Sixty years ago this month, a young Howard Okamura applied to be a clerk typist at the Honolulu Division of Motor Vehicles soon after graduating from Farrington High School.
The pay was less than $3 an hour — which he thought was a lot of money at the time. He got the job and is still there!
Back in October 1964, Neal Blaisdell was the mayor. The current Honolulu mayor, Rick Blangiardi, recently honored Okamura to officially thank him for his public service.
Okamura's office threw him a surprise party on his anniversary. To throw him off, they told him it was a coworker's birthday and assigned him his specialty potluck dish: potato mac salad... but made with spaghetti.
HPR talked with Okamura this week at the Kapālama DMV offices about his six decades on the job. He turned 80 this year and chuckled that even he can’t believe he has stayed this long.
"When 35 years came around, no, I didn't go. Forty years came around, I still was there. Fifty years came around, I still there. And look what happened now — it's 60 years, time flies," he said.
When he first started, the DMV was located at the old police station on Beretania Street near Kalākaua Avenue. Back then, vehicle registration wasn't staggered like it is now. They were valid from January to December, he said, with a grace period from January to March.
"March 31 we had the last 25,000 — mind you 25,000 didn't register their car yet. And the line on that day, ho, we had lines all zigzagging in the parking lot, and we had to straighten up the line. One line was on Young Street, and the other line went on Beretania," Okamura said.
He said his coworkers keep him young, affectionately calling him "Uncle." And among his favorite memories are the pau hana gatherings.
"As far as the work at our office, I know it backward and forward already by now. It doesnʻt bother me. I just do whatever they tell me, and they don't have to tell me how to do it because I know how to do it already," he said.
Okamura said dealing with the public can be very challenging. He said that when people are rude to him, he puts them in their place.
"I tell them, 'Why are you taking it out on me? What did I do to you?' Then they kind of calm down," he said. "Whether city employees or anybody — you got to change your attitude. It's not me, me, me. You take care of that other person, they take care you."
Okamura said he has no real plans to retire. His supervisor is also in her 80s. He still drives his trusty Toyota Corolla to work every day and doesn't plan on getting on the rail.
His one pet peeve? Employees who register vehicles for the general public have to stand in line like everyone else to get their paperwork done — no special treatment.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Oct. 30, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
