Short History of the Captain Cook Urantia Community 1972 - 2024

Having joined the Captain Cook Urantia Community in 1980, I have relied on the memories of those who came before me for information regarding the communities’ beginnings. Yet having lived in or around this wonderful community for over 44 years, I can speak with some authority as to its history and character during my years there.

This is the story I heard from Mahina. “I was 13 when we moved to Kona from Oahu. I remember that my dad and Tony bought into a 7-acre lease land deal originally. It was a few years later that Dillingham wanted to sell that whole portion of land – something over 200 acres where 55 families were living with about 5 acres each. We were at the top of the road at that time and the land above us was all undeveloped.

But there was a clause in the lease saying they had to offer it to leaseholders’ 1st, which of course they didn't think a bunch of coffee farmers could afford. So, they offered the whole section or no go. That's when dad and Tony jumped in to get everyone together to buy it all or lose it all. They organized the farmers who were already there and then offered what was still available to their Urantia friends and this filled the remaining properties so that the total land purchase could be made. It took a few years to seal the deal, but we ended up with 12 Urantia Book reading families at the top of Captain Cook town. Coffee was the crop back then. Mac nuts and Avocado would soon come later.”

Houses were built, new careers started, many as farmers. Families soon appeared as did 45 or so kids. A Urantia book study group started and continues today.

In 1981, an almost complete set of Bill Sadler Jr. 's 1958 and 1959 FUSLA (First Urantia Society of Los Angeles) one-week lectures were donated to our study group by David Saunders which he had bought on Oahu in 1965 from Bud who had recorded them.

The next full year, our study group would spend one hour before our regular reading, editing those lectures down from 90 hours to just 33 hours by taking out page turning, cigarette lighting, and Bill’s unfortunate cough which would soon lead to his early death from leukemia.

When the children were young, almost all the families would get together for birthdays and holidays, often taking over a good chunk of a park for Easter and Michael’s birthday. It was great for the kids to have so many friends right there in this small neighborhood plus they all went to the same school and rode the bus together. We adults would get together for dancing and talks around the fire on special occasions, especially Christmas.

On two occasions over this long community history, we came together to discuss some very important matters as a community. The first was a dispute between two Urantia reading neighbors at the top of the road. Both neighbors had their say, and we all did our best to bring peace between them. It was tense and ended up with one party selling his land and moving, yet good had come from our discussions as far as knowing that we can and do function as a community based on the principles in the Urantia book.

The second was in 1989 when Richard and Martin (Urantia Foundation Trustees) came to visit one of the families who then invited the whole community to come and meet with them. At this meeting, Richard and Martin explained why they were breaking up the union of Foundation and Brotherhood. We then discussed this as a community with 11 families deciding to stay with the Brotherhood. Again, we demonstrated our unity as a community.

Today, nine families remain on these original properties, still meeting each Sunday for badminton, bacchii ball and coffee as they have done at Jerry and Judy’s for the last 40 years. The study group still meets, though only twice a month. The kids have grown up and now have kids who play badminton on Sundays.

I know we all feel blessed to have this community of fellow readers so near at hand. On one occasion when my wife and I were away from the house, my 8-year-old son cut himself very seriously, within minutes neighbors on the right of us and left of us were rushing him to the nearest hospital and literally saved his life!

It was a rare bit of good fortune that brought this Urantia Family together. Let us hope that our wonderful Urantia book can bring this planet together the way it was able to bring our little Urantia Community here on the Big Island of Hawaii together!