Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

Rachel Hawkins says her grandmother would be proud that a lecture fund has been established at Earlham in her honor that will bring uplifting messages from people who have overcome the prejudice of war.

RICHMOND, Ind. — Kazue Fukuda Hawkins probably never intended for her life to touch thousands of Earlham College students, but it will.

Earlham's commitment to peace and justice and its long-standing link to Japan made the College a natural fit for a lecture fund that honors Kazue's life, according to first-year student Rachel Hawkins and her father Neil Hawkins, who is one of Kazue's three children.

The income from the Kazue Fukuda Hawkins Endowed Lecture Fund will be used to sponsor an annual Artist and Lecture Series event with a focus on speakers or performers who are themselves victims of prejudice or war, or whose particular message or performance addresses these issues and celebrates the indomitable spirit of those who overcome and survive such experiences.

"Students at Earlham will have a greater appreciation for this kind of lecture," Rachel says. "I'm not sure students anywhere else would have that same appreciation. That's one of the reasons it makes sense to have it here."

"I had planned to set up a scholarship fund in honor of my mother but changed my mind after seeing the fall (events) brochure," says Neil. "It came to me while driving that a lecture series could be a very powerful way to ensure my mother was not forgotten and that her life had lasting impact, forever, beyond the positive impact she has had on our family and her friends. The thought of having hundreds of people exposed to motivational lecturers, and the subsequent changes in lives that would happen among some of the listeners really appealed to us."

Arn Chorn Pond, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields and the focus of the Oscar-nominated film The Flute Player, has been selected as the first speaker and is scheduled to lecture on Sept. 25, 2007.

Pond's struggles are similar to those of Kazue Fukuda Hawkins, who was born in 1919, grew up in Singapore and was educated in a French convent school. Though her family was Buddhist, she converted to Christianity during her teen years. Contrary to the norms of her Japanese culture, she left home following high school and moved to China in the late 1930s to live in Japanese Manchuria. Fluent in English, Japanese and Chinese, she worked as a linguist and translator as part of the Japanese occupation until Japan was driven from Manchuria. During World War II she and her family lost all of their belongings in the bombings of Tokyo.

"My mother was a prisoner of war for a short time, lost everything in bombings and then suffered severe prejudice in the USA after the war," Neil says. "Post World War II was very tough for Japanese living in this country. The outreach of caring friends sustained her through the challenges."

After the war ended, she worked for the U.S. Army at Tokyo Army Hospital, where she met and married Julian Neil Hawkins. The couple returned to the United States and raised their three children.

Rachel was only 11 years old when Kazue died, but she says her grandmother had a big impact on her life.

"My grandma was a remarkable woman," Rachel says. "She was definitely a peacemaker, and from her I learned kindness and how to love and care for the people around me. She was a humble person who was dedicated to learning. I'm not sure she would have liked the fuss of having a lecture series in her honor, but the learning and understanding people will gain from the speakers would have meant so much to her."

Lynn Knight, Earlham's event coordinator, believes the fund will allow her to seek out speakers and performers with messages that are consistent with Earlham's mission. "I find it exciting that the father of a first-year student recognizes how important the arts and lectures are in our lives and how integral they are to the experience of our students," she says.

Contact:
Denise Purcell, public affairs assistant
765/983-1323 — E-Mail Denise