Notes for Guy Nelson ROTHWELL

Descendants of
Captain Robert Brown
1809 – 1894

Notes for Guy Nelson ROTHWELL

This is a summary of his life from-the Rothwell genealogy.
1911: Assistant Draftsman, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, Washington July 11, 1911 to October 26, 1912. Letter of reference in family file.

1912: Draftsman in Public Works Department from November 1912 to January 1914. Letter of reference in family file.

1914: In charge of the structural steel and reinforced department of Honolulu Iron works from August 1914 to May 1917. Letter of reference in family file.

1915: Serial No. 42181, File No. L.910, Issue Number 1.1., Department of Commerce and Labor, Steamboat Inspection Service License to operate/navigate vessels not exceeding 65' in length or 15 gross tons, motorized carrying passengers for hire. Valid for 5 years in Steamboat Inspection District of Honolulu, Hawaii. Dated August 12, 1915. License in family file.

1917: Ship draftsman at Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor. Furloughed without pay from December 26, 1917 for duration of war. Letter of reference in family file.
Appointed Carpenter (Temporary) U.S.N., Assigned to United States Navy Yard, Norfolk, VA. Orders in family file.

1918: Orders to Carpenter Guy N. Rothwell, U.S.N. from Commandant's Office, United States Navy Yard, Norfolk, VA, April 22, 1918. Detached from Navy Yard, assigned to U.S.S. Hancock to relieve Assistant Naval Constructor E.L. Bass, U.S.N. Orders in family file.

1924: Registered Professional Engineer & Architect by Territorial Board of Registration for Professional Engineers Architects and Surveyors within the Territory of Hawaii May 13, 1924. Registration No. 109 in family file. 1967 renewal in family file.

1933: Appointed Lieutenant Commander in United States Naval Reserve January 31, 1933. Appointment paper in family file.

1932: Elected to 'Member' of the American Institute of Architects, Hawaii Chapter letter dated January 23, 1968, signed Howard M.Y. Wong, Secretary, Hawaii Chapter, A.I.A. Letter in family file.
1968: Appointed ÔMember EmeritusÕ of the American Institute of Architects, Hawaii Chapter letter dated 23 January 1968, signed Howard M. Y. Wong, Secretary, Hawaii Chapter, AlA. Letter in family file.

Misc:
Attended Oahu College (Punahou College, not to be confused with Punahou Preparatory).
Graduated University of Washington, architectural engineering.
Major buildings: Our Lady of Mystical Rose Chapel, Chaminade College; Damien High School; Roosevelt High School; ARMCO, first all metal pleasure craft made in Hawaii, 35' loa; Honolulu Hale (City Hall); Honolulu Stadium; King Street, Moanalua, and Wahiawa Bridges; Oahu Railway and Land Depot; Harris Memorial Church; Boys Athletic Hall at Palama; Hilo Armory; First National Bank Building; Charles H. Atherton House (dormitory) University of Hawaii; original gymnasium at U. of H.; Beretania, Kalihi and Kaimuki pumping plants for Sewer and Water Commission.

Appointed Board of Hospitals and Settlement (Kalaupapa Leper Colony) 1931. Was present for disinterment of Fr. Damien De Veuster.

Life member of the Honolulu Elks Lodge 616. Charter member of Waikiki Yacht Club, commodore 1958.

Member Waikiki Beach Improvement Panel. Member Board of Harbor Commissioners 1957-1963. First captain of the Outrigger Canoe Club, 2nd dues paying member (1908).

Ethnicity/Relig.: Roman Catholic

Personality/Intrst: Fishing, boating

(above from Eileen Richardson)

Notes on Guy Nelson Rothwell--Source FWB 3rd

I've put a few remarks here that weren't brought out in his obituary .

The first thing one would notice about Guy Rothwell would be that he was short but feisty. From about the beginning of the war until he retired, I don't think there is any doubt that he was the most successful architect in the islands. However, I think what he would like to be remembered as is a man of the sea. He loved his boat, fishing, taking charter parties--just being on the water.

He was a good instructor. I didn't know much about running boats when I went to live with him, but he changed that quickly. His philosophy of life was tied closely to his seamanship. One of his themes was that there are some things that you have to avoid because if you fowl up, you don't get a second chance. His first example was falling overboard at night. You avoided that by giving one hand to the boat and one to yourself--- always hang on. Another was that if the boat broke down in the Molokai channel and you couldn't fix it you might never be heard from again. So he taught me to fix anything that might break down even before I could properly steer the boat. As soon as I could dock the boat and pull out of the dock without causing damage, I was in charge of running it. From then on he entertained the fishing parties or his friends and I was the designated driver.

On the boat or anything else in life he believed in letting a person make mistakes-- and paying the penalty (except in the things you don't get a second chance on).

One of his ancestors was Lord Nelson (what they said at the time but may not be true) and his grandfather was a sea Captain who settled in the islands.

One of his duties as the Naval Aid to the Governor was to participate in the Navy's 'attack' on Hawaii during the maneuvers that took place every few years. In these maneuvers the Navy tried to capture the islands, and the Army defended the islands. The army was judged to win in all but one of the maneuvers. The navy's only victory came on an attack that he helped plan, and it was executed exactly like the attack that the Japanese made on December 7, 1941. The navy had waited for a cloudy day (the Japanese were just lucky that it was cloudy), it was a surprise, the planes attacked from the windward side of the island and hit the same targets

He visited us in Seattle on his way to a meeting back east for Chaminade College. He was 80 years old and acting like he was 20. Dorothy, Gail and I went up lake Chilan to Staheken with him and had a really good time. Gail was 9 or 10 years old. Louis died of a long term illness within a year. He was his usual self at her funeral, then died of a heart attack about a week later.

The following obituary from the Honolulu Advertiser does a good job of describing him and his life.

Kamaaina Guy Rothwell dies; was 80

Guy N. Rothwell, kamaaina architect, businessman and public servant, died Friday. He was 80. Services for Mr. Rothwell are pending. Burial will be at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Mr. Rothwelll is survived three sons, Frank N. , Robert M. and Guy N. Jr., all of Honolulu; a daughter, Mrs. Mary Louise Lloyd of Pitsfield , Mass,: a sister Mrs. Thelma Rogers of Berkeley, Calif.; 19 grandchildren and one great-gandchild.

Mrs. Mary Louise Rothwell, Mr. Rothwell's wife of 53 years, died March 2.

WITH MR. ROTHWELL'S death, Hawaii lost another of its "true" Hawaiians. Or as Mr. Rothwell said in an interview early this month with Advertiser columnist Sammy Amalu: 'I was born in 1890 when Hawaii was still a monarchy. I was born a Hawaiian......

'My family were imprisoned and exiled because we supported Queen Liliuokalani. We were royalists. We fought for Hawaii's last Queen.

'We were indeed truly Hawaiian, and without a drop of that blood in our veins.'

SAID AMALU of Rothwell's comments: ÒAnd of course, Guy Rothwell was telling the truth. He told the stories of that band of haoles who were loyal to the Hawaiian Kingdom, the royalists. And who else is left to tell their story, one that has never yet been told?

'When Guy is gone, how bare indeed will be the marketplace.'

MR. . ROTHWELL was born in Honolulu on Nov. 9, 1890, the son of John George and May Haley Rothwell. His maternal grandmother was Charlotte Brown Haley, daughter of the English seaman, Capt. Robert Brown, who once owned Kahuku ranch in Kau, Hawaii, and came to the Islands in 1838. He attended Punahou School here during 1899-1900 and 1904-1909, then went to high school in Seattle, where he also continued his education at the University of Washington.

AFTER GRADUATION from the University of Washington in 1911 with a degree in architectural engineering. Mr. Rothwell returned to Hawaii to do engineering with the United States Navy at Pearl Harbor.

From 1915-1917, he worked with the Honolulu Iron Works Co. Also in 1917 on May 7, he married the former Mary Louise McCarthy, the daughter of Charles W. McCarthy, the governor of Hawaii from 1918-1923.

From 1920 to 1923, he worked as an engineer with various construction contractors here, but in 1923 he went into private practice.

IN 1925 HE formed a partnership with John H. Kangeter and Marcus Lester and designed and constructed some of the major buildings in Honolulu.

Mr. Rothwell is credited with the construction of many buildings built during the time Hawaii was still a territory. He was one of the group of architects that designed Honolulu's City Hall, Honolulu Hale.

Among other buildings planned by him were the Palama Settlement, Oahu Railway Passenger station and office, several buildings at Punahou School, the Hilo Armory building and the Kin Street, Moanalua, Haleiwa and Wahiawa bridges.

He also supervised construction of the Bishop Trust building, Harris Memorial Church, the original gymnasium and Atherton House at the University of Hawaii, Roosevelt High School and the Beretania, Kalihi and Kaimuki pumping plants for the Sewer and Water Commission.

IN ALL, Mr. Rothwell designed more than 1,000 structures on Oahu.

In a newspaper interview in February, 1960, Mr. Rothwell said of Honolulu's turn-of-the century days: 'I first lived in Waikiki where the Moana Hotel now stands. The area as we know it today did not exist at the turn of the century.

'There were fish ponds, duck ponds and rice fields. Kalakaua Avenue was a winding road through the soggy ponds. They used to call Kalakaua 'Waikiki Road' then. It was an easier time to live.

'It used to take two hours by horse and buggy to get from Waikiki to downtown Honolulu , so only the wealthier people lived there'

IN THOSE EARLY days, Mr. Rothwell was close to Hawaii's royalty. 'Queen Liliuokalani's mansion was downtown at Washington Place. I remember her well. She was a gracious lady, the best of her race. She had a beach house at what is now Kuhio Beach. It was a great place for the gang. She was a fine woman. Of course, there were those against her, but that was for political reasons'

Of Prince Kuhio Kalanianaole, he said: 'Prince Kuhio--his nickname was Prince Cupid--was a fat, brown, jolly fellow--a very friendly man who typified the very finest. He was greatly interested in fishing. But he was a fantastic politician. He made a wonderful delegate congress. He was a fine gentleman. He always paid his bills. Prince Cupid was something of a poker player, but not much: his uncle, King Kalakaua, was the real poker player.'

AND OF THE FIRST days of the Outrigger Canoe Club, a club which he helped found: ÒIn the midst of all this the Outrigger Canoe Club was built by Alexander Hume Ford. He was an author--and I guess something of a crackpot. The club was originally organized for the boys of Honolulu. But that didn't last long. Their mothers and fathers took over and I guess never let go. I was the first captain of the Outrigger in 1908, and its second dues-paying member in history. The first, of course, was Alex Ford.'

DURING THE FIRST World War, Mr. Rothwell served 17 months in the U.S. Navy as an officer and one year with the Overseas Transport and Cruiser force.

In 1930 he was appointed by Gov. L. M. Judd as special naval aide with the rank of Lieutenant, Naval Militia, Territory of Hawaii. He served in the capacity though JuddÕs gubernatorial term, and later, on the staff of Gov. J. B. Poindester, served as an aide with the rank of Commander.

Mr. Rothwell, as a reporter once commented was 'never.....a man to suppress his gripes.'

IN 1932 HE WENT on public record as saying that the City-County's handling of building projects was 'hideous and bungling.' In 1934 he 'pot-shotted at the theater code' here, and in 1945 he called the Territorial Building Code 'outmoded, ineffective and contradictory.' And in 1953 when he challenged a sweeping theory of city master planning, he was , according to a news report, 'believed to be the first private citizen ever do so.'

OTHER POSTS held by Mr. Rothwell over the years included a four-year term (from May, 1935) of the Territorial Board of Hospitals and Settlements, membership in the American Institute of Architects and the Engineering Association of Hawaii and a regentship at Chaminade College.

He was also a life member of the Honolulu Elks Lodge 616; a charter member and former commodore (1956) of the Waikiki Yacht Club; a member of the Waikiki Beach Improvement Panel; a member of the Harbor Commissioners Board (1957-1958); and a past president of the Hawaii Chapter, AIA.

Arrangements for Mr. Rothwell's funeral services are being handled by Borthwick Mortuary.

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This is an article that was in one of the Honolulu newspapers when Guy died. It is about Guy and Flora Rice who died on the same day.

they lived lives of grace
By Sammy Amalu
(He wrote 'the world of sammy amalu')

Chill winds blow across the bay, and the night birds cry along the cliffs. The night is dark tonight, and there are clouds over the face of the moon. There are no more dreams to be dreamed, for the hour of dreaming is done. There are no songs to be sung, for the time of singing is no more. Death has walked upon the shore tonight, and he walked not alone.

IT IS NOT ENOUGH merely to live. One must do more. A man must walk tall over all the land. A woman must walk with grace. A man must erect monuments, that the earth will remember him after he has departed. A woman must walk with tenderness and gently, that the earth caress her feet and flowers blossom where once she trod.

So did they walk, they who are dead this hour. So did they live their days. Nor did they take from earth more than they gave. They replenished the deserts and fashioned gardens out of the wilderness.

They planted green trees where no trees had grown before. They brought forth new blossoms out of an arid soil. They left the earth a better place. Better because they had lived here. Better because of them.

They brought forth new blossoms out of an arid soil. They left the earth a better place. Better because they had lived here. Better because of them.

THEY BOTH LOVED Hawaii. They loved her mountains and her seas, her skies and her rainbows. They loved the people, the simple people, the gentle people, the kindly people. And because they were simple themselves, gentle and kindly, the people loved them too. Perhaps this is after all the true measure of greatness. The only scale to weigh the worth of a life.

They each walked their own way, but they both walked with a grace unmatched. He was a gentleman. She was a lady. Perhaps these two words describe them best....

HIS WAS A FAMILY that never failed in its loyal support of the Hawaiian throne. They had been ministers to the Crown. They had long served the sovereigns of Hawaii. And when there was rebellion over the land, their allegiance never wavered. They stood beside their monarchs.

They were royalists, among that brave band of haole families who chose not to rebel against Hawaii's Queen.

He was born on the very lands where 80 years later he was to die. He grew up in the days of the Monarchy, of the Provisional government, of the Republic of Hawaii, and the first years of American rule.

HONOLULU THEN was a sleep town but a gracious one.

And I think he loved it better the way it used to be even though he did as much as any to build a new city on these shores. For he was a builder. He reared mansions where there had been naught but wilderness.

He was a native-born Hawaiian, a true Hawaiian. And I doubt that anyone ever loved Hawaii more than he. He was a Kamaaina, a child of the soil indeed. I have often wondered what were the elements necessary to fashion an Hawaiian. What ever they be, I think he had them.

SHE CAME TO the Islands near 60 years ago and married a boy from Kauai. She never left.

Instead, she weaved her own pattern into the fabric of her husband's family, one that had given to these Islands, and especially to Kauai, 150 years of devoted service. She was one of those women, peculiar to her own generation and perhaps peculiar also to these Islands, one of those women who knew how to be gracious....

THEY LIVED their days through and hour of great miracles.

Born into the age of the carriage and the buggy, they lived to see man walk the face of the Moon. What more can anyone ask?....

Guy Rothwell was a gentleman, Flora Rice was a lady.

No epitaph can better describe them. No words can tell more than these what they were. Ua like no a lke me ka mele a ka makeke. O yes indeed, the marketplace is made more bare.

And they who were lovely in their day are no more.

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