“I did not mean to imply that she was some big mucky muck.”
That is the only reasonable inference from what you said:
“Grandma is VERY well connected in Honolulu. You don’t get to the position of VP of Hawaii’s largest bank and NOT be connected. In Hawaii connections are everything. With connections, you can do just about anything, a favor is a favor, and Grandma likely had more than just a few to pull in.”
The vast majority of bank vice presidents are hardly “VERY well connected.” They will know a lot of folks, and they may have a very little pull with some folks not high in the social food chain. That doesn't make them "VERY well connected."
“With connections, you can do just about anything, a favor is a favor, and Grandma likely had more than just a few to pull in.”
Unlikely. Most bank vice presidents have little leeway to do actual favors for folks that they can “pull in” later on. I've been dealing with my current bank for 18 years, and the folks at my local branch are very nice to me, including any and all the vice presidents. They never hold deposited checks as long as they might legally, although I've nearly never had a deposited check bounce on me. They're always trying to show me new and [to them] interesting banking products, always ready to extend more credit to me and other local businessfolks, and they are generally nice people.
But in 18 years, none of them have ever done anything for me approaching a favor that they could later “pull in” for a reciprocal favor on my part. ESPECIALLY if the favor had anything to do with cutting legal corners.
This part (along with other parts, as noted by other posters) of your tale isn't credible.
sitetest
Knowing a lot of people is all it would have taken. Just because someone is connected does NOT mean they have some outrageous seniority or something. I know my contact in Hawaii is NOT some executive, nor has ever been. But I can tell you this, if I wanted to accomplish something in Hawaii that bent a few laws I know exactly who I would need to talk to first. Its about trust in an insular community. It has nothing to do with ranking seniority.
The point is, she didn’t get to her position over night, regardless of how “high” up she was. She did it over time and in that time would have made lots of friends acquaintances, for whom she may have done favors even if it was only babysitting their kids. This is just how it works in the Islands. Keep in mind we are talking about a place in which you can drive around the perimeter of the island in just a few hours. Oahu is SMALL! You go from town to town in the blink of an eye, literally. Kailua is less than 20 min form Honolu on the Poly Frwy. and that is considered a long distance.
I am sorry that this may be confusing. Hawaii is a very different place than the mainland, and things work differently there. The entire society works differently there. Believe me, I struggled with the differences when my family and I moved to the mainland in the late 70’s.