Stan Krol, a 30-year resident of Maui, Hawaii, who recently relocated to Village of Oak Creek, returned to the Valley Isle one last time from January to May in support of Maui Strong’s Project Vision Hawaii, a nonprofit organization that is supporting rebuilding efforts on the island following the destruction of the town of Lahaina by wildfires last year.
“The whole town was devastated, and it still is,” said Kathleen Tezak, a business associate of Krol’s who also sells real estate on Maui. “Lahaina was kind of the jewel of our island. It was just the most charming and magical place to be [on] Maui, and it’s all gone … it’s all still barricaded, you can’t even get into sections of it. And it’s all flat there … Almost a year later, it’s still hard to believe it’s gone, and I don’t believe Maui will ever be the same.”
Krol, a contractor by trade, also raised $25,000 through the Stan & Sharon Krol Charity for the charity People of Hawaii. The money went to the Maui Food Bank, the Maui Humane Society and Toys for Tots, with Krol paying out of pocket for his lodging and travel to assist with advising on the installation of housing units along the Veterans Highway on the island of Maui.
Krol joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1959 and was involved in blockade operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.
“I was in the Third Marine Division,” Krol said. “Got out in 1966 and spent some time overseas and I helped deliver items into the front lines and took back the Marines that were injured back to the ship. Our tanks were the ones that went through the surf zone. We went from the ship to the surf zone into the land pick up, deliver, bring back on the LSDs.”
LSD is a U.S. Navy hull classification for “landing ship, dock,” an amphibious warfare ship with a well dock to transport and launch landing craft and amphibious vehicles.
Krol later met and married his wife Sharon on Maui in 1991. She was a volunteer for a number of after-school programs and the Maui Humane Society as well as working at the Kihei pharmacy.
Krol described his late wife as a “beautiful lady” and said that he was drawn to her personality and her love of animals.
“She taught me what love was all about,” Krol said, pointing to an urn that held some of her ashes. He also had a small ceremony in December to scatter some of her remains in the waves of Hawaii. “It was a beautiful relationship and I miss her a hell of a lot … I really do.”
“I kind of feel that I understand people more than I’ve ever did from what I’ve seen in Maui,” Krol said. “I’ve seen the devastation in their eyes. I’ve seen how hurt they are, and I feel that I hope that they can survive the loss that they experienced over there.”
Krol has two daughters from a previous marriage who live in Sedona and Cottonwood and decided to relocate to the Village of Oak Creek following Sharon’s death. “‘Time to come over here where you’re going to probably need some help,’” Krol said his daughters told him.
A self-described “golf nut,” he spends four days a week working on the greens at the OCC as a player assistant, driving a golf cart around the course to provide customer service, a job that he also did part-time for 20 years while living on Maui in order to get free rounds. He also said that being able to play golf five minutes from his home was one of the reasons he is comfortable in his new VOC residence.
Photo courtesy Stan Krol
“He’s one of our best out there,” OCC professional Heather Risk said, also explaining how she and Tournament Director Holly Knudsen assisted Krol in his charity work. “He keeps traffic moving, and he’s kind to everybody and he understands that it’s just golf and everybody’s having a good time. And I know he’s always trying to help the people of Lahaina … We helped them with some flyers, we helped him get an understanding of internet and QR codes and creating the [charity’s] website.”
“He gets up and comes to work every day, and he just has the biggest smile on his face,” Risk said. “He wants everybody to enjoy their round, and he’s just the happiest guy, and I know he lost his wife. He could be sitting at home and doing what a lot of 80-plus-year-olds do and he doesn’t. He gets out and he helps people and he’s always trying to pick somebody up. says nice things about everybody.”
Some organizations that Krol recommends donating to in order to assist with the rebuilding of Maui are the Maui Food Bank and the United Way of Maui.
“Lahaina will arise in beauty once again … have hope, have faith,” Krol wrote. “Why do I have hope and faith? I believe in the Lord … I just feel that he helped me on this journey more than I could ever even imagined.”
