Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 12, 1 December 1985 — Gladys Ainoa Brandt, Ruth M. Ono Selected [ARTICLE]

Gladys Ainoa Brandt, Ruth M. Ono Selected

Convention Honors Two Outstanding Women

Gladys Ainoa Brandt, chairwoman of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, and Ruth M. Ono, vice president of The Queen's Medical Center, were selected as Outstanding Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian, respectively, during the 26th annual Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs convention No. 6-9 at the Maui Inter-Continental Hotel in Wailea. Other awards went to Rawleen Fisher, Queen Emma Hawaiian Civic Club as the outstanding civic club member and to Pearl Harbor Hawaiian Civic Club for both the Ho'omau i Ika Hana Lima Noe'eau A Na Hawaii award and the outstanding club award. There were also prizes given to lei contest winners, aloha shirt and muumuu contestants, SfX)rts and Hawaiian games winners. Mrs. Brandt, who has had a long career of active service and administration on all levels of educational instruction, was nominated by the Prince Kuhio Hawaiian Civic Club. Her educational career covers a span of 44 years, starting as a teacher in 1927 and culminating as director for the high school division of The Kamehameha Schools where she also served six years as principal of the then Kamehameha School for Girls. In addition to being a classroom teacher in the public school system, she was also supervisor of intern teachers at

the University of Hawaii and principal and district superintendent in the Department of Education. Mrs. Brandt has also had an illustrious career in serving her community and in various other professional fields, chairing a long list of committees or serving as president of various organizations. In the field of awards, she has had many, including the David Malo Award, honorary doctorate degree of humane letters from the University of Hawaii, the Agnes Baldwin Award and many more. Mrs. Ono has "lived and breathed" The Queen's Medical Center for 23 years, rising to her current position as vice president. She has been inspired by the heritage of caring as exemplified by the Center's founder, Queen Emma Kaleleonalani. Queen Emma envisioned an institution that would provide the best and most compassionate care for her people and subsequently founded Queen's in 1859 as the first hospital built for the Hawaiian people. For 126 years Queen's has been a thriving reality, thanks in part to the efforts of Mrs. Ono. In recent years she was able to obtain $100 million in tax-exempt bonds from the State legislature, making it possible to complete the recently constructed Queen Emma Tower whieh hpuses critical care, surgical, X-ray and other

medical services for the people of Hawaii. Mrs. Ono, appropriately nominated by the Queen Emma club, is a trustee on the Board of Directors of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum where her foremost goal has been to strengthen this hallmark of Hawaiian culture and living testament to the rich and unique history of the Hawaiian people. Mrs. Ono has never sought recognition among the Hawaiian community. In her humble way she continually seeks to listen and leam from those who are wise in Hawaiian ways and culture, and then to share this with her colleagues here and abroad in both government and private business. Her leadership and business achievements are numerous, having been honored and acclaimed both locally and internationally and serving her community in the field of business, economics and community efforts. She is married to Alfred K. Ono who spent 28 years with KHON-TV Channel 2, the last seven as part owner of McCoy Broadcast Company. He designed and constructed the NBC television tower atop the Century Center building. Ono is currently chief engineer of public television station KHET. Mr. and Mrs. Ono are the parents of sons Raymond, manager of First Hawaiian Bank's Hawaii Kai branch, and Alston, a publicist in Honolulu and Beverly Hills, Calif.