Florence Yoshizu was the first person interviewed for the Kupuna Video Project. She was patient and humble as she shared her lifetime knowledge of Makawao. She was the youngest child of an Olinda pineapple farmer, and her oldest brother Jimmy Karakawa later opened a gas station at the Crossroads corner of Makawao. She married her school classmate whose family owned Yoshizu Meat Market and worked there until the business was sold in the 1970s.
Florence remembered when Makawao School was moved from the former site near the Makawao Post Office to the present site on Baldwin Avenue, and when the school was taken over as a hospital during World War II when the Marines were encamped at Camp Maui, Kokomo. She remembered the beginning of the Makawao Rodeo when horses were ridden in town and hitched on the posts, and the Fourth of July Parade in the days when Haleakala Dairy sponsored the Parade passing out POGS to the kids. She went to Japanese School on Makawao Avenue and later became a member of Makawao Buddhist Temple on the same premises. She gave Gail Ainsworth information for the Walking Tour of Makawao, walking up and down both sides of Baldwin Avenue and recalling people and happenings, almost as if the buildings were talking and telling their stories.
Florence passed away on March 16 and we are so appreciative of the information she shared with us and cherish the time she spent with us.