Aloha Gang!
Little delay in getting the blog out this Monday and I'm not even going to try and give an excuse. I will just get you into the blog by saying that this past Sunday was Luke Nishikawa's funeral service.
Luke, Lukey, Lukester, or shaka Luke was what I called him when we were working down at the beach. All I have is great memories of Luke! After listening to all of his friends speak at the service I realized why I only have good memories of him. There is not one instance that I can think of when Luke was not smiling. There are so many stories I could tell all of you about my boy Luke but this blog would take us into March if I were to write them all down. I always had fun with Luke when he was at the beach because I knew he could handle a little razzing. I remember his first day of work as it were yesterday. We had hired a young guy by the name of Ronson the summer before and we needed somebody that could speak Japanese so Ronson said he had this friend Luke that could probably fill in for our main Japanese instructors days off. I was stoked to hear this and then Ronson went on to say "but i''m not too sure if he surfs"! I started laughing, but Ronson said this guy was the most charasmatic guy he's ever met and that he can put smile on anybody's face by his his own smile alone. I said bring him down to the beach so I can meet him. I'm not exactly sure what day it was but I remember it was a day when I was getting off from the fire station and had to hurry to the beach to get there by 8:30am. I was running a little late because we had an early moring car accident in front of the fire station and I didn't leave until 8:20. After getting to the beach at about 9 or so I was a little frustrated after sitting in traffic and as I parked my car I looked to my left and there was this small blue chrysler minivan with spinners on it........... you know- the chrome wheels that keep spinning even after you stop at a traffic light. Well people pay tons of money for these since they are steel wheels dipped in chrome and polished to the point where you could eat off of them. What's so odd you might be asking? Well as I got a closer look I noticed they were plastic with a chrome look and the front left tire was missing one! I looked up and there was this japanese kid asking me "you like those or what" with a big grin on his face! I started laughing my butt off and said "you gotta be Luke"! He said "yep". I then asked him "what, the other one went flying off on the freeway". Luke said "how'd you know"! I kept laughing all day with the picture of him rolling around town with plastic spinners. Obviously he had a sense of humor so I introduced myself as Kevin, one of the owners of Hawaiian Fire. He shook my hand and I told him that to start working for Hawaiian Fire that he would have to put sunblock on my back. He looked at me like I was crazy but I kept a straight face and made him go through with it. I said thanks and told him he was going to fit in well with all the boys and ladies of Hawaiian Fire! (And he did!). Luke worked for us for three summers as he was going to school on the mainland. We eventually hired many college kids for the summers and called them our summer fun crew. All of them bonded and became really close friends in and out of work! Luke was a man of God and it showed each and everytime he was in the water with the customers. Nothing made this guy mad and he handled adversity with a huge smile. We had many customers tell us through emails that Luke was their instructor and what a difference he had made in their lives. This is what is so special to me about running a company like this. At the service John (the other owner) said a few words that put some tears of happiness in my eyes. He explained how blessed we are to own a company that gives employees a chance to touch others on such a personal level by teaching people something that we LOVE to do.......... SURF! Luke not only loved life but he loved to share everything that he had with others. Luke is with our creator and he will always have a special place in my heart. God bless his family, and our prayers go out to them. Thank you to the Nishikawa family for such a wonderful service that they put together. Also a huge mahalo to the kids that put the paddle out together for Luke down at Kalaeloa. Mahalo for reading the blog and have a safe and happy holiday season.
Kevin
p.s. Luke finally told everybody but me for the longest time that he hated putting sunblock on the owners back. But guess what? I kept having him do it each summer just to see him cringe! I love you Lukey!
