Lenore Kumulani Van Gieson was born June 16, 1935 in Hilo, Hawai'i. Her father, Ebenezer Coit Hobron Van Gieson, was from a Honolulu family and educated at Kamehameha Schools; her mother, Victoria Kumulani Todd Van Gieson, a Hilo native. The oldest of four siblings, VanGieson grew up on property owned by her mother's side of the family in the Keaukaha section of Hilo. This section, known as Pu'umaile by old-timers, was an area where many of Hilo's elite resided full-time or part-time in beachfront homes and cottages.

Born in Halawa Valley, a part-Hawaiian man remembers his family's subsistence lifestyle based on taro farming. He describes the 1946 tidal wave that damaged their home and the damages caused to the taro patches.

The eldest daughter of florists describes her Waiehu beachfront neighborhood. She tells of her family's escape from the 1946 tsunami and describes the receding and incoming waves. Also present at the interview is her husband Richard Omuro.

Margaret (Kamaka) Spinney was born on September 26, 1910, in Kalaoa, North Kana, Hawaii. She was the daughter of Jacob Palakiko Kamaka and Kalua Pimoe Makahi, who were lau hala weavers. In 1930, Margaret moved to Kailua, Kana, where she worked as a coffee bean sorter at the American Factors coffee mill. A year later, she married Arthur Spinney, a commercial fisherman. In 1937, they moved to Oahu, where Arthur began working as a parks keeper in Nanakuli. Ten years later, they returned to Kana.

Marsue McGinnis McShane was born May 15, 1924 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father, Ralph McGinnis, was a professor of English and journalism at Miami University in Ohio. Her mother, Erma Kl>enig McGinnis, was a homemaker. McShane and an older brother were raised in the college town of Oxford, Ohio. She also spent part of her childhood with her grandmother in nearby Covington, Kentucky. McShane attended schools in Oxford, graduating from high school in 1941.

Martina Kekuewa Fuentevilla, a lifelong resident of Kona, Hawaii, was born on September 30, 1908, in Honaunau, South Kona, Hawaii. Raised by her kahu hanai, a system of guardianship commonly practiced in Hawaii, she lived separately from her mother, who resided with Martina's grandparent. Throughout her life, Martina held various jobs, including a coffee picker, tobacco stringer, hat weaver, and entertainer. She began her career as an entertainer at a young age, playing music with her aunt, Mrs. Kelekolio. In 1927, she married Leon Labadios Fuentevilla, with whom she had six children.

Masako Sugawa, eldest of three children, was born in 1911, in Halehaka, Kaua'i. Her father, Yoichiro Hanzawa, immigrant from Miyagi-ken, Japan, was a rice farmer in Halehaka; her mother, Kesa, also from Miyagi-ken, died at age thirty-three in 1919. Masako helped her father care for her sister and brother.

Masao Uchi.ma was born in Honoka'a, Hawai'i on May 22, 1928. When he was an infant, the family moved to 'O'okala, Hawai'i, where his father, Katsunoshin Uchima, was an independent sugarcane contractor. When Masao Uchima was five, the family moved to Hilo, where Katsunoshin Uchima began Eagle Laundry. The business was located on Kamehameha Avenue, in the Shinmachi section of Hilo. The family lived in a cottage behind the laundry. Katsunoshin Uchi.ma was an immigrant from Okinawa.

Masuo Kino was born April 2, 1929 in Kahuku Mauka (near N"mole), Hawai'i. His father, Kenkin Kino, was a laborer and independent sugarcane grower for Hakalau Plantation Company. His mother, Makato Inamine Kino, was a housewife who raised five children of which Masuo was the youngest. Kenkin and Makato Kino were immigrants from Okinawa. Masuo helped his father and mother in the sugarcane fields.

A man of full Hawaiian ancestry describes growing up in Waikoloa, Kainalimu Bay, Maui and subsisting by growing taro, fishing, and gathering shellfish. He describes how he and his family were caught in the 1946 tsunami, how they survived, how their home was destroyed, and how it was rebuilt. He also speaks of his father, a minister, and his religious faith.