Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 5:30pm
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, a Luxury Collection Resort, Waikīkī
Patricia Morgan comes from a long time kama‘āina family, 6th generation on her paternal side and 4th generation on her maternal side. Growing up, she attended Punahou School, then went on to graduate from Lewis & Clark College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. One of first jobs freshly out of college was Bookkeeper and Horse Trainer for Kualoa Ranch. After a move to the island of Hawai‘i and some time off to start a family, she went to work for Hamakua Sugar Company as Manager of the Land Assets. Her professional career spanned moves to California then back to Hawai‘i, with experience in land development, accountant and controller with firms such as Castle & Cooke, Forest City Hawai‘i and DFS (Duty Free Shoppers).
Along the way, she has always enjoyed a deep connection to the past fostered by amateur historians on both sides of her family. She was enrolled as a lifetime member in both the Daughters of Hawai‘i and the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society at a very early age. With retirement, she became a trustee, then regent, for Daughters of Hawai‘i, following the example set by her grandmother, Julie Judd Swanzy, the longest-serving regent of the organization. In this role, she helped guide the Daughters in the preservation efforts for Queen Emma Summer Palace in Nu‘uanu, O‘ahu and Hulihe‘e Palace in Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i. Ms. Morgan now serves on the board and as president of The Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, stepping in as interim executive director when needed. Her board service with the oldest public cemetery in Hawai‘i, O‘ahu Cemetery in Nu‘uanu, also led to a term as interim Chief Executive Officer.
Her ties to Hawai‘i’s historic places includes Kualoa Ranch on O‘ahu’s windward side, which has been in the family since a land grant from King Kamehameha III in 1850 to Dr. Gerrit Judd, her great- great- great-grandfather. The entire ahupua‘a of Kualoa was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. On her mother’s side, Ms. Morgan’s great-grandfather, Clinton Briggs Ripley, was a preeminent architect working in Hawai‘i in the late 19th century, designing such notable buildings as Hawai‘i Hall at the University of Hawai‘i; Pauahi Hall at Punahou; Stangenwald Building on Merchant Street; Makiki Fire Station and many others . He was also the architect of the four houses in the family compound on 4.4 acres adjacent O‘ahu Cemetery built between 1895 – 1921 for himself, his wife and their three daughters. The homestead is listed in the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places and has remained continuously in the family for 130 years.
Ms. Morgan embodies the belief that, “Without the past, there is no future. The present is the bridge that connects them.” She says that helping people understand the past in order to make more positive and informed decision about future directions is at the core of why she is drawn to history and the lifelong pursuit of stewardship for historic places.
