Born in England and educated in Canada, Keith Bedwell Tester (1900-1979) managed Lihue Plantation Co., Kauai during the 1950s and later ran Pioneer Mill Co., Maui in the early 1960s. In his monthly column, “Through My Eyes,” printed in the
Born in England and educated in Canada, Keith Bedwell Tester (1900-1979) managed Lihue Plantation Co., Kauai during the 1950s and later ran Pioneer Mill Co., Maui in the early 1960s.
In his monthly column, “Through My Eyes,” printed in the Lihue Plantation bulletin, L.P. Co. Progress, Tester reported his opinions and concerns as manager. Excerpts from the September through December, 1956 issues follow:
“Accidents are wasteful — they are wasteful of time, money and materials. More than that, they cause a great deal of human suffering. Our greatest assets are our lives, and we owe it to ourselves and our fellowmen to do all in our power to preserve this asset by the observance of safety rules and regulations everywhere.
“It is clear also that our standard of living far exceeds any other sugar producing area in the world. By comparison, we are living ‘high off the hog,’ and we can be proud that we are.
“We commemorate Thanksgiving every year. We express our thanks for our spiritual and material blessings. We have so much to be thankful for. Not the least of these is our American Heritage.
“The people of Lihue Plantation can look back on 1956 with a mixture of feelings. It was a poor year financially. Our yields were far below what we expected. Nature hit us with just about everything she had. But it could have been a lot worse.”
Tester’s Kauai home, where he and his wife, Mary, and their three sons lived, was the old Lihue Plantation manager’s house, built in 1916, which can still be seen standing (in disrepair ) at Koamalu next to the Aloha Church off Kaumualii Highway.
During the 1950s, little Ginger Beralas of Lihue Camp-A, and her grandma, Rita Sadang, from Stable Camp, Kapaa, sometimes visited Tester’s house, where Rita would repair the Testers’ lauhala floor mats while Ginger played with the Tester boys outside.
