Harold Morioka
My Friendship with Baldwin by Harold Morioka
I first met Baldwin in 1977 when my son Michael was dating Deidre, Baldwin's daughter. Baldwin and his wife made a graduation party for my son and they invited me to their home. From that time on we became very good friends. Baldwin and his wife Dot invited me on trips to Hilo in Japan. One day he asked me to go to Las Vegas with him. After that we went to Las Vegas three or four times a year. On several trips he never stepped out of the casino. He would play Blackjack day and night. He stopped playing only to eat, rest, and sleep. When he moved to Hapaki Street, he made friends with the Funasakis. He invited us all over to dinner nearly every Saturday night along with his wife and Diana when she was small. He would always feed Diana first and then he would eat. He was very generous, he insisted on paying for dinner. We stopped going to Las Vegas after his illness.