<Begin Segment 4>

LD: What kinds of things do you feel you learned from your father and mother, either by example or things they actually said to you? When you think of your parents and what they said to you about how you should lead your life, what was important? How would they expect of your behavior, both that and maybe in your language school, what kinds of things come back to you when you think of that?

HF: Well, I feel that the greatest contribution that my parents made to my life was the desire on their part to educate their children. And I happened to be the oldest of three immediate members of my family, and I kind of had to set the pace for my kid sisters. And it was an uphill battle all the way through after high school.

LD: Like what? I mean, tell us about that a little bit. How did you get to Kansas, and, I mean, it was pretty unusual at that time for...

HF: Yes.

LD: ...an island boy to go on the mainland to Kansas, who had heard of Kansas?

HF: My interest in veterinary medicine started in high school during my senior year. It so happened that my senior advisor, a Mrs. J.D. Brown, came from Kansas and graduated from Kansas State University where there was an excellent veterinary school. And my advisor thought about my background on the farm, and thought that veterinary medicine would be an excellent professional field to enter. And I took her recommendation after... that is, recommendation into consideration, but I was to complete my pre-veterinary training at the University of Hawaii on a Hompa Hongwanji scholarship from the Hilo Hongwanji. But because that particular year I happened to be the public speaker and president of the Future Farmers of America, Territory of Hawaii, at the time, I had to go to Kansas City through the American Royal to represent the Hawaiian Islands. And in the interim, I received a letter of denial from the dean of admissions stating that because I was "gallivanting around the countryside," in quotes, I was denied the opportunity to enroll at that particular point in time, and that I must stay out of school for one year. With that type of response from the University of Hawaii, I felt that there was no advantage in going to the University, and I promptly applied for admission to Kansas State University, and this is how I came to enroll at that institution.

LD: You mean University of Hawaii was... I don't understand. University of Hawaii was accusing you of what?

HF: Dean of admissions at that time.

LD: The dean of admissions at the University of Hawaii was saying what?

HF: That I did not have to go gallivanting around the countryside representing the Future Farmers of America, Hawaii Future Farmers of America.

LD: What was really going on? What do you read there, what was happening.

HF: I'm not sure how you would interpret that, except that I think the dean was trying to throw his weight around.

LD: What did you think at that time that was happening to you? That was pretty extraordinary.

HF: That was, but I felt that since my ultimate objective was to enroll at Kansas State University anyway, that it really didn't matter.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1985 The Center for Educational Telecommunications and Densho. All Rights Reserved.