Category Archives: Family

50 Years Ago: Stepping Stones

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This is the third in a series of articles commemorating the 50th anniversary of our family’s move from New York to Hawaii.

We moved in 1969 to a Hawaiian paradise. But what we left was paradise too: a wooded hillside on Long Island’s “gold coast” overlooking a beautiful valley filled with flowers, pathways, gazebos, and even a castle.

In 1955, the year of my birth, my parents, Robert and Lola, designed their dream home in Huntington Bay, New York. Our split-level contemporary home had energy efficiency, modern conveniences, flexible living spaces, and a stunning vista over the surrounding beauty of nature.

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50 Years Ago: Hawaiian Music

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This second in a series of articles about my family’s move from New York to Hawaii 50 years ago this summer explores the profound influence of Hawaiian music on our lives.

Early Love of Hula

Lola Stone's Early Dreams of HawaiiMy mother, Lola Stone, always the hopeful romantic, had a life-long love for Hawaii. This picture shows Lola in her 20s or 30s, wearing a grass skirt on a Long Island beach.

In the 1960s, she began learning hula from Audrey Palmer Robinson on Long Island. Then she discovered beautiful Hawaiian dancer Puanani De Silva (pictured below).  Pua recalls:

Pua De Silva in 1961

“My memory of your mom and dad began when they came to the Bali Hai in Northport where I had a Hawaiian show. After the show they introduced themselves and we talked for a while. Your mom expressed an interest in learning the hula and some fundamental Hawaiian. So, I started a small private class with her and some friends. They came once a week and spent the afternoon learning.”  

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100 Years Ago: A Family Tragedy

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One hundred years ago, on January 30, 1919, my grandmother Freda Blustein died at age 24.  Daughter of Polish immigrants in New York City, Freda was one of the estimated 50,000,000 global victims of the “Spanish Flu” influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.  She left behind two young children, my father Robert, age 2, and his sister Gladys, age 4.

The ad below, which appeared in the New York Times exactly one year after her death, summarizes a family’s love for one who died so young:

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