Maui County HI Archives News.....41 YEARS ACTIVE SERVICE. ROBERT HUGHES RETIRING FROM HC&S POST ON MAY 1 May 1, 1949
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J. Orr jessicanorr@gmail.com March 2, 2012, 8:52 pm

UNKNOWN NEWSPAPER May 1, 1949
 By Harrison Foss

  Robert E. Hughes Sr., HC&S Company superintendent of mills, pumps and power 
department, will retire from active supervision on May 1. He has been with the 
company 41 years.
  He first came to Maui in 1908 expecting to remain on the Island for only six 
months. He stayed to become a prominent figure in the Maui community. In 
addition to having had an important part in the planning of almost every 
mechanical and electrical engineering development at HC&S, he is active in 
many civic organizations.
  The Puunene mill machine shop was being expanded in 1908 and Hughes was 
brought from Honolulu to set up the new equipment and to train the ship 
personnel. However, in 1909, he was offered the position of foreman of the 
shop and he decided to make his home on Maui.
  Promotions followed quickly. He became chief engineer of the mill in 1915; 
superintendent of the pumps and power departments in 1925; and in 1944 he 
became, in addition, superintendent of the Puunene mill. Upon the merger of 
Maui Agricultural Company and HC&S last year, the Paia mill also came under 
his supervision. He has raised a family of six - Robert  H. Jr., Donald W., 
Barbara Jane (Mrs. Wilson Cannon, Jr.), Richard E., Maybell M., and Nevis M.
  He has been married twice. The first Mrs. Hughes was the former Alice 
Walker, who passed away several years ago. The present Mrs. Hughes is the 
former Katherine Priest. They reside at Spreckelsville.
  Hughes is a real kamaaina. Both he and his father were born in the Islands. 
His grandfather first came to Hawaii in 1856 during the reign of Kamehameha IV 
to undertake the first dredging of Honolulu Harbor. Even then, engineering was 
an old family tradition.
  Bob Hughes was educated in Honolulu schools. He attended Punahou, Honolulu 
High School and St. Louis College. As there was no university in Hawaii at 
that time, he studied engineering subjects at a night school which was 
sponsored by some of the leading business men of Honolulu. It was this school 
which eventually developed first into the College of Hawaii and later into the 
University of Hawaii.
  His first job was with the Catton & Neill Iron Works, which at that time was 
furnishing most of the plantations with their sugar equipment. Here he became 
a master mechanic. In 1909, H. P. Baldwin and J. N. S. Williams were anxious 
to expand their mill machine shop at Puunene so that mill rollers could be 
handled locally. They prevailed upon Hughes to come to Maui for six months to 
give them technical help.
  Although he has recently recovered from a serious illness, Bob Hughes does 
not plan to take it easy now that he is retiring. He says that he intends to 
become more active than ever in civic projects, and to do engineering 
consulting work.


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