From the Mailbag

Dear Editor,

Thanks for Dan Nakasone’s story (Jan. 3, 2020, edition) — so nostalgic because I, too, grew up in Wahiawä and worked in the fields during the summer for $1.25 an hour. I was so proud to treat my family to dinner at Three Coins (where Zippy’s is now) with my first paycheck.

This is how arduous it could be: During the summer, college boys were hired as lunas. I got a ride home with two of them and heard one say, “It was so hot today. It was like the Mojave Desert. The girls were hanging off the boom, crying out for water.”