From: Tad Miura NH7YS
To: KH6AS
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:47 PM
Subject: Jack Wada

Bob, KH6AS, asked if I would share my remembrances of Jack Wada and I do have one.  The story happened years ago when I was a kid growing up in Kapaa.  I recall a day I went to a movie at the Pono Theater.  The theater, which is no longer standing, was located where the Ono Family Restaurant sits today, adjacent to the Pono Kai Resort in downtown Kapaa.

In those days, malfunctions of the movie projection were common.  Sometimes a jammed projector would cause the cellulose film material to burn and moviegoers got to see the image of film melting away on the screen.  This occurrence would mean a delay of a few minutes while the theater staffer would fix the projector and then splice the film together to get the movie rolling once again. 

Other times, the maladies were of a more serious nature.  That is when they had to call the savior, Jack Wada.  It was such an incident that I remember.  That particular day the movie stopped and a few minutes later a projected announcement was shown on the screen.  It said, “Please stand by, Jack Wada has been called to repair the projector.”, or something to that effect.  Imagine sitting in a dimly lit theater waiting for some repair guy to travel from Lihue, or wherever Mr. Wada was at the time, to come and fix the equipment.  It must not have been a hardship for the moviegoers, however, as none left the hall.  Everyone just sat there chatting away until Mr. Wada came by and fixed the problem, which may have taken 45 minutes or so.  Patience was indeed a virtue everyone had back then.

Well, Mr. Wada saved that day, and many others.  When you consider the scarcity of parts for something as complex as a projector on Kauai in that era, it was amazing how Mr. Wada did his magic to keep the electrons flowing.

I didn’t know that Jack Wada was a amateur radio operator back then but it isn’t surprising given ham radio’s by-line of, “when all else fails … “.  Mr. Wada certainly was the go-to person whenever folks experienced a problem dealing with electronics.  Kauai was fortunate to have had him.