Lucy Thurston Blaisdell

Helen Catherine Kahanuulani Meek and Charles Henry Thurston named their daughter Lucy Puniwai Thurston when she was born in Honolulu. Lucy's mother was of Hawaiian ancestry and had been born in Hilo.{{cite news|title=Heart Attack Is Fatal to Mrs. C. H. Thurston|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/268176743/?terms=Lucy+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=November 12, 1957|page=5, col. 1}} Her father, a descendant of American Revolutionary War soldier Robert Thurston, relocated from Nova Scotia in 1889 and a decade later married Helen.{{cite news|title=Death Strikes Chief Thurston On Golf Links|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259169984/?terms=Charles+Henry+Thurston|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=February 19, 1928|page=1}}; {{cite news|title=(continued from page 1) Death Strikes Chief Thurston On Golf Links|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259170166/?terms=Charles+Henry+Thurston|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=February 19, 1928|page=11}} In addition to Lucy, their children were Elizabeth, Clara and Paul J. Thurston. Paul became Director of the Budget for Hawaii.{{cite news|title=Obituaries: Budget Director Paul Thurston Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/260366787/?terms=Paul+Thurston|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=August 11, 1961|page=4, col. 6}}

In Scranton, Pennsylvania on October 23, 1926, Lucy married fellow teacher Neal Shaw Blaisdell, a descendant of John Adams Cummins whose mother was High Chiefess Kaumakaokane Papaliʻaiʻaina.{{cite news |hdl= 10524/403 |title= John Adams Cummins: Prince of Entertainers |work= Hawaiian Journal of History |publisher=Hawaii Historical Society |volume= 30 |author= Riánna Williams |year= 1996 |pages= 153–168 }} The couple had known each other since childhood. Their daughter Velma was born in 1929, and Marilyn Puniwai was born in 1930.{{cite news|title=Blaisdells To Postpone Anniversary Celebration|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/260354111/?terms=Lucy+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=October 21, 1956|page=30}}

When Lucy's father died in 1928, he was Honolulu Fire Chief. His successor as fire chief was William Wallace Blaisdell, Lucy's father-in-law.{{cite news|title=Blaisdell Named Chief|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/274889692/?terms=William+Wallace+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin{{Subscription required|via=Newspapers.com}}|page=12|date=February 25, 1928}}

Lucy received her basic education at the college preparatory Punahou School. Training to become a teacher, she attended Territorial Normal School. Later transferring to Colorado College, she was accepted into the Sigma Upsilon sorority and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1926.{{cite news|title=Honolulu Girl Popular Student At Colorado Teachers' College|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/258775306/?terms=Lucy+Thurston|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=March 5, 1925|page=12, col. 5}} She then matriculated at Columbia University in New York, where she earned her MA degree.{{cite news|title=Will Lead Grand March|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/275204697/?terms=Lucy+Thurston|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=June 30, 1926|page=26}}

Her first teaching job was in Rochester, New York, while Neal was the football coach at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, but the Blaisdells became homesick for Hawaii. In August 1927, they returned to Honolulu where Neal was on staff as athletic coach at President William McKinley High School, and Lucy taught at her old alma mater Territorial Normal School.{{cite news|title=Athletic Coach Here With Bride; Both Island-Born|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/258656097/?terms=Lucy+Thurston+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required|via=Newspapers.com}}|date=August 12, 1927|page=5, col. 4}}

In Honolulu, she was named supervisor over the 7th grade classes at Territorial Normal School in 1930. She returned to Rochester for the 1937–38 school year as an exchange social studies teacher.{{cite news|title=Isle Teacher In New York|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/275071320/?terms=Lucy+Thurston+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=September 18, 1937|page=35}} During her career she also taught at the Honolulu schools of Washington Intermediate, Liliuokalani, Stevenson, President William McKinley High School, Kaimuki High School, Kaimuki Intermediate. She continued her teaching career after her husband was elected mayor, retiring in 1963 in order to spend more time with her family and friends, and to enjoy leisure activities.{{cite news|last=Cooke|first=Mary|title=Last School Bell To Ring For Mayor's Wife|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/260022544|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=May 19, 1963|page=D2}}

Early on in their marriage, Lucy began documenting Neal's career in a scrapbook, and kept it up throughout his life. She helped him hone his oratory skills by acting as his test audience, and she also campaigned door-to-door on his behalf. An avid golfer herself who participated in women's tournaments, she and her husband golfed together when his time permitted.{{cite news|title=Mahalo To Teachers|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/269945045/?terms=Lucy+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=November 6, 1959|page=32}}; {{cite news|title=What It's Like To Live With A Mayor|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259752217/?terms=Lucy+Thurston+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=June 12, 1963|page=8}}; {{cite news|title=Prepare For Oahu Country Club Women's Invitational tournament|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259277281/?terms=Lucy+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=July 17, 1955|page=21}} As a political wife, she refused to make speeches, but acted as hostess at formal and casual gatherings. While she was still teaching, she would put in a full day at school and then make the rounds of evening social and political events with her husband.{{cite news|title=Lucy Thurston Blaisdell dies at 83|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/263032116/?terms=Lucy+Blaisdell|access-date=December 21, 2017|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=December 18, 1986|page=1}}; {{cite news|title=from page one: Lucy Thurston Blaisdell dies at 83|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/263032191/?terms=Lucy+Blaisdell|access-date=December 21, 2017|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=December 18, 1986|page=4}}

Neal referred to her as a "good partner", and when he traveled she accompanied him. On a five-week 1957 goodwill tour of the US mainland, in what she would later refer to as the best of her experiences in her role as mayoral wife, Lucy christened the renaming of the SS Monterey to the SS Matsonia, and the couple sailed home on the ship.One of the few times she was publicly mentioned by her full name of Lucy Puniwai Thurston Blaisdell {{cite news|title=Mrs. Blaisdell Is Sponsor Of Matsonia|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/231100102/?terms=Lucy+Puniwai+Thurston|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=Daily Press{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=May 16, 1957|location=Newport News, VA|page=3, col. 7}}; {{cite news|title=Mainland Briefing On Hawaii Urged|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/260212753/?terms=Lucy+Thurston+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=July 17, 1957|page=6}} As part of the couple's 1959 world tour, they participated in the Fifth Japanese-American Conference of Mayors and Chamber of Commerce Presidents. Lucy reported on their trip in The Honolulu Advertiser, commenting on the people and culture in post-World War II Osaka.{{cite news|last1=Blaisdell|first1=Lucy Thurston|title=Mayor's Wife Writes: Japanese Women Charming|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259766542/?terms=Lucy+Thurston+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=November 10, 1959|page=20}}

During their stop in India, she commented in her newspaper reports that Hawaii's tourism industry might benefit by adapting a few ideas from India's tour guides. She suggested that Hawaii's tour guides incorporate the state's history into the narrative, specifically in downtown Honolulu where Rev. Abraham Akaka had made recordings that could be heard at Kawaiahao Church. One of the things she felt would be important to include on the tours would be information about royal burial rites.{{cite news|title=On Global Tour: Mayor's Wife Gets New 'Boost-Hawaii' Ideas|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/259763652/?terms=Lucy+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=November 25, 1959|page=16}}

Neal Blaisdell died of a stroke in 1975.{{cite news|title=Neal Blaisdell|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/261811716/?terms=Neal+Blaisdell|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=The Honolulu Advertiser{{Subscription required |via=Newspapers.com}}|date=November 6, 1975|page=13}} Lucy Blaisdell died in 1986. Both are interred at Oahu cemetery in a joint plot.

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Category:1903 births

Category:1986 deaths

Category:Educators from Hawaii

Category:First ladies and gentlemen of Honolulu

Category:People from Honolulu

Category:20th-century American educators

Category:20th-century American women educators