Word: quinns
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Doubtful about taking on Attorney Anthony's offer in Honolulu, Quinn discussed it with an old St. Louis friend, Bill James. Remarking on the possibilities in growing Hawaii, James said prophetically: "If you go, you'll be Governor in ten years." The Quinns, by then parents of two children, talked it over. Says Bill: "That Boston weather was wet that winter, and the kids' snow suits wouldn't get dry, and Nancy wasn't feeling very well-so she said, 'Lord...
...Push. The Quinns moved into a house on Portlock Road near Diamond Head, where many a newcoming mainland family settled down. A bright lawyer, gifted with exuberant charm and bottomless energy, Bill soon had his teeth sunk into virtually every aspect of island life that appealed to him-especially theatricals (Mr. Roberts, Brigadoon) and politics ("Politics is a happy combination of theater and law"). Some acquaintances say that Quinn was really a Democrat, but switched to the G.O.P. because the Democratic Party in the islands lacked stability and purpose. Says he: "I had a choice: I could either join...
...Quinn had plenty of pushing room. Before long he was addressing meetings, joining the Community Chest (he later became chairman), becoming active in Roman Catholic Church groups. His trademark was his singing voice, and rare was the gathering that Quinn did not entertain with a sweet version of Ke Kali Nei Au, the old Hawaiian wedding song. "Boy," says one friend, "if there was a microphone in the room, you could bet that Bill Quinn would wind up in front...
Flowering Business. Just as Quinn was winding up for big things, so were Hawaii's booming new enterprisers. Millionaire Chinn Ho, 55, became the first Oriental director of a major island estate, also heads his own investment and land-development combine. Others started up airlines, banks, insurance companies and scores of smaller businesses ("The poor Chinese," goes a Hawaiian gag, "is the one who washes his own Cadillac"). From the mainland, too, came fresh capital and nien with big ideas. Pink-cheeked Millionaire Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser jolted the Big Five by plunking down $18 million for an apartment...
Welcome Lightning. While the Democrats hobbled along, William Francis Quinn broke into a steady run. He ran a hot campaign for the territorial senate in 1956, and lost; but he learned enough to see that people liked his Irish charm and Irish tenor. As a member of the Hawaiian statehood commission, Quinn also made a good impression in Washington, where Interior Secretary Fred Seaton put him down on his list as a sure comer...