Walter Dudley Child Jr., the man who built the Kauai Surf hotel on Kalapaki Bay — site of the present-day Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club — passed away at his home on the Big Island on Sunday, Dec. 19.
Walter Dudley Child Jr., the man who built the Kauai Surf hotel on Kalapaki Bay — site of the present-day Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club — passed away at his home on the Big Island on Sunday, Dec. 19. He was 73.
He was the son of Walter Dudley Child Sr., a sugar-industry executive and owner of the historic Blaisdell Hotel in downtown Honolulu.
The younger Child was president of Inter-Island Resorts, which was started by his father. In the late 1940s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., which owned the Kona Inn and the Kauai Inn at Kalapaki, became the target of a federal anti-trust suit. The government won its case and broke the company, Inter-Island Steamship Navigation, into four companies: Inter-Island Steam, Overseas Terminals, Hawaiian Airlines and Inter-Island Resorts.
In the mid-1980s, Inter-Island Resorts sold its Maui and Kaua‘i properties to hotelier Chris Hemmeter. Child served as a consultant to Hemmeter until 1991, and was a partner in Waterfront Towers at Restaurant Row in Honolulu. He retired in 1992.
His first big move came with the building of the Kauai Surf on 120 acres of beachfront property on Kalapaki Bay. Child at the time called the Surf a “whole new philosophy in Neighbor Island hotels.”
First high rise on Neighbor Island
Construction of the “mega-resort” began in 1959 and, in a remarkable six months, the Kauai Surf had its grand opening. It was the first high-rise outside of Honolulu, and the first Neighbor Island building with an elevator. Hawaiian Airlines flew in dignitaries and notables to celebrate the Surf’s opening.
Child always considered the Kauai Surf to be his favorite hotel, and likely it was because of the cast of characters who worked there.
“It was great, like a family hotel,” recalls Kaupena Kinimaka, who began working at the hotel in 1966. “It was the first and only 10-story building on the island. Growing up and working in Kalapaki, it was like a second home.” Kinimaka started out as a beachboy and, today, is area director of loss prevention for the Marriott’s Pacific island resorts, recently promoted from his former position as director of loss prevention for the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club.
Child came back to Kaua‘i in 1989 for a reunion of Kauai Surf employees, Kinimaka recalled.
“That was the last time I saw him,” Kinimaka said.
Child was one of Hawai‘i’s hotel-industry pioneers, expanding the still-existent Naniloa and Kona Inn, and developed the Kona Surf and the Maui Surf. His companies were the first to promote tour packages, known today as “fly-drive” packages.
Born in Honolulu on March 22, 1931, Child created Grayline-Hawaii, Ltd., the state’s largest sightseeing operation, with service on Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i, Lana‘i, Maui, and the Big Island.
He created Islander U-drive, and developed the Islander Inns, as well as owning a 50-percent interest ownership in Trade Wind Tours, the state’s largest wholesale and retail tour operator.
After graduating from Punahou School in 1949, Child attended San Francisco City College and Cornell University, where he studied hotel management. Returning to Hawai‘i in 1953, he managed the Naniloa Hotel, moving over to the Kona Inn in 1956. In 1957, after Walter Child Sr. suffered a debilitating stroke, Walter Child Jr. at the age of 26 took over and succeeded his father as president of Inter-Island Resorts.
In addition to serving as president and chief executive officer of Inter-Island Resorts, Child held numerous other positions, including vice president of the Hawaii Hotel Association, vice president of the Hawaii Chapter of Young Presidents Organization, chairman of the board of Trade Wind Tours, chairman of the board of Hawaii Unlimited, director and vice president of International Travel Service, vice president of Hawaii Hotels Ltd., director of Grand Pacific Life Insurance, director of Friends of Iolani Palace, and president of Pauuilo Land and Cattle Co. He was also an active member of the Cornell Society of Hotelmen, Phi Delta Theta, Historic Hawaii Foundation and the Waikiki Rod and Gun Club.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Mary Lou; daughters Deborah Child Lawrence, Cheri Child Atkins, Sandi Child Cales, Pam Child; one son, Walter Dudley “Woody” Child III; hanai son Gordon MacGregor; nine grandchildern, and half-sister Lois Kodres.
The Child family invites friends to join them in a celebration of his life on Saturday, Jan. 22, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kona Inn, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i (Big Island). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, or the John A. Burns School of Medicine, Neuropathology Department.
For information, please contact Deborah Child Lawrence, 1-808-936-4398, or 1-808- 885-6934.
Phil Hayworth, business editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or phayworth@pulitzer.net.
