A Maunaolu College "All Years" Reunion will be held July 26-27 at Lumeria Maui.
"Maunaolu left a lasting impression on everyone who was ever associated with the school," said Ralph Thomas, who attended the college between Paia and Makawao along Baldwin Avenue in the early 1970s and is a member of the reunion organizing committee. "This is an opportunity for all of us to come together from all over the world maybe one last time to share with one another where we've been and how far we've come since attending Maunaolu."
Other members of the reunion committee include Michael Ward, Jack Anderson, Maurice Jackson and Alice Searcy, a news release said.
The reunion will be open to anyone who ever attended Maunaolu College as a student or worked there as a faculty or staff member.
"The mere fact that the event is being held at the Lumeria Maui hotel is intentional," said Thomas, a Washington, D.C., attorney specializing in government contracts law. "The hotel site used to be where the Maunaolu men's dormitories were located. Just being at that location should be very nostalgic for all of us."
The college, also referred to as Mauna Olu through the years, was founded in 1861 by the Rev. and Mrs. C.B. Andrews and the American Board of Missions as a seminary for Hawaiian girls of grade school age, the Maui Historical Society's website said.
The school served as a military hospital during World War II and reopened in 1950 as a coeducational junior college run by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association of Congregational Christian Churches, according to the website. Maunaolu Community College offered the last two years of high school and the first two years of college.
A four-year college curriculum was developed in 1969, but the college had difficulty attracting students. In 1971, Maunaolu College was acquired by United States International University, and later by the County of Maui. The college is no longer in existence, the website said.
Reunion plans call for an icebreaker on July 26 with a full day of activities the next day culminating in a "Memories of Maunaolu" dinner. At the dinner, there will be awards and entertainment.
The registration fee will be $100 (single) and $150 (double) for the entire event. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Lumeria Maui.
Lumeria Maui is not a hotel but an educational retreat center focusing on classes and programs in yoga, meditation, watersports, horticultural programs and metaphysical studies, according to Xorin Balbes, founder of the retreat center.
For more information, go to the reunion's website at maunaolureunion.eventbrite.com.
