Beginning on November 1, which is the date of my mother’s first letter from her Hawaii trip 84 years ago, I am serializing day by day, the book, Cecilia King’s Extraordinary Senior Trip, which you can obtain from Amazon in either Kindle or paperback.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming nine-months in Hawaii 1940-41.
Cecilia to parents from Honolulu, Mondy night, November 18, 1940

Monday night –
So much done in one day!! My head is so abuzz with the b150 names I heard tonite that I’m liable to be a prize prisoner in one of Uncle Ed’s guard houses by tomorrow.
This morning we went into town & by the last sport shop on our list which made very cheap gaudy suits for only a dollar less than my choice so I decided to keep the blue & white print. I will have to get (either ready made or have made) two tennis suits as soon as possible. To the beauty parlor – I blossomed out from there (“Marcell de Paris”) with a new hair do pageboy. It really did look grand for my entrance to the Ft. Shafter doings tonite but from here out little Cecilia washes her own hair & puts the money on boots & skirts. We scouted Kresses – a huge store – for hardware fixtures --- bought a wedding present at the jewelry store & there, incidentally bought a little $45.00 coffee broule silver bowl because Aunt Susan thought It’d be a cute trick for me to make some after the dinner she is going to have for me soon. All the stores have Christmas decorations – can’t you just see the big board Santa Clauses wobbling under the palm trees with potted orchids scattered about him? Such as it is, here.
This morning we get on a bus driven by a Spaniard, a Negro took our tokens – out of the bus and in to have a Frenchmen do our hair with an Hawaiian assistant to help him. Down to lunch – via an elevator run by a Chinese boy – lunch served by Japanese waitresses. What! No German spies!
Hone – rest – dress. In the chiffon with the striped skirt, white slippers & orchids the Keharts brought from across town & 12 miles out to the Golf Shack at Ft. Shafter. Through the receiving line and into a rough (& I mean rough) sea of faces & names. Dinner – with a Col. Loustalot as my partner – Uncle Ed, McCarley & Bernheim who I already knew at the table so not totally strange. After dinner more names – met several people who I distinctly remember -- & many who are a huge blur. Quite a red letter night – since I met my first bachelor – Lt. Herron – the Generals son--
Everyone settled down to bridge, bingo & poker then & Aunt Susan, & a few others of us sat chatting. Someone called Uncle Ed to play poker & they all shoved me along with him – into a stag game with 7 other officers in the Med. Corps. I was just sitting (the only woman in miles, it seemed) but they dealt me a hand & pushed me some chips so in I went. Got wonderful hands & came out one of the two winners in the game. So feel that even if it was strange & a nun in the monastery I made a good showing.
Will get to sleep late tomorrow – then up to begin a day of drudgery at letters and a week’s laundry.
Oh, I almost forgot one very amusing episode. Mrs. Janitz (whose husband played poker with us -- & is a barrel of fun) said that a young ensign – who is quite attached to their daughter made this statement in their home – “I saw Col. King down at DeRussy with a good looking young new wife.” So many of the older officers have appeared with young wives, so perhaps that was my first introduction to the bachelor corps!
Editor’s Note
Major General Charles D. Herron (1877 – 1977) was head of the Army’s Hawaiian Command from 1938 to 1941. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_D._Herron. His son was William Milligan Herron (1916 – 1978), a 23-year-old 2nd lieutenant in 1940, who married Katherine Frothingham Benner in Honolulu in April of 1941 ( Ancestry.com)