Local couple will ‘never forget’ Hawaiian vacation
Gerald and Shirley Bastyr of St. Patrick have vacationed in Hawaii before. This trip happened when a test about a missile alert was mistakenly sent out as the real thing the morning of Saturday, Jan. 13. This was the couple’s 10th visit to Hawaii, and when asked if it was the most memorable, Shirley Bastyr chuckled, “We’ll never forget this one.”
On this trip the Bastyrs were in a group of eight, two daughters, two granddaughters and two friends. They were there for a week, arriving on the islands on Monday, Jan. 8, and arriving back home the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 16. The group was staying at the Imperial Hawaii Resort at Waikiki.
On January 13, Gerald and Shirley had agreed to meet friends, rent a car and the four would tour the island. The Bastyrs were waiting to rent a car from a business near the International Market Place. “It’s very high end now,” Shirley said of the open air shopping center. The couple have a time-share in Hawaii, Shirley is a retired medical lab technologist, who worked for 50 years, including five years at Queen of Peace Hospital (now Mayo Clinic Health System in New Prague). Gerald still works part time for Auto Auction in Shakopee.
“I was in line waiting to rent the car, when the alarm came across our cell phones,” said Shirley about the alert, which went out around 8 a.m. The line of people asked employees at the car rental what they should do and where should they go. Their answers ranged from finding shelter to not knowing where to go. Before the alarm, Gerald had stepped away to find....
To see more on this story pick up the January 25, 2018 print edition of The New Prague Times.
