Over the course of five decades, Fortunato Teho was the foremost expert on all things horticultural in the islands with his newspaper columns, radio shows and television programs. This month we look back on Teho and learn about an unfinished book he wrote that was able to come to life.
Teho was born in Manila in 1908. His mother, Benita Garcia, chose his name Fortunato well, as he was the only one of her children to survive a cholera epidemic in the Philippines. In 1911 Teho’s parents emigrated to Hawaii, eventually settling on Kauai. Teho excelled in public school and was accepted at Mid-Pacific Institute on a scholarship, graduating at 15.
"As a child I was always fascinated by plants, and since sugar was the main industry in Hawaii, I decided to take up sugar technology in the university," Teho said in a 1982 interview with Hawaii Filipino News.
In 1927 Teho became the first Filipino to graduate from the University of Hawaii, earning a bachelor’s degree in agricultural technology. That same year he married Susannah Ventura and embarked on a career as an agriculturalist for Kilauea Sugar Plantation Co. on Kauai. During the 1930s and early 1940s, Teho worked for three sugar companies on the Big Island and in July 1946 was hired by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association to work in the public relations department.
Teho was a member of a Hawaii delegation to Washington, D.C., that advocated for citizenship for Filipino immigrants, and in May 1948 he become the first Filipino in Hawaii to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. That same year his alma mater hired him as a publicist for the College of Tropical Agriculture. During this time Teho began writing articles for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser covering various agricultural topics.
In 1956 Teho created and produced the only agricultural radio program in the islands. His radio show initially covered farmer-oriented topics but later expanded to offer advice and tips for home gardeners. Through the years, Teho’s program aired over 12 local radio stations, and in 1958 he began a television program on KHVH (now KITV). His show later aired on KGMB, and in 1966 he hosted one of the first programs to appear on KHET, "Island Living."
Another TV series Teho had was called "Consumer Line," sponsored by UH. During the early 1970s on KHON, Teho’s "Talking to Plants" was seen Sunday afternoons. In all he produced more than 700 shows.
In 1971 Teho authored the book "Plants of Hawaii: How to Grow Them," which eventually sold more than 50,000 copies. Teho retired in 1973 after working 25 years as a publicist for the UH College of Tropical Agriculture. In 1980 he became president of the Western Garden Writers Association. The following year, Teho was honored by the state Senate in a resolution citing his 25 years of broadcasting in the islands.
After battling cancer for several years, Teho died July 11, 1986. But his story doesn’t end there, thanks to his granddaughter Corrine Villa-Riese, who published the book "Fortunato Teho’s Hawaii Gardens" in 2011.
"In 1988 my grandmother gave me an old photo album containing pictures of my grandparents taken during their early lives in the 1920s and 1930s," said Villa-Riese. After being given a box of documents that contained articles written by her grandfather, she decided to digitize and catalog everything so she could share them with family members from a younger generation who didn’t get to know Teho.
"During this process my husband and I discovered an outline for a book that my grandfather intended to write," she said.
Her grandfather’s unfinished book covered sustainable gardening topics that were considered visionary for its time. "After we had distributed the book to family members, we felt that there were still many people out there who remember seeing my grandfather on television or hearing him on the radio and who would enjoy reading his life story, too. So this is when we decided to make the book available to the public," said Villa-Riese.
"Fortunato Teho’s Hawaii Gardens" is available at Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle versions.
A.J. McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.
