Watching NFL games leading up to today’s Super Bowl was one of the few things I could enjoy after being painfully knocked to the sidelines on Christmas Eve by a case of the dreaded shingles. It felt like my torso was being squeezed by a vise and I was being stabbed by an electrified knife just under my right chest and back. The nasty, blistered rash also itched and burned …
The divisional championship games were a disappointment as the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons outclassed their respective opponents. I expect much better today when the winners clash at Houston in Super Bowl LI. Matt Ryan and the Falcons have shown me plenty, but I’ll have to stick with Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick and the Pats, and expect them to win …
CONGRATULATIONS to my longtime friend Barbara Campbell, who was named Woman of the Year by the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. Barbara is Outrigger Enterprises’ vice president of retail leasing. Among her accomplishments was leasing every restaurant and store on Waikiki Beach Walk. We both lived in the same condo building when she joined Outrigger, and had occasional dinners at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Restaurant Row, now called Waterfront Plaza.
In 1999 Ruth’s Chris Hawaii franchise owner Randy Schoch invited me and a guest to attend a dinner at his restaurant. The late Ruth Fertel, owner of the chain, was honored guest. I took Barbara with me, and we were seated next to Ruth. She was a tough, no-nonsense, slender gal. She said rib-eye steaks were her favorite. After Barbara started leasing the Beach Walk properties, one of her goals was to lease a prime spot there for a Ruth’s Chris Steak House. She did that 10 years ago, and it became one of the chain’s highest-grossing restaurants in the nation …
KAMAAINA Dee Smyser marked her 90th birthday Wednesday. She was born the same day — Feb. 1, 1927 — that the Royal Hawaiian Hotel opened on Waikiki Beach. Dee’s last of three husbands was A.A. “Bud” Smyser, former editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Dee was a reporter at the newspaper from 1946 to 1949. She worked 15 years for the Hawaii Visitors Bureau on Maui from 1955 to 1958 and in Honolulu from 1959 to 1970 as assistant PR director. Next she handled PR for the Ala Moana Hotel for three years, was editor of the Aloha Airlines and Where magazines, and did freelance writing and public relations.
Her memory is excellent. Former Star-Bulletin reporter Mary Adamski says, “She is a living memory bank of who was who and how they were connected, a result of her newswoman career and her lifetime as a hostess to many community leaders as friends and guests. I always considered her my ‘kamaaina connection’ resource when I was writing obits and other stories in 1990s and up to my exodus in 2010.”
Dee was Doris Haglund when she attended Punahou, and celebrates reunions with the dwindling class of 1944, even though she and many others were in families that moved to the mainland for safety during World War II and didn’t graduate from Punahou. Dee retired in 1985. Her first marriage was to businessman Bunt Gorelangton, who was the son of Kamakia Magoon and British Army Capt. Cecil Arthur Gorelangton. Magoon’s mom was Emmeline Afong Magoon. Emmaline was one of the 13 real-life Afong daughters depicted in the musical titled “13 Daughters,” penned by Eaton “Bob” Magoon Jr., which played here and on Broadway.
Dee and Bunt were divorced after 13 years and after having three children, Mike and Laurie Gorelangton, and Dana Gorelangton-Turnbull. Next Dee was married to Alexander & Baldwin PR executive Nelson Prather for 10 years. Their daughter is Christy Prather Nowak. He died in 1971. Bud Smyser’s wife, Betty Smyser, died in 1983. Betty was a sharp lady, the first woman to have a show on Hawaii TV. When she learned she was dying of cancer, she got the ball rolling to have Bud marry their widowed friend, Dee, after she died so he would have someone of intelligence and quality to take care of him.
Dee told me last week she was not told about Betty’s plan until after her death. Dee and Bud were married from 1984 until his death in 2001. Some of Dee’s children and her extended family, including Bud and Betty Smysers’ daughter Heidi Smyser, attended Dee’s 90th-birthday party Saturday at Dee’s Honolulu home of 45 years …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets during World War II, writes of people, places and things. Contact him via email at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
