In 1992, native Hawaiian sisters Napua Kalama Baker and Theresa Meyers Ducret both held important positions at BYU-Hawaii and within the Laie community. Working together, the two helped build strong, lasting relations between the University and its surrounding community. Recruiting students internationally, being a voice for the Laie community and becoming the very first female vice president of any Church Educational System school are just a few of the accomplishments these sisters have achieved.
Something special about Laie
Baker said she was raised in both Laie and on the island of Molokai. Recounting her childhood, she said her family would travel from Molokai to Laie every year to visit the temple. Baker said the Laie community was very important to her family because of the temple and their family roots which originated in Laie.
Baker’s older sister and former president of the Laie Community Association, Theresa Meyers Ducret, said, “There was something special about Laie. This was the place that we came primarily for the temple.”
Ducret said although their father was not an educated man, he encouraged her and her sister to go to school. She said they were brought up knowing the opportunities that could come from an education at the Church College of Hawaii, now known as BYU–Hawaii.
She continued, “I came [to BYUH] in 1956 and left in 1958. Napua came in 1959 and left two years after. We both finished school with our husbands.” After two years at BYUH, Ducret said they finished out their schooling at BYU in Provo because, at the time, the Church College of Hawaii only offered two years of schooling.
First CES woman vice president
After finishing her master’s degree in Provo, Baker returned to BYUH where she was hired at Continuing Education, currently known as Educational Outreach. In 1992, she was promoted to vice president of University Relations at BYUH.
As the first women on BYUH’s President’s Council, Baker said she loved serving with her fellow council members who she described as “men of God.” She said, “It was a privilege to serve with them and to learn from those who had experience.”
Eric B. Shumway, former President of BYUH from 1994 to 2007, served with Baker throughout his entire presidency. He said, “Napua is a first-class human being, full of love and aloha.” Her smiles, intelligence and enthusiasm were a great benefit to the University, he added.
Although often referred to as the first woman vice president at BYUH, Shumway said people must not get the idea Baker was called to be vice president because she was a woman. “She was thoroughly prepared for the job and she brought to the administration not just a loving support of what was going on campus, but she connected the University so well to the community, especially the Hawaiian community.”
Shumway said Baker came up with wonderful ideas to connect the University and those living near it. The goal, he said, was for the communities all along the North Shore to see BYUH as their university. Even if they were not part of the Church or didn’t send their kids to the school, Shumway said the goal was for the University to be important to the locals and state.
Before becoming a vice president, Baker said female students did not have a woman in school leadership to relate to. Baker said she learned from the men she served with and reached out to include women, both locally and internationally, as she traveled to different countries to meet with young women.
She said, “It was important to reach out to women, to help them to know this is a school for both men and women. Even in the Church, in the Lord’s kingdom, we need women to become leaders. We need it. It wasn’t just men. Men are important, but we needed women.”
Following Baker’s promotion to one of the vice presidents, Ducret took over her sister’s position at Continuing Education. Together, the two sisters visited different countries in Asia and the Pacific to bring international students to BYUH. Ducret said Baker traveled to Asia while her assignment was to visit the Polynesian Islands.
The international students who came to the BYUH campus were a blessing, Baker said. International students coming to the small town of Laie from countries like Mongolia, Korea and Japan to study was not common at the time, she explained.
“You look at them coming in to prepare to be leaders, to build the kingdom throughout the world by bringing people together from all different countries, especially different ethnicities. And yet, we come together in love. …We become one, thanks to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
President of the Laie Community Association
In 1989, Ducret became the president of the Laie Community Association where she served for 10 years. Recalling her experience as president, she said, “It was a time when Laie was going through a lot of opposition.” She explained there were people in the community unhappy with the Church. It was a time of chaos due to sewage treatment, roads and other problems, she said.
“It was important to have the voice of the community to express to the leaders of the Church their concerns. My role was to gather people here and be a voice to represent them and their concerns to the University and to the brethren.”
It was President Shumway, she said, who asked her to take responsibility of becoming the president of the Laie Community Association.
Shumway said, “During the time she was the president of the Laie Community Association, Theresa encountered a lot of hostility, but she always responded with intelligence and the aloha spirit.
“In other words,” he continued, “she never reduced to name-calling or threats or anything like that. I think Theresa was one of the big reasons we were able to solve many of the problems in the community.” She became someone the entire community could respect, he added.
Through their efforts and working with others, Baker and Ducret were able to build a good relationship again with the community, Shumway said. “It was a wonderful thing to see Theresa and Napua working together.”
Ducret added her role meant she watched over the community and made the town what President David O. McKay wanted it to be. She said she worked to help make the community clean physically, spiritually and politically.
Relying upon revelations
Ducret said, “David O. McKay’s vision for this place is no question prophetic.” In 1957, her second year as a student at the Church College of Hawaii, Ducret said she was able to meet President McKay in person during his visit to the University. As an officer in the school’s student body, Ducret said she was privileged to mingle with him.
Of McKay’s vision for the University, Ducret said, “It has given me the skills and the ability to see the hand of the Lord in this community and know that we are led by prophets. We can rely upon the revelations that come from them for every part of our lives. It has affected my personal life because I’ve seen how it works here.”
Ducret testified, “I have seen prophecy come true… as I’ve seen how the gospel has developed in this community and in the Church entities here in Laie. It was prophetic and to see what [David O. McKay] said years and years ago. … That’s a testimony that it works, that miracles had taken place and continue to take place today.”