INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS - Richard Romer | Scariff Bay Community Radio Podcasts SBCR

9 months ago

There are a few of us Richard Romers out there. My father’s mother was Mary Conway was born in Ireland but sailed from England and that’s what they put down on her immigration papers. Her husband, Alfred Romer (which I heard had been von Römer) was shortened to Romer because of WWI anti-German sentiment. My mother was an Angove from Cornwall ”before the Romans came” as a cousin used to say. I came to Hawaii to go to graduate school in theatre (stage design and lighting) and I’m still here 53 years later.! I’ve been restoring a large old (at least by Hawaii standards) house for the past 41 years. Some years the termites win and some years I do. Especially difficult with an historic place. Plus I’m right on a stream built on large boulders that go right into the water. No flooding, thankfully! I do have some extremely large trees on my property, such as avocado, Lichee, and Star fruit, but they are now in need of professional pruning. I was born and raised in a small town in Northern Minnesota called Virginia. 100 years ago it had the world’s largest white pine lumber mill cutting over a million board feet a day. My brother was the last Romer left and he died last year. Well, I didn’t intend this to be the story of my life (fascinating as it may be). As it turns out I am the only Romer left of my generation and my brother was my last closest relative. Everyone died of heart disease although I took pretty good care of myself and take a handful of pills every day to keep things going. Well, just wanted to say hello, I still have a Canadian accent since I grew up 90 miles from the border so it’s kind of hard to see any similarities between ours. I have 2 Youtube video interviews out there somewhere. I’ve been mostly in stage, film, and TV set design work. Well, keep planting those trees! Aloha! Richard / Rick

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INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS - Richard Romer