Deidre and her mother Melinda Clarke at Natsu Matsuri. (Photos courtesy of Deidre Tegarden)

The remarkable legacy of Nisei soldiers is embodied by the busy calendar of events at the Nisei Veteran Memorial Center (NVMC), located on Go For Broke Way in Kahului, Maui. NVMC is a vital community gathering space serving the many communities of Maui.

On any given day there are exhibitions, cultural workshops, movie nights and classes for youth and seniors. In May, NVMC sponsored a trip to Japan to visit sister city Fukuyama and attend their rose festival.

Behind all of this is Deidre Tegarden, NVMC’s energetic executive director. She credits a team of volunteers and staff for making the center a success.

“We’re all doing multiple jobs — a lot if is fundraising, grant writing, reaching out to the community, love the programs we do movies once a month, workshops, speakers,” she explained. “We’re making sure we engage with entire community, not only Japanese Americans.”

Tegarden joined NVMC for a second time in January 2020, bringing an extensive background in political engagement and community development. She first led NVMC as its executive director from 2016 to 2018, leaving at that time to become as chief of staff for Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino.  She has also served as the chief of protocol for Hawaiʻi Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Gov. David Ige and as the executive director for Big Brothers Big Sisters Maui.

In 2016, she ran unsuccessfully for the Hawaiʻi State Legislature, but what turned out to be Hawaiʻi’s loss was NVMC’s gain. She recalled a conversation with then-board chair Brian Moto.

“He said, ‘We really want you to win, but if you don’t you have a job on Monday,’” she recalled. “They took a big chance on me, I’m not JA and they’ve been very inclusive, very welcoming.”

Tegarden’s deep respect for Japanese culture started during formative years spent in Japan with her mom Melinda Clarke, a teacher, journalist and peace activist, and younger brother Gavin. She graduated from University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Japanese and Chinese Studies.

She remembers spending time in a Japanese public school, where she took a home economics class and had an assignment to sew a skirt.

“My skirt was horrible and I had to turn into the teacher, and knew it would fail. But that night, five girls in my class, showed up at our apartment, took my skirt, tore it apart and hand-stitched a beautiful skirt and of course I got a good grade,” Tegarden said with appreciation.

The kindness of her classmates made an impression on Tegarden who was just 11 at the time.

“That sense of team and greater than yourself is community and greater than yourself is the team Which Japan does so well,” she said.

At NVMC Tegarden strives to bring that sense of team to all of their initiatives, inspired by a “Go For Broke” spirit that the Nisei soldiers would appreciate.

Leonard Oka, founder of NVMC and its board chair emeritus, praised Tegarden for broadening the mission of the center that was conceived as a way to honor the legacy of Maui’s Nisei veterans of World War II. 

NVMC serves as a repository of oral histories and artifacts of the Nisei veterans Oka is the president of Sons and Daughters of Nisei Veterans and is also home to Kansha Preschool, Maui Adult Day Care Center’s Oceanview facility and the NVMC Education Center and Archives.

Oka explained that over the years, NVMC’s mission has evolved and diversified. Today NVMC seeks to “ignite the potential in people by inspiring them to find the hero in themselves through the legacy of the Nisei Veterans.”

Barbara Watanabe was the first executive director who oversaw the construction phase of the center. Each subsequent executive director has brought unique skills to the job.

“As things just progressed when Deidre came along the building basically was already up and her job was to do the programs and get the community involved and she did such a good job at it. She is very good with the public,” Oka said.

Oka has seen NVMC go from a vision of the sons and daughters of Nisei veterans for a building that preserves and honors the sacrifices of the AJA soldiers, to the vibrant center that supports the larger Maui community. He shared the example of a Japanese knife-sharpening class as an example of the variety of programs offered by NVMC.

“Knife sharpening is something you wouldn’t expect to be in a Nisei veterans center. The cultural side is important, it’s broader than just the Nisei veterans themselves or the war. She thinks outside of the box,” Oka said.

“If we were still running it, we would still be focusing on the veterans of World War II. That’s important too — to remember the history, but again she broadened the scope of the mission.”

Tegarden credited the board for accepting and embracing change.

“The great thing is when we started bringing on the younger generation the older individuals didn’t say ‘Oh I don’t like their ideas,’ they embraced those ideas,” she said. “The board is so great. They encourage and support and are there to help with ideas. That’s one of our messages, we don’t do anything alone. We always have help. It’s very okagesama de.“

While Teagarden has expanded NVMC’s mission, at its heart remains the story and values of the Nisei soldiers and their families.

“Look at all the people how have come before who are part of the story, Issei, Nisei, Sansei who made the story, the Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi who created the Hawaiʻi we know today. They were strong and powerful, yet quiet and diplomatic and gracious,” Tegarden said.

“All of the gaman, gambare, the oyakoko, okagesama de, they not only say it, they embody it. They live it, it’s just a given.”