Donors Recognized

Member Donors Create Lasting Legacies

With foresight and generosity, members past and present have created endowments to provide continuing support for ARCS Scholar Awards.

In 1985, for example, Dr. George and Virginia Starbuck established an endowment at the University of Hawai‘i Foundation in memory of their grandson, E. Palmer Payne, Jr. The proceeds fund an ARCS Scholar Award for a University of Hawai‘i student pursuing a PhD at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. Vrirginia, "Betti" to her friends, was the eigthth president of ARCS Honolulu Chapter, serving from 1984 to 1986. The Sarah Ann Martin endowment recognizes an inaugural ARCS Honolulu board member with awards to PhD students in UHʻs College of Natural Sciences, and annual grants from the Ellen M. Koenig Memorial Fund at Hawai‘i Community Foundation support ARCS awards in any approved discipline.

The stories of remarkable women behind additional endowments appear below.

Helen Jones Farrar

Born in the early 1890s to the wealthy kama‘aina family that co-founded Bank of Hawai‘i, Helen Jones attended O‘ahu College, majored in science at Smith College, and was one of the first women to obtain a driver's license on O‘ahu. She married R.J.H. Farrar and moved to Hawai‘i Island, where she became fascinated by construction of the first telescopes on Mauna Kea and the young astronomers she met. Her nephew Russel Richards established the Helen Jones Farrar Award as a fitting memorial. The award goes to an ARCS Scholar in astronomy or tropical agriculture.

Maybelle C Roth, newspaper clipping

Maybelle F. Roth

Bellingham, Wash., native Maybelle Felker earned a BS in home economics from Oregon State University and moved to Hilo following her husband’s death in 1927. She taught English in Asia and Spain, earned master’s degrees from the University of Hawai‘i and UC Berkeley, and authored A Tentative Three Year Secondary Course of Study in Spanish. After retiring as a UH associate professor, she traveled widely and was active in the Hawaiian Historical Society and Malacological Society. She established an ARCS Award for students studying conservation biology at Hawai‘i Community Foundation.

Shelagh Scoville Kresser

Shelagh Scoville was born in Pasadena in 1928 and studied at Dominican College in San Rafael. She opened The Gallery in Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1950 to showcase contemporary work by local artists. While president of the ARCS Honolulu, she created the Federick Mosson Kresser ARCS Award in engineering in memory of her husband, president of Pacific Construction Company. Active in National Society of Arts and Letters and National League of American Pen Women, Shelagh wrote a children’s book, The Chronicles of Fitkin Le Fraise, and Ulu's Dog, a collection of short stories.

Hazel Bretzlaff Von Allen

Hazel Van Allen

Hazel Lois Van Allen was described as a “vivacious wahine” and gracious hostess with homes in Reno and Honolulu. But she was humble and private in her role as benefactress. Hazel and her husband, retired Army Col. William Van Allan, established the Bretzlaff Foundation Trust in honor of her first husband, W. Herbert Bretzlaff, to support education, the arts, and social organizations. The Bretzlaff Foundation ARCS Award supports a student in Engineering.

Charlotte Yates

Charlotte Moulton Yates

1942 Punahou School alumna Charlotte Moulton Friel was known for a lively personality and penchant for shopping. She and husband Mark Reid Yates traveled extensively and were active in the Pacific Club, Oahu Country Club, and Outrigger Canoe Club. They endowed the Dr. Guy Moulton Yates ARCS Award in medicine in memory of their son. A lifelong member of P.E.O., Charlotte supported numerous community organizations, financed acquisition of an organ console at Central Union Church, and donated works of art to various museums.

Jackie Takeshita

Jackie Takeshita

The ever elegant and gracious Jackie Takeshita attended MidPac School and University of Hawai‘i. She was active in ARCS, serviing as Honolulu President 1998–2000, and remains a patron of Ballet Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i Opera Theatre. When she and husband Clifford Laughton launched their satelite telecommincation company, they named it Columbia Communications Corp. in honor of NASAʻs space shuttle. The endowment they funded from the proceeds supports the Columbia Communications ARCS Award in astronomy.

Mona Marie Elmore

Born in 1924 in Pasadena and trained in Dewey educational pegagogy, Mona delighted in being "Mrs. George Orton Elmore." The former teacher and school superintendent and her real estate developer husband moved to Kaua‘i and then Honolulu, where they were unwavering supporters of ARCS. She sought advertures abroad and intelligently quizzed ARCS Scholars at home. ARCS Honolulu used her 2019 bequest to establish the George Orton and Mona Marie Elmore ARCS Scholar endowment, annually funding awards in astronomy, oceanography, and other approved ARCS disciplines. Read more about her gift

Cheryl Ernst

Cheryl Ernst

Born in Seattle in 1956 and trained in journalism at the University of Washington, Cheryl moved to Kailua to marry Advertiser reporter Andy Yamaguchi. Her favorite activity during 30+ years as a Univeristy of Hawai‘i public information officer—writing about scientific research—led her to ARCS. She has served several terms as chapter co-president. Cheryl used her inheritance to establish the H. Keith and Sue Ernst Endowment to honor her parentsʻ hard work, intellectual curiosity, and belief in higher education. She is active in Friends of the Library of Hawai‘i and Jane Austen Society of North America.

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Mona Elmore Honored at Heart of Gold

ARCS Honolulu members with Mona Elmore Mona Elmore, far right, and her late husband George Elmore were celebrated as the ARCS Foundation Honolulu Chapter’s Golden Hearts during the February 2013 Heart of Gold luncheon at the Outrigger Canoe Club. A former educator with a keen interest in science and discovery, Mona has generously sponsored Honolulu’s Scholar of the Year and Scientist of the Year awards for several years. Special guest speaker Gail Grabowski, professor of environmental studies at Chaminade University, struck a chord with the story of her personal ordeal with colon-rectal cancer. Refusing to be a victim of her cancer, she became an active participant in her recovery and provided valuable information to her doctors by applying the research-based approach she learned as a scientist to analysis of her own treatments.

ARCS Honolulu Chapter 50th anniversary mark

Contributions to the ARCS Foundation Honolulu Chapter Endowment support ARCS Scholars in perpetuity.

Dr. Mark Hixon on ARCS Scientist Honor

Dr. Mark Hixon, Photo by Chris Pala

"I am especially grateful that ARCS Honolulu appreciates the mentoring of graduate students, who are society’s future scientists during an era when science is increasingly under attack."

ARCS Honolulu Chapter named marine ecologist Dr. Mark Hixon its 2021 ARCS Scientist of the Year for his remarkable record of research, mentorship and public outreach. He is the Sidney and Erika Hsiao Endowed Chair in Marine Biology and chairs the Zoology Graduate Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. Photo by Chris Pala

Scholar Update: Indigenous Scientist Haunani Kane

“Climate issues are large global issues, but the solutions are really going to need to be locally based, driven by communities: community needs, and their vision for the future, as well as looking at our native people and the way that they have sustainably managed lands and their coastal resources,”

2017 Toby Lee ARCS Scholar Dr. Haunani Kane combines indigenous knowledge and modern scientific techniques in her work as Univrsity of Hawai‘i at Manoa assistant professor of earth sciences. Read more

To Quote a Scholar: Julia Douglas

"The generous support of the ARCS award facilitates both the completion of my PhD program and the establishment a long-term research component of my future career."

2024 Sarah Ann Martin ARCS Scholar Julia Douglas scales trees in Hawai‘i an Mexico to study endangered epiphytes growing in the canopies as part of her doctoral research in botany at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.