Replies

In an earlier message, I talked about a Buffalo, New York woman who said in a recent Buffalo newspaper article that she taught a young Obama in Hawaii.

She also claimed that a doctor West, the father of her good friend, said or implied at a dinner party held the day of or the day after Obama's birth that he delivered Obama on Aug.4, 1961.

1. So, who is this doctor West?

2. According to a poster's research that was posted at world net daily recently, Dr. West---who died about a year ago at 98--- was a local celebrity because he was one of the last remaining survivors who witnessed the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor as a young naval officer.

3. Nov. 11, 2007 article in the Honolulu Advertiser, by Dan Nakaso that the world net daily poster provided a link to:

Nakaso wrote a long article on then 97 year old local celebrity Dr. West. Nakaso wrote that Dr. West regularly visited the Pearl Harbor memorial weekly to talk to people and to sign copies of his book on the Pearl Harbor attack.

4. Below is an excerpt from the Nakaso article that gives a brief background of Dr. West.

5. NOTE: I am a little surprised that the staff writer, Nakaso, did not ask Dr. West or mention that Dr. West may have been the doctor who delivered Obama back in Aug.4, 1961 at Kapiolani hospital.

6. Maybe some of Dr. West's relatives can tell us, the public, if it was true or not true that Dr. West did indeed deliver a baby Obama back in Aug. 4, 1941.

7. Part of the Nov. 11, 2007 article is below. It gives some background information on Dr. West:

Born: Dec. 23, 1910, Wailuku, Maui

Education: Skipped seventh and eighth grades; Honolulu Military Academy, Punahou School, where West played clarinet.

Naval service: Joined Navy Reserve in January 1940, activated Sept. 5, 1941 — March 26, 1946. Resigned from Navy Reserve in 1949 at rank of commander.

Medical career highlights: Delivered 5,000 babies;

President, Hawaii Medical Association (1963);

Medical Director, Straub Clinic (now Straub Clinic & Hospital) until retirement in 1975;

one of the founders and first president of the American College of Physician Executives (1975).

Family: Wife, Mary Ann (Carlisle) West, died 1994;

daughter, Jo-Anne Lewis (Kaimuki);

sons, Kenneth C. West (Phoenix) and

Rodney West Jr. (Spokane, Wash.)

Lives: Kahala Nui senior residence

Barbara Nelson was Barack Obama's English teacher in high school in Hawaii. Sharon Cantillon / Buffalo News Updated: 01/20/09 08:17 AM Teacher from Kenmore recalls Obama was a focused student By Paula Voell NEWS STAFF REPORTER

When Barack Hussein Obama places his hand on the Bible today to take the oath of office as 44th president of the United States, Barbara Nelson of Kenmore will undoubtedly think back to the day he was born. It was Aug. 4, 1961, at Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu.

“I may be the only person left who specifically remembers his birth. His parents are gone, his grandmother is gone, the obstetrician who delivered him is gone,” said Nelson, referring to Dr. Rodney T. West, who died in February at the age of 98. Here’s the story: Nelson was having dinner at the Outrigger Canoe Club on Waikiki Beach with Dr. West, the father of her college friend, Jo-Anne. Making conversation, Nelson turned to Dr. West and said: “‘So, tell me something interesting that happened this week,’” she recalls.

His response: “Well, today, Stanley had a baby. Now that’s something to write home about.”

The new mother was Stanley (later referred to by her middle name of Ann) Dunham, and the baby was Barack Hussein Obama.

“I penned the name on a napkin, and I did write home about it,” said Nelson, knowing that her father, Stanley A. Czurles, director of the Art Education Department at Buffalo State College, would be interested in the “Stanley” connection.

She also remembers Dr. West mentioning that the baby’s father was the first black student at the University of Hawaii and how taken he was by the baby’s name.

“I remember Dr. West saying ‘Barack Hussein Obama, now that’s a musical name,’” said Nelson, who grew up in Kenmore and went to Hawaii in 1959 to be in Jo-Anne’s wedding party. When Nelson was offered a job as a newspaper reporter and photographer at her friend’s wedding reception, it led to her living in Hawaii for 47 years. She returned to Kenmore in 2006.

Ten years after that memorable birth announcement, Nelson would hear the Obama name again. This time, the father, now a Kenyan government official, was coming to speak at the Punahou School in Honolulu where Nelson was teaching and where his 10-year-old son was a newly enrolled fifth-grader.

MORE--->>> http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/554495.html

Teacher from Kenmore recalls Obama was a focused student