Isabella Stokoe dedicated nearly a fifth of her hundred years of life to The Church College of Hawaii.
Born Nov. 8, 1915 in the village of Tufutafoe, Samoa, Isabella Stokoe celebrated her 100th birthday with more than 20 friends and family members, lots of food and a hula performed for her by her granddaughter, said her daughter Lillian Makaiau.
She had worked as a dorm mother at the Church College of Hawaii, now BYUH, from 1961 to 1979. After 18 years at CCH, Isabella retired and moved to the retirement community in Kahuku where she lived for 20 years with her husband until he passed away 22 years ago.
“She was a very hard worker, [taught herself] many things, loved being a dorm parent, and was very avid in her church work, genealogy, and temple work,” said Makaiau, who lives in Hauula.
According to Isabella Stokoe’s son, Thomas Stokoe, who lives in Sandy, Utah, she was commonly referred to by students as “Mom Stokoe” because of her capacity to know and love everyone she watched over as if they were her own children.
She had a reputation around campus of being a masterful match-maker among students.“The boys would come to her dorm and they would say, ‘Mom Stokoe, [who] is a good girl in your dorm who would be an excellent wife for me?’” explained Thomas Stokoe. “Mom would recommend a particular girl, and [over time] she had a box of photos filled with cards and photos of [newlywed] couples with the caption, ‘Mom Stokoe, thank you for introducing us!’”
During Mom Stokoe’s time in the girls’ dorm, it was fairly common practice for some of the boys to raid the girls’ dorms for one reason or another. When such a raid would happen, she would grab her broom and start a campaign of defense, beating boys back until their inevitable retreat, explained Thomas Stokoe.
Before her time at CCH, she was raised in Samoa by her grandmother, Faitala, because her parents had been killed by the worldwide flu epidemic of 1918 when she was 3 years old, he continued.
Her maiden name was Crichton, from her Scottish grandfather. She was admitted to Viola Elementary School, an LDS-owned school in Samoa, where she was taught how to speak English, read, and write. Her move to Hawaii was in 1935, where she lived in Honolulu, working six days a week making leis for hotels.
Thomas Stokoe recounted a time his mother told him she didn’t like how much her employer was working her, so she decided to pack up and move up to Laie to live with her sister Elisa Uale.
After a few months, she decided to go back to Samoa where she met her husband, Tom Stokoe. He was from England but had moved to New Zealand for work. He met Isabella Crichton while visiting Samoa on vacation. They were married on April 1, 1939, in Wanganui, New Zealand.
By 1952, the couple had three children: Thomas, Leo, and Lillian. During this year, they moved back to Samoa to start a plantation, making a living exporting bananas, taro, and cocoa, said Thomas Stokoe. He said he was studying at the Church College of Hawaii in the late 1950s when Richard T. Wootton, president of CCH, decided he wanted to get to know the parents of some of his students.
President Wootton traveled to Samoa and became acquainted with Isabella Stokoe, interviewed her, and offered her a job as a dorm mother.
Thomas Stoke said after some careful consideration, his parents accepted his offer and Isabella, Leo, and Lillian moved to Laie, Hawaii on Christmas Day 1961. A short time later, Isabella’s husband, Tom, moved to be with them and was able to find employment at the Dole pineapple plantation.
Isabella retired from being dorm mother at age 64 and regularly served as a worker in the Laie Hawaii Temple. When she was about 90 years old, she was injured in a fall, after which her doctors recommended that she move to an assisted living establishment.
She then made her last move to date to the Aloha Rehabilitation center in Kaneohe where she receives round the clock attention and care, said her son. Her 100-year-old birthday party was there.