Whatever happened to Miss Parker?

Miss Jean Parker only taught at Kaunoa School for one year, but she left as much of a lasting impression on her students as they did on her. Parker, a special guest at the class of 57's 40-year reunion, shared memories of her time teaching on Maui and then told her students about some of the things she went on to accomplish in the four decades since they all shared a Spreckelsville classroom.

The bright-eyed 2nd-graders sat at attention Saturday afternoon as they clustered around Miss Parker on the shady lawn at Kaunoa for lessons and guidance. It was just like the last time they'd done this - 46 years ago.

"Listening to her today, I imagine she talked to us the same way back then," said Shirley Murdoch Gunderson, whispering out of habit so she wouldn't get scolded.

The 40th reunion of the old Kaunoa School's Class of 1957 - the last group to ever complete all 8 grades there - would have been a special occasion anyhow for the 30 or so alumni who showed up for the festivities, but when 2nd-grade teacher Miss Jean Parker dropped in almost as unexpected as a pop quiz, there were more sniffles and squeals than at graduation.

"She was always a favorite teacher," said Gaylord Kubota, the well-known historian at the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Museum in Puunene. "I think everybody remembered her."

What's more amazing, Miss Parker, now 68, remembered nearly every one of them. "I always wondered what happened to you all," Miss Parker cried as she accurately identified Gunderson.

The wondering was mutual. Although Miss parker made a lasting impression not only on her 2nd-grade students, but the entire school, she taught at Kaunoa for just one year. Nobody really knew what ever became of the tall, haole - and ever so young - teacher from the Mainland. They didn't know that she had gone on to become an activist who would fight racism and segregation in school systems, adopt and raise seven children of various cultures on her own and credit most of it to her single year with them.

"It's been a good life and a lot of it stemmed off from being here," she said. "you learned a lot - and not just in school."

As much as Miss Parker cherished her very first 2nd-grade class the rest of her career, she lost touch.

Then, last May, she found herself visiting Maui. Thumbing through the phone book in search of familiar names, she spotted Kubota's and dialed the number. "This is a rather strange call," she began, "but many years ago I used to teach 2nd grade at Kaunoa School."

"Miss Parker?!" gasped Kubota. Old times quickly took over and Kubota shared with her the big plans for the 40th reunion. Since she now lives in Florida, Miss Parker told him a return trip so soon was out of the question. But when she got home, she couldn't get those Kaunoa kids - or maybe it was memories of five-hole marbles - out of her mind.

So she sent in her RSVP.

"They were an incredible group," she said of her students. "They were ornery, but they were exciting. They were curious, they wanted to learn, they were always investigating."

The class was Miss Parker's initial teaching assignment after she had graduated college in California. Hawaii had sent out the recruitment troops for teachers and, despite the protests of her mother, she signed up. "I told them to hold my contract until I was 21 so my mother couldn't burn it," she said with a chuckle.

Her adventure began with the trip to the islands. Miss Parker and a friend sailed over on a cattle boat with cows and roosters. "A calf was even born on the way," she said.

After flying from Honolulu into the old Puunene Airport, she settled in a teacher's cottage near the Puunene Sugar Mill and wanted to know more about this place called Kaunoa School.

During her recruitment, "they had said it was an 'English standard school' but I didn't know what that meant," she recalled. "They said something like 'the kids wouldn't be speaking pidgin, they would be speaking English' and I really didn't think anything of it.

"Then I found out about the interviews, which was pretty tough to handle." Students didn't just enroll at Kaunoa - only the ones who spoke proper English did. It was known all around the island as the "haole school," even though students of other ethnic backgrounds attended, although nowhere near as many as the Caucasians. While Miss Parker said she never saw racist attitudes among the kids, the idea of what the school stood for would forever bother her. Eventually, it bothered officials, too; When Kaunoa was closed in 1957, that was the end of the "English standard" schools in the territory.

But it was apparent that whatever standards were unknowingly imposed upon the students back then didn't play much of a part in how they reacted to each other 40 years later. They were a melting pot as kids and they still are. After all, how many 8th-grade class reunions do you ever hear about? "There's a tightness about this group that you don't often see," said Kubota.

While many of the alumni stayed close, Miss Parker went off on her own. From Kaunoa, she experienced a real Hawaii public school when she landed a job at Hana. From there, she returned to the Mainland and eventually earned a doctorate degree.

Now aware that racism could be directed not only at blacks, but at Asians and Pacific Islanders, as well, she took a rare stand. At one school where she was teaching, some visitors from Japan wanted to sit in on an American classroom. She was horrified at the literature passed out to prepare the teachers - most of it filled with hatred and stereotypes still lingering from the war. Miss Parker, who had gone on to study in Japan, quashed that and began teaching the children a more realistic version of the culture she had seen and the people who would arrive.

The visit was a hit! "Everyone made contact with each other," she said. "When the visitors went home to Japan, everyone continued to write back and forth."

Meanwhile, she was creating a family of her own, making a home for older abandoned children who often never get adopted. From the calm look on her face - and the stories she tells - it was as rewarding an experience for her as it was for those kids.

Although 45 years have passed and her 2nd graders now have some gray hairs of their own, Miss Parker was still Miss Parker.

And so, under the shade of the same monkeypod where they taught her how to play five-hole marbles long ago, the Kaunoa kids fell silent as Miss Parker gave them advice for the next chapter of their lives: Remember your responsibilities, take care of your elderly parents and realize that you can hold your own with those young folks.

"There's a lot of power in this group," she said. There was when you were 7 and there's even more now." Her former students knew exactly where a big source of that power was. "This has been a family for a long, long time," said Miss Parker. "Even though I haven't been with you for more than 40 years, I still feel like I'm coming home."

The Kaunoa family felt a little more complete on Saturday.