History of the Kona Hiking Club
The Kona Hiking Club was founded in 1973 by Bruno Keith and Mr. Anderson, whose first name has been lost to history.
We wish to credit Joe Castelli for some of the Hawaiiana information he has shared regarding KHC events during the late 1990’s.
Hank Swan took over as president in the mid-1980s, and led the group until 1992. Over the next four years, Richard Hand, Lester Wishard, and Jack Dalby each assumed leadership, followed by:
Betty DeRoy — 1996 to 1998
Andy Doughty — 1998
Roger and Janet Knoblauch — 1998 to 2004
Joan Kinchla, Ruby Tzimeas, and Alice Walker — 2005 to 2008
Alice Walker, Kathleen Johnson, Marti Udell — 2009
Alice Walker, Kathleen Johnson — 2010
Kathleen Johnson — 2010 to present
From left: Marti Udell, Alice Walker, Kathleen Johnson
Kathleen Johnson:
Originally from Pennsylvania, Kathleen joined the military and lived in Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Germany, and Colorado. After leaving the military and graduating from the University of Colorado, she worked in GIS for almost 10 years before moving with her husband to Hawaii in 2005. Her brother has lived in Hawaii for 30+ years and finally convinced her to move here. She loves the outdoors (especially tropical/ jungle environments) and enjoys it everywhere she lives and travels. Hiking is her favorite way to enjoy the outdoors, so when she moved to Kona in 2007 she looked for a group knowledgeable about the area to hike with and found the Kona Hiking Club ad in The West Hawaii Today newspaper.