Educational Excellence Since 1912
Hamden Hall Country Day School
Educating students in PreSchool through Grade 12

Island Life for 1952 Alumnus

Albert D. Blakeslee III, Class of 1952, maintains that he has visited “the East” over the years, but was never tempted to move back permanently – especially when Hawaii was an option.

Instead, he and his wife of 57 years, Koko, made the island of Maui their home from 1964 until 1996. These days, the couple resides in the state of Washington, where their two daughters live.

After graduating from under the pines, Al attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1956 with a degree in mechanical engineering. From there he enrolled in the U.S. Navy and served from 1957 to 1963. 

“To avoid the draft after my college deferment ended, I enlisted in the Navy in 1957. Boot camp, OCS, commissioned an ensign, and assigned to a destroyer-type ship on the West Coast. Several tours on different destroyers including cruises to the Western Pacific and eventually to one berthed at Treasure Island in San Francisco,” he reports.

In 1960 he met Koko, a WAVE officer. The two stayed in contact and in 1962 were both stationed at Pearl Harbor. 

According to Al, “One thing led to another, as they say, and we were married in 1963. We both left the Navy in 1964 and decided Hawaii was a nice place. We lived there on Maui until 1996, working in the sugar and tourist industries.” 

Over the years, Al says that he has visited Connecticut, including an event for former faculty member Ernie Russ in 2007. Al attended Hamden Hall from 1941 to 1952 and cites Ernie and Miss Stewart as two favorites of his under the pines.
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