David Kurohara has been fishing since he was twelve years old. He is an active mullet fisher in Wailoa State Park in Hilo, Hawaii. In 2017, he joined the Hawai‘i Island Leadership Council. He has worked for Hawaii Electric for twenty years and serves as the company’s Business and Community Consultant. David is a respected community leader and volunteer who donates his time to many services and non-profit boards.

James "Jimmy" Low was born January 24, 1930 in Hilo. Beginning in 1926, his parents, King Yong Low of Kwangtung, China, and Mary Chow Low of Hilo, ran a grocery store on Keawe Street. 'Three years later, they branched out and opened the original Sun Sun Lau Chop Sui House on Haili Street. In 1939, the restaurant relocated to Kamehameha Avenue in downtown Hilo. Low, the fourth of seven children, grew up around the restaurant. As soon.as he was old enough, he helped his parents cook in the kitchen and set up for banquets.

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.

Evelyn Lyn Miyazaki Kagawa, nisei, was born June 22, 1922 in Tacoma, Washington. Her parents, Carl Shintaro Miyazaki and Matsuko Matsukawa Miyazaki immigrated to America from Kumamoto and Ehime prefectures, respectively. Kagawa, the second of four children, was raised and educated in Tacoma, graduating from Stadium High School. She was attending the College of Puget Sound when World War II broke out. Carl Miyazaki, a leader in the local Japanese community, was picked up by the FBI and interned as an enemy alien at Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Josephine Nelson Todd was born November 9, 1906 in Pepe'ekeo, Hawai'i. She was the seventh of eleven children born to Hans Peter Nelson, an immigrant from Denmark, and Mary Morgado Nelson, an immigrant from Portugal. Hans Peter Nelson was an employee for Pepe'ekeo Sugar Company. When Todd was a young girl, the family moved to Hilo. She grew up in the Villa Franca section of Hilo, an area populated predominantly by Portuguese. Portuguese was Todd's flrst language.

Born August 21, 1913, Minerva Kiyoko Saiki Hayakawa was the flfth of eight children. While still a young child, her father, Takaichi Rupert Saiki immigrated with his family to Hilo from Hiroshima, Japan.

Kimiko Kuwana Sakai, daughter of Japanese immigrants, Hisa Muranaka Kuwana and Jitsuzo Kuwana, was born on April 26, 1916, in Pahoa, Hawai'i. She is one of eight children born to the Kuwanas. Her mother's main responsibility was running the household and caring for the children. Her father was a foreman at 'Ola'a Sugar Company plantation. Sakai graduated from Hilo High School in 1934 after completing Hilo Intermediate School and her primary grades at schools in Pahoa and 'Ola'a. After graduation, she worked as a kitchen helper at Dr. T. Kutsunai's hospital in Papa'ikou.

Riichi Hatada, the fourth of eight children, was born on April 21, 1922 in downtown Hilo to Japanese immigrants Shigemi Tasaka Hatada and Kenho Hatada. His father waited on tables at the Pacific Bakery Hotel and Restaurant where he eventually learned the bakery trade. In ca. 1925, his father founded K. Hatada Bakery in the Shin.machi section of Hilo where the family resided. The bakery produced Star Bread. The bakery was later sold to the Ikedas who owned Hilo Macaroni Factory. During that time his father returned to Hiroshima to build a family home.

The seventh of thirteen children, Alexander M. Riviera was born in Hakalau, Hawai'i on August 9, 1931. His father was John Fernando Rivera, who immigrated from Puerto Rico in 1901, and Mary Dejesus Rivera, who was of Spanish descent and born in Hawai'i. [Note: Alexander changed the spelling of his last name.] Like many laborers, Riviera's father took on contracts at various sugar plantations on the Big Island. Riviera and his siblings spent their childhoods living in sugar plantation camps at Hakalau, Kukuihaele, Papa'aloa, and Papa'ikou.

Ronald "Square" Goya, one of three children, was born to Okinawan inunigrants, Ushi "Haru" and Aizo Goya, on September 19, 1911. His father, originally from Okinawa, worked first as a plantation worker on the Big Island. After moving to Hilo his father drove a hackney then a taxicab; he later operated a grocery, liquor store, U-Drive, and service station. Born in the Waiakea section but raised in the Shinmachi section of Hilo, he attended Waiakea Kai, Kapi'olani, Hilo Intermediate, and Hilo High schools. He graduated from Hilo High School in 1934.