Cecile Oshima says her “students taught me so much”
Posted: May 28, 2026
For six decades, generations of students at Kahuku High & Intermediate School knew one thing for certain: Mrs. Cecile Oshima would be in the library.
Whether she was helping students discover a passion for reading, organizing Shakespeare performances, dressing up in costumes to make students laugh, or greeting former students years later, Oshima became more than a librarian. She became part of the Kahuku community.
Now, after beginning her career in public education in 1960 and serving at Kahuku High since 1966, Oshima is retiring at 88 years old — closing out one of the longest careers in Hawaiʻi public education history.
‘She’s like a second mother,’ colleague says
Oshima’s colleague and Kahuku High literacy coach and reading workshop teacher Karin Hansen del Rey said Oshima’s impact is impossible to measure.
“She’s like this gem hidden here in the Kahuku library, but always so willing to share her expertise and knowledge,” Hansen Del Rey said. “And more than that, she wants to take the ideas that you have and run with them.”
Hansen Del Rey has worked alongside Oshima for 23 years. She still remembers her first year teaching at the school while raising four daughters, including a newborn.
“I felt very afraid, and I didn’t know what to do,” she recalled. “And Mrs. Oshima stood up and she said, ‘Oh, come with me. You can bring your students to the classroom.’ And so I did, and that’s how our relationship began.”
“I really feel like she’s like a second mother to me,” she added.
Oshima helped make reading come alive
Oshima, a Leilehua High graduate, attended the University of Hawaiʻi and landed her first public school job in 1960 before moving to Kahuku High & Intermediate in 1966.
Over the years, Oshima became known for turning the library into an interactive space where students could perform, create, and connect. Hansen Del Rey said Oshima constantly encouraged students to move beyond worksheets and textbooks.
“When you come here in the classroom, you are part of a little ohana,” she said. “She’s really big about having the students listen, learn and speak in addition to reading and writing.”
Together, the two educators organized Shakespeare performances, Renaissance fairs, and literacy activities designed to bring reading to life for students.
“One year we did a whole Renaissance fair,” Oshima said. “Some of [the students] are not that interested in reading. But, they loved the crime and punishment of the Renaissance.”
For Oshima, the mission was always larger than the books themselves.
“I want them to be able to look at a book and to read for fun,” she said.
“A kid needs to be read to,” Oshima added. “And the students have taught me so much.”
ʻSheʻs the walking historian’
Former Kahuku student and current Kahuku Public and School Library employee Jolene Peapealalo said Oshima’s personality and deep roots in the community made her unforgettable.
“She’s the walking historian,” Peapealalo said. “She knows everybody. She knows about everything that happens in the community.”
Peapealalo graduated from Kahuku in 1985 and now works at the school as head of circulation. While she admits she “wasn’t really a library kind of student,” she came to know Oshima well after joining the library staff in 2012.
“She’s a character and a half,” Peapealalo said. “Every day is a new adventure with her.”
That sense of humor became one of Oshima’s trademarks on campus. She regularly wore funny hats and costumes during assemblies and school events.
“When the kids come in, the teenagers go, ‘Yeah!’” Oshima said with a laugh. “‘She’s going to do something funny.’”
Moments like that reminded Oshima why she stayed in education for so long. But, deciding to retire after such a long, illustrious career has not been easy.
“I cried,” Oshima admitted. “I cried because I didn’t want to.”
Hansen Del Rey said Oshima’s work ethic and dedication inspired countless colleagues through decades of educational change and challenges.
“She was here during the first [teacher] strike in 1973, (and the next strike) in 2001, ” Hansen Del Rey said. Even Covid, where a lot of teachers were like, this is just too much. She never threw in the towel.”
In retirement, Oshima told colleagues she hopes to continue volunteering at the school library.
“That’s how much she loves this school and how much she loves reading,” Hansen Del Rey said.
For the generations of students, educators, and families whose lives crossed paths with Cecile Oshima over the last 66 years, her legacy stretches far beyond the walls of the Kahuku library.
“I love Mrs. Oshima so much,” Hansen Del Rey said. “I always know when I bring my kids in here, they’re getting something special — something that they’re not just going to get from a textbook or from me lecturing or from a video in the classroom.”
“They’re getting real life,” she added.