan, and Steve George, to name a few. It was at Maunaolu that I decided to become a lawyer. While I was in the Air Force, I was always teasingly called "the lawyer" by my friends because of my readiness to advocate for the underdog and the accused. As I sat in one of my first classes at Maunaolu, one of the professors asked me what I wanted to be, and I instinctively said, "a lawyer." After that, a lot of people came to my aid, and I believe Dr. Treadway and Mr. Ward arranged for me to work for the Maui Public Defender under the college's work study program. That was a fitting beginning for me. I worked for the next two years as an investigator for Philip Lowenthal, who was then the Public Defender and is now a lawyer in private practice on Maui. I learned so much from him. We have stayed in touch over the years. I also worked as a busboy at the Maui Beach Hotel in Kahului. At Maunaolu I also remember with much affection Ms. Harriet Santos, who was the Financial Aid Director there; Yuki Yamamoto, who headed the cafeteria; and, many others whose names I can no longer remember.
I used to write a special column, "The Legal Column" in the school newspaper called, "The Heavy Times." I was also there during the University of Hawaii's "Fabulous Five" basketball team's historic success, and I was there when the University of Hawaii's law school was established. I enjoyed going to "Larry's" restaurant and bar in Paia, and I stayed in their lodge for the few days before classes started when I first arrived on Maui. Maunaolu had just been sold to a mainland university called U.S. International University, which was based in San Diego, CA, but the school was still called Maunaolu. I had a story written about me while I was there which appeared in local the Maui newspaper. I forget the name of it right now -- oh yes, the Maui News.
Anyway, I am now a lawyer, having graduated from Harvard Law School, after receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Criminology from the University of California at Berkeley. I practice in a Washington, D.C.suburb in McLean, VA, where I am ...Expand for more
a name partner in a law firm, where I practice government contracts law. I have been back to Maui three times, since I first left in 1973, and each time I have visited Maunaolu, although it is a job corps site now. In 1991 I went to Hawaii to bring Environmental Remediation Training to small, minority and women owned contractors there. I was head of a trade association which had a federal grant to provide such training all over the country. I selected Hawaii as one of the states. In 2002, as head of NASA Small Business Programs, I brought a NASA training program there in which the now-Hawaii Governor Abercrombie gave the keynote luncheon address. We joked that when I lived there he was a waiter at Chuck's Steakhouse and I was a busboy at the Maui Beach Hotel. "We wondered what happened to you," he said to the laughter of the audience.
There are many Maunaolu classmates who I still remember with affection, including the Micronesians, who were well represented during the time I went there. Some of my most memorable classmates were: Alice Searcy, Rick Devaux (now deceased), Timena Viamona (Samoa), Michelle Wong, John Ah Sue (Samoa), Timothy B. Timothy, Graceful Enlet, John Maui, Tammy Vining, Do Dung, Brad Farr, Carol Carpenter, Brown Russell, Gail Giddings, to name a few. And, of course, I would be remiss not to point out that when I was there Maunaolu had its largest African American attendance (5) of whom there was myself, Jack Anderson, Maurice Jackson, Dale Cooper, Johnny Acuff and Cheryl (Cannot Remember Last Name) (1971-1972) and the following year there was myself, Michelle "Mikki" Payne, Jeanne Gray, Michele, and another woman.
During my final year at Maunaolu I lived off campus in Wailuku. I drove a 1962 Ford Galaxie. I made a lot of friends in the local community, too. When I visited the Maui Beach Hotel in 1991, they wouldn't let me pay for anything. Many of my co-workers were still there after all those years. When I worked at the Public Defender's Office we shared space with the Legal Services Offices, which were run by Michael Town and Joel August. Mr. Town is now a judge in Honolulu (who I visited in 1991 in his chambers) and Mr. August is now the Circuit Court Judge on Maui. Mr. Lowenthal stayed at my house in D.C. during a visit in 1994. I met his son, Ben, who is also now a lawyer when he came to the Obama Inaugaration in 2009. Philip Lowenthal spoke at Maunaolu, at my request, several times while I was on Maui. They always liked him.
I will always love Maunaolu and will greatly value my experience there. It gave me all of the basics from the some of the best and caring people I have ever met.
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