Interview With Cecilia Landgraf And Annie Apana, Two Of Apana's Daughters

On April 14, 1982, I interviewed two of Chang Apana's daughters, Cecilia Landgraf, and Annie Apana, at the family residence in Kaimuki. They were two, very lovely ladies, and I had a pleasant afternoon speaking with them. Fortunately, the interview was recorded. The complete interview lasted for about an hour, and most of it will be included on a CD, in my forthcoming book, "Charlie Chan's Hawaii". In the excerpt that I'm including here, they speak about their father's retirement pension. As a gesture of appreciation for all Apana had done for the community, a troika of three prominent businessmen - Dillingham, Atkinson, and Midkiff - made up the monetary difference between Apana's active and retired duty pay. It is ironic that Apana made more money during his retirement, than during those those days when he was risking life and limb in the police service. Cecilia Landgraf passed away on December 16, 1992: Her cremated remains were scattered off of Mount Kaala, on the island of Oahu. Annie Apana died on April 25, 1995. Click on the eSnips LINK on the bottom of this post to hear the actual audio clip of this portion of the interview.

EXCERPT FROM THE INTERVIEW WITH CECILIA LANDGRAF AND ANNIE APANA:

Cecilia:
"This is another thing I wanna tell you. When my father worked for the police department. I guess Annie folks know this. Well, he, he, knew all the big, big shots, and he must have done something for them that, what you call ... they returned back ... well, it was Walter Dillingham, Atkinson, with the big deal ... Atkinson, and what was the other fellow's name at Hawaiian ... huh?"

Annie:
"Midkiff"

Cecilia:
"Midkiff, yeah."

Annie:
"Midkiff"

Cecilia"
"Yeah ... right, you are because I know it. These three big, big, fellows, they were involved, in other things, with Dillingham and Atkinson. Well when my father retired, to thank my father for what he had done for them, not taking money, or other things ... He was just helping them in things. I don't know what, but they ... my father had his pension. Now, he had his pension. They gave the rest, to what he retired with, to improve what he had."

Interviewer:
"Oh really, they made up the difference, yeah?"

Cecilia:
"Yeah, they made up the difference. For instance, if he had ... well I didn't know how much my father had in pension."

Interviewer:
"I think about, one hundred twenty - three dollars, it was."

Cecilia:
"Well, if he had that for instance, his salary was ... we don't even know his salary ... was ... well that ... They put in, besides his pension, they put in the rest, and he had his full ... like he was working. He had it until he died. Yeah, until papa died, and they stopped it. But he had his full regular salary. These three, Dillingham, Atkinson, and Midkiff."

Annie:
"Yeah"

Cecilia:
"They put in beside his pension, they put in the rest, like he retired with his full salary. That I know."

Interviewer:
"That's incredible!"

Cecilia:
"Yeah"