Herb C. Cornuelle Legacy Project
A Special Collection of Stories and Anecdotes
Your story about Herb is requested. Herb Cornuelle was a remarkable person. His leadership, at once humble, compelling, principled and inspiring, also had at its core an abiding confidence in each individuals’ ability to govern him or her self without direction from government. He loved people and he loved his community. He served both, willingly and without fanfare.
As was his wish, there was no funeral at his death. His friends, associates and others impacted got to say no good byes. We think he thought a ceremony would serve no useful purpose because he sought no glory.
But imagine we could say to Herb, “what if anecdotes about your life and work serve a teaching function? What if the young can learn, and as a result they create a better world for tomorrow?”
We think Herb would approve. In fact, with the teaching in there, he might just be enthusiastic. We hope so.
Here’s our plan. We want to collect as many stories about Herb as we can. We want each of you to send us as many experiences as possible. We will post them here. As submissions grow, we will arrange them by topic or content.
Our long range goal is to have an accomplished author write a book based on your stories.
Here are the rules:
- Give us your name, address, phone number and email.
- Briefly explain your relationship to Herb.
- Give us the story. Do your best to make it come alive.
- As appropriate, tell us what you learned and/or how it inspired you.
- Advise who else you know who has a story and how to contact them.
We may contact you to clarify or to get more information. And, eventually, our book author may contact you.
Please submit your story Dick Rowland at grassroot@hawaii.rr.com
If you prefer mail, send to:
Grassroot Institute
1314 S. King Street
Suite 1163
Honolulu, HI 96814
Or, for discussion call (808) 864-1776.
The Stories
From Dick Rowland, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii:
In conversation with Jean Cornuelle a few months ago, she mentioned a story told by a local businessman who, as a young man, had served on various boards/commissioning with Herb. He said that in recent conversation with others who had similarly served, they suddenly realized that none of them had ever been told by Herb to do anything. But, all agreed that there was never any doubt at all what he expected them to accomplish and that they were highly motivated to get it done.
The Statesman
Author: James V. Pollock, Retired from Dillingham Corporation
After having returned to Hawaii, Herb was in demand as a speaker at many events. If he was able to fit the event into his schedule he often made himself available to a variety of groups. One such group about which he tells his story was a group of students from the University of Hawaii. The purpose of the meeting was to give the students an opportunity to hear first hand what being a business leader was like.
As is common among many student groups, the philosophy of this particular group in general was to challenge capitalism and the privileges of senior managers in private industry. The discussion ranged over different systems comparing capitalism to communism, socialism and others. Many in the group argued that both communism and socialism had many advantages over capitalism. Especially, in their view, these other systems were much fairer to the average person. Herb argued otherwise.
Near the end of the discussion, the students challenged Herb regarding the advantages that capitalist leaders had over the working classes. Herb’s response was that capitalism offered opportunities to individuals that other systems did not, but that it was up to the individual to take advantage of these opportunities. He went on to say that while he much preferred capitalism, he could live under other systems. He further speculated that he, personally, would be a commissar or other leader, no matter which system he was under because of his drive to lead and excel.
Author: Martha Hanson
I knew Herb Cornuelle through the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii where I was working in the Development Department. Herb was the best non-profit board member that I’ve ever known. He treated everyone with respect whether that person ran a large company or was an administrative assistant at a non-profit organization. His integrity inspires me to this day.
I know he loved photography. He would always take photos at Nature Conservancy board retreats and then give them to TNC. Just after he died, I was going through the slides he’d given us. I think we were preparing a tribute to him — I’m not sure. As I was looking through those slides, I realized I was seeing the world through Herb’s eyes.
I applaud your desire to publish a book about Herb. To this day, whenever I bring his name up in a conversation with others who knew him I’ll almost get misty eyed and so will they. It’s been almost ten years and we’re still mourning.
May I suggest you consider including some of Herb’s photos in your book? I’m sure Jean would have them. I think he was really interested in black-and-white photography.
Kelvin Taketa at the Hawaii Community Foundation worked with Herb to get the Conservancy going in Hawaii. He’d be good to talk to if you haven’t already. I think Kelvin once told a story about Herb taking a flight with a group of businessmen — perhaps they were flying on State business? Anyway, they sat in first class while he sat in coach (with his long legs) because it was the right thing to do. And his actions got that message across to his colleagues.