ROY ALLEN WALL, JR.
Kahua Ranch, Wall Ranch, Hawai’i    

Seventy-six years ago Roy Allen Wall, Jr. was born and raised on the Wall Ranch, his family’s ranch in Kona.  There he learned the cowboy basics from his father, Roy A. Wall Sr., and Pila Kelii, whose employment with the Walls would span four generations.

Allen was educated at Punahou and Cal Poly, where he received a degree in Animal Husbandry Science in 1955.  There he met his future boss and mentor, Monty Richards.  Following service with the US army in Korea , Allen was hired as a bookkeeper for Kahua Ranch.  Although Monty’s definition of this title was a bit broader than the term implies; Allen remained at Kahua for twenty years, eventually becoming Assistant Manager. 

Following the death of his father, he returned to Wall Ranch in 1978.  There he developed an independent water system, upgraded his pastures and fenced them for a better rotation system.  All his efforts rewarded him with a vastly improved herd.  He continues the enterprise with the able assistance of wife Patty and sons Roy and Chance.  He is especially proud of the work ethic and interest of his grandchildren. 

Allen remembers the final years of shipping cattle out of Keauhou on the SS Hawai’i, often jointly with Palika Ranch.  As a boy he recalls driving the pipi moku single file on the Beach Trail from Kainaliu Kai to Keauhou.  This was a time when almost all ranch work was done the hard way, on horseback and with pack animals. He has not only experienced those old days of Hawaiian ranching, but gone through all the vicissitudes in ranching in Hawai’i right into the new millennium. 

Allen still finds time to compose Hawaiian language songs, which he sings while accompanying himself on guitar.  He is accomplished in the making of the Hawaiian tree saddle.  Through his life and accomplishments he continues to engender and perpetuate the paniolo lifestyle he loves so well. 

   Photos by Robert Gonzalez