John B. Medeiros
Year Inducted: 2005
Pu`uwa`awa`a Ranch | Hawai'i
Speaking about his life as a paniolo, John said, “Cowboy work was all wild cattle . . . you go on your own . . .those days, you just have to learn how to rope and what to do.” He learned it well. From his start at Pu`u`wa`aw`a Ranch at the age of 21, John rose to become its foreman by the time he was 35.
Typical of paniolo of his day, John must have had it in his blood, because his grandfather and his mother both worked for Henry Nicholas Greenwell. John described how his mother could drive cattle all day ( “. . . Rough rider, roping and everything. . .”) and then go home and cook and wash clothes.
John learned at a young age, the road to survival. Leaving school at eighth grade, he went to work at C.Q. Yee Hop, taking on the task of supporting his siblings and keeping them in school. He was drafted in 1945, returned in 1948 and started work at McCandless Ranch. Two years later he moved to Pu`uwa`awa`a and was overseeing the Honomalino division. Nine years later his responsibilities were expanded to include the supervision of Holualoa division. John’s value to the ranch operation was recognized even when there was a change of ownership, and he was kept on at Kailua, continuing to oversee multiple divisions. He was also sent to the American Breeders Service School, one of the first on the island to attend there to learn artificial insemination of cattle and horses.
John didn’t retire from ranch work until 1985. Never a slacker, he found something else to do. He started planting and growing coffee. Later, when observing his backyard full of coffee plants he joked, “Easy to plant `em, but who in hell is going to pick `em?”. Knowing John, He’d be out there today, getting the job done.