This is based on a history by Agnes Niyekawa written probably in 1995 or 1996, supplemented with documents from the following years. Corrections and additions are most welcome.

Following up on a suggestion made by Chancellor Dick Kosaki at a reception for retirees in the Spring of 1985, one Wytze Gorter sent out 341 questionnaires to retired faculty on September 16th to gauge their interest in establishing a retiree’s association. All but five of the 201 who responded supported the idea. All but one of them were willing to pay “as much as $5” dues, and 75 volunteered to help organize and/or operate the association.
The first meeting was held 22 January 1986, a party in the Campus Center Ballroom, with Gorter the first president. By that time, the FRA had changed its name to FRAUHM, but it was noted that the “Faculty” at the beginning of the name and the “Manoa” at the end were not meant to exclude retirees from other campuses, or retired staff.
Quick links to academic years:

Officers and Board members, 1986-1987

Elected Officers

President:

Wytze Gorter

1st Vice President:

Sidney Townsley

2nd Vice President:

Harold Jambor

Secretary:

Mary Lou McPherson

Treasurer:

Y. S. Leong

Elected Members-at-large

Dorothy Aspinwall

Andrew Berger

Henry Bess

Bette Ecke

Mateo Go

Andrew In

Shirley Kamins

Hazel Kramer

Richard K. C. Lee

Wallace Mitchell

Activities

Fall 86 UH Foundation donates $400 in support
01/21/87 Second Annual Meeting and Party at Campus Center Dining Room
03/25 Richard H. Immerman, “U.S. Foreign Policy”
04/15 Yoneo Sagawa, Lyon Arboretum field trip
05/06 Charles Lamoureux, “Hawaiian Endemic Plants”
05/27 Mitsuo Aoki and Anthony Lenzer, “On Death and Dying”
06/17 John Craven, “End of Hierarchy”

Important Board Decisions and Discussions

03/17/87 Gorter writes to the Coalition of Hawaii State-County Retirees Association, at the board’s behest, that “Our association … wishes … to be nonpolitical since its membership holds diverse views on political and other matters. It, therefore, will not endorse candidates for political office or take official positions on public issues.”
07/30 “…at the annual meeting we should note, with appropriate words and ceremony, the death of retired members of the faculty.”