Gregory Basil Hunt

February 7, 1948 - May 4, 2019

Gregory Basil Hunt was born on February 7, 1948 at Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. He was the second of three children of Rupert Basil and Marian Flores Hunt. He also had three older half sisters Claire, Naomi and Patricia and a half brother James. Their house was on Palani Avenue in Kapahulu and it was a great neighborhood with lots of other children. Greg described himself as his father’s shadow…he followed him everywhere. Greg’s father worked at Mutual Telephone Company and was in charge of maintenance and repair of all the payphones on Oahu. His older brother Rupert remembers that Greg was always very affectionate. Their father would come home after a hard day's work and close his eyes. Then Greg, age 5, would lay beside him and place his pointer finger and thumb on the bridge of his Dad’s nose and gently rub until he put him to sleep. Then Greg would wind a short curl of his hair and slowly twirl it around his finger until their mother called them all to supper. Greg always looked forward to getting boiled peanuts with his father as a special treat. He later carried on that tradition with his two children. Growing up in Kapahulu was fun the the 1950’s. The television had not yet been invented and a lot was left to your own imagination. Led by older brother James, Greg and Rupert would listen to evening radio programs including: The Shadow, Boston Blackie and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Every Saturday at Kapahulu Theater, most of the children from the neighborhood would gather at the Bugs Bunny Club for a few hours in the morning. For the nominal fee of 10 cents, you could play games like musical chairs, watch a feature film and watch the latest episode of Flash Gordon. “Chap-tah!” was what the kids said when Flash Gordon prevailed. Gregory attended Thomas Jefferson English Standard School. He remembers his older siblings, especially James, taking him along to special events and visiting relatives at a young age. His best friend was Dickie Ogawa. They became friends when Greg who was tallest in his grade told other boys who were picking on Dickie, the smallest in the class, to stop bullying him. Greg’s favorite subject in school was History. Math was a not-so-favorite subject. Being resourceful, Greg asked his intelligent older brother Rupert his homework word problems. Rupert rattled off answer after correct answer—all the while sleeping soundly. The first sport Greg played was baseball in the Little League Minor Division for the Kapawai Cardinals. On his first day, his brother remembers the coach let him pitch. His ball was so fast, everyone who faced him was scared. His pitches were wild and kept everyone on their toes. Greg had a paper route to make some pocket money. He also helped to clean Island Paradise School with his Dad for Grandma Gagi, who owned the school. Five hours of cleaning made him five dollars. His love affair with numismatics and philatelics (aka coin collecting and stamp collecting) started at a young age. His grandfather Ernest Shinkaku Hunt taught him how to cherry pick at various stamp and coin shops around Oahu. On these excursions Greg procured a coin here or stamp there and started his own modest collection. This would be the beginning of a life long passion. Waikiki Beach was just a few block down the street from Kapahulu and Greg loved to swim, surf and paddle canoe. He became a member of the Healani Canoe Club and was friends with Clyde and Eddie Aikau. He later told us of unusual happenings at parties held on the Aikau family property in Papakolea when we would vacation as a family at Punaluu every summer. At age 12, his father Rupert, passed away after a two year battle with melanoma skin cancer. This was why he learned to value his family at an early age and always encouraged his children to know their family. Greg was always open to feedback, and later he would often ask his children if he was doing a good job as a father. He would explain that he wasn’t sure sometimes because he didn’t have his own father for very long. In the 7th grade, he enrolled at Saint Augustine School. Inadvertently he got his first job when his brother Rupert got a job that didn’t quite suit him, Greg asked if he could have the job as a dishwasher/busboy at the Beneath the Reef Coffee Shop. It pleased him to contribute and support his single parent family. After that he was accepted at Saint Louis School and humbly called Kalaepohaku his second home for the next four years. He often told us amusing stories about his time there. For example his first day of school—roll call sounded like this, “Hu Hung Hunt? Ibaraki.” His close friends were: Lorrin Ching, Godfrey Ching, Art Souza, James Stone, Richard Rapoza, and Bernard Foo. These were friends he kept throughout his lifetime. Dad initially played football at St. Louis. His career in football was short lived and ended when he broke his leg during horseplay with classmates. His mother was not about to let her youngest son Greggy (a name which he highly disliked) get hurt again. He changed sports and played Varsity Volleyball for four years, a sport which involved less physical contact. He was co-captain his senior year. Greg was also active in intramural sports including basketball and wrestling. He held various elected leadership roles including: 9th grade treasurer, 10th grade homeroom President and Student Body Treasurer his senior year. Upon graduation, Greg matriculated to the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH) as a Speech Communications major. There he was recruited as a walk on by then UH Volleyball Coach Harry Kealoha for its club volleyball team. This was the precursor to the UH Men’s Volleyball team, long before the NCAA existed. He played under Coach Kealoha for three years until he left to help the US National Team. His senior year, UH had budget cuts, so they enlisted the help of then football coach Larry Price to coach the team. Mr. Price had never played or coached volleyball and brought a few athletic football players out for the team. Greg, John Mau, and one other teammate ended up coaching the volleyball team that season. The all-star football players, being new to the game, didn’t know how to block, so they got spiked in the face a couple of times. The result was Greg being chased around the gym by a couple of well known linebackers until Coach Price made them stop. In the fall of 1969, he met the love of his life, Susan Tamashiro while at UH Manoa. They were in the same combined fraternity & sorority group called Alpha Gamma Omega (aka AGO; aka A Gross Organization). Greg insisted he asked Susan out many times and she said no. Susan said he was a nice guy who helped he get rid of the numerous creeps that followed her around campus. Greg would always ask Susan if she needed a ride to different events but he lived in Kaimuki and she lived in Kaneohe, so she didn’t want to inconvenience him. Regardless, during one of the many AGO events (parties) they realized there was a mutual attraction and they were more than friends. They were married later that year on November 1, 1970. After graduating from college he became an assistant manger at Woolworths in charge of the toy department. A child at heart, it was just up his alley. He was in charge of demonstrating how to use toys. One of his favorites was a toy called Bonkers, basically two balls attached by a string. He would bounce the balls together one handed, then use multiple Bonkers two handed…it made every child that saw it, want one. For those of you who aren’t familiar this the toy, it functioned similar to Maori poi balls. Greg began working as an officer at the Honolulu Police Department in February of 1971. Fourteen months later, he became a father to his daughter Susanna. He chose to go back to college, this time to Chaminade University and pursue a degree in Justice Management. He graduated with his second Bachelor’s Degree in 1977, the same year his son Ryan was born. In 1977, Greg was assigned to the HPD Communications Division. He taught a Juvenile Crime Prevention class in conjunction with the public schools—first at Jarrett Intermediate in Palolo and then at Kaimuki Middle School. At risk students were recommended by teachers, but other students could apply to be part of a summer program called Kops n Kids. Susanna was allowed to tag along to hikes and swimming at various places around the island, the firing range at Koko Head, a track and field competition against other schools, and even a fine dining experience (to learn table etiquette) hosted by his brother Rupert at the Ala Moana Americana Hotel. Greg quickly realized that many of the kids he worked with came from broken families and found it rewarding to teach them to be good citizens and set goals for themselves. Greg loved athletics and the lessons that team sports taught. He pursued coaching volleyball at University Laboratory School in 1975. He liked it because was a small school with a family feel and he was warmly welcomed by the students and their parents. To recruit players, he would come on campus at lunch time and ask if a tall girl/boy could come to volleyball practice. Varsity Volleyball games were in the evening, a few hours after the school day ended. Greg worried that his players wouldn’t have enough energy before games. He asked Susan to cook and feed the teams at their home in Kaimuki before games. He treated all his players like family. Initially he coached boys team, then girls, then boys teams. In that time, the girls team won the 1980 state championship and the boys broke Punahou’s winning streak. He stopped coaching in 1987 to watch his own children play sports. He was a gifted coach and loved to help people not only in sports, but in life. A Speech Communications major until the end, he would always ask you to assess yourself—what did you well, then what you could improve upon. Afterwards he would tell you what he thought was positive and then what could be improved. That made it easy to receive feedback from him because his intent was for you to both grow from the discussion and to learn to be your own critic. Greg played on the multi-gold medal winning Honolulu Police Volleyball Team from 1978 - 1996 and traveled to many destinations including: California, New York, Texas, Australia, Canada and United Arab Emirates. Whenever he could, he would bring his family and while the dads played volleyball, they kids would play together too. The Honolulu Coin Club was an important part of his life. Greg became a member in the early 1970’s. He became the President in 1980 and retained that title through 2014. That year he was honored as a lifetime member. At the same time he was also a member of the Hawaii State Numismatic Association (HSNA). He served its’ President from the mid 1980’s until 2019 when he stepped down due to his cancer diagnosis. Along the way, he won the prestigious Glenn Smedley Memorial Award and Lifetime Achievement Award both given by the American Numismatic Association (ANA). Punaluu was a place special to our entire family. Greg’s Aunty Mary and Uncle Wilfred Hunt each owned beach houses in that area. Annually in the summer the whole family would stay for a week or more in the country. It was a time to play in the sun, swim, catch up with the family and learn new games…all with no television. Greg always led the charge swimming, playing trumps and cribbage, crab hunting and more. The game he loved the most (and taught to anyone who came to Punaluu) was called PIG. “Put down, pass, pick up,” he would call again and again in his loud voice. The goal was to have four of a kind in your hand and then yell the word, “PIG!” Then everyone would violently grab for a poker chip in the middle of the table. Like musical chairs, one person would be left out. That person would have to drink a glass of water and be heard at night using the bathroom and flushing the toilet. Greg’s competitive nature would shine through especially bright playing this game. Followed by his hearty and infectious laugh which sometimes sounded like he was gasping for air. Greg’s favorite musical group was The Beatles. When you drove in his car, it was only natural that you learn all the words to their songs because in his humble opinion, they were the best band that ever existed and had the most #1 hits. It became a running joke in the family that Dad’s car only played “Top One,” radio. In 1990, he was approached to Coach Volleyball at Saint Louis School and gladly accepted. Greg coached the Crusader Volleyball team for six seasons with his daughter Susanna as his assistant and son Ryan as one of his players. In the 1990s, Greg was assigned back to the Community Relations Division as a Sergeant. He was in charge of the DARE program with a colleague. Their vision was to make DARE Day Hawaii 1992, 1994 and 1996 the largest DARE Day(s) in the nation and they succeeded. He retired from HPD as a Lieutenant in the ________ Division in December 2000 at age 55 with 29 years of service. Gregory was elated when his grandchildren were born. Since his father’s death, he had hated hospitals, but he made an exception to meet both his granddaughter Aeryn and later grandson Kieryk. He happily volunteered to babysit. Never having changed a diaper in his life, Greg asked his granddaughter Aeryn to, “Please stay still, Papa doesn’t know what he’s doing.” Luckily Aeryn did as he asked and in turn made Greg feel confident as a grandfather. Greg we will remember you as a loving husband, father and grandfather who never tried to find fault with people. You were an inspirational man of action, who chose to see the world through rose-colored glasses, in spite of knowing the bad that existed. Most importantly you taught us not to complain about what is wrong in the world if we aren’t willing to put in the hard work needed to change it. (might add a couple more thoughts) Funeral Services Information: Friday June 21, 2019 9:15 am Mass at Mystical Rose Oratory, St Louis School Campus 10:30 am-12:30 Celebration of Life & Family Visitation Mamiya Theatre, St Louis School Campus Gregory Basil Hunt is survived by: his wife Susan Hunt children Susanna Hunt (Kiley Paet) and Ryan (Kinau) Hunt grandchildren Aeryn & Kieryk Paet brother Rupert S Hunt sister Deborah Nordstrom hanai mother Betty Rose He is preceded in death by... father Rupert Basil Hunt mother Marian Flores Hunt sisters: Claire Kasher Naomi Martin Patricia (Kai) Otbo brother: James Silva grandchild Anuhea Paet