Howard grew up in China, where his father was a missionary doctor. He followed in his father's footsteps and became a doctor as well, attending Chentu Medical School and College in western China.

Chentu had a reunion in 1969 in Toronto Canada. It was a Canadian founded and supported University staffed by westerners who lived outside the walls of the city. The whole school was outside the city walls. The families were close, entertained themselves and each other with music. Each person played an instrument. In the late 1920s the older boys had the task of gong out at night to get milk etc at a nearby village dairy farm. To do so they ran along the berms between rice paddies. When soldiers (Bob in later life mentioned that he thought the soldiers were at the time Communist in that the revolution was in its infancy in the 1920s but historically the Communists were focused on the coastal cities- some of whom were occupied by the Japanese) would come they had to hide down in the water to avoid detection. Bob noted some tense moments during those trips out but apparently they were never discovered by the soldiers.

This 1969 photo includes left to right Bob, Lyla, Helen Betty Horner Liljestrand and Paul Howard Liljestrand (who preferred to be called Howard. All are Liljestrands. Howard and Betty lived in Honolulu since 1937 where he interned at Queens for 2 years and then practiced medicine in a small Dole Pineapple plantation hospital for workers which he bought from Dole. When Howard retired he sold the Leeward Hospital and land for $1. It is now a Kaiser Permente clinic. It was located just up in back of Pearl Harbor where Howard nd Betty had a house. December 7, 1941 brought some nearby direct bomb hits during the attack on Pearl Harbor but neither their house or the hospital were hit by bombs. Howard and Betty (pregnant with their first child Robert who came later that December) were on the big island at the time of the December 7 attack.

We do not have many photos of Cousin Bob Liljestrand or his mother Helen Betty but we have memories of many visits from the family to our house in St Paul and in Ohio. Cousin Bob was at Ohio Wesleyan while I was at Ohio State and saw each other also periodically. When Jim was at Northwestern Medical School in downtown Chicago (1962-1966) his Aunt Betty was President of the Womens Auxiliary of the American Medical Association and in Chicago where the AMA headquarters were. She would stay at the Drake where her national meetings were (a block from my dorm on the near north side of Chicago) and she would miraculously find time to take Jim out to dinner. It was a great time and she was always very nice.

Once in 1979 at a AAPMR (American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) in Honolulu where Jim was to present a paper he got a call from ‘Aunt Betty” saying why are you staying down at that horrible Waikiki beach when you could be up here with us. So Jim checked out, rented a little stick shift Fiat and moved up to Tantalus Drive house. One can see the house today - see the Liljestrand Foundation website for more details. Their guest bedroom overlooked Pearl Harbor, Punch Bowl and off to the left Diamond Head. She did daily laps in their pool with 25 pebbles and moved them from one pile to another to keep track of her laps. Howard was a night owl and be up to 2 am working on his documentary films in the basement with classical music blaring, Trudy (still working for the Liljestrand Foundation in 2023) was the office manager and facilities manager and looked after the guests needs like towels and sheets. It was on one of these trips to Honolulu where we spent on a Saturday 2 hours listening to Garrison Keillor from Prairie Home Companion on NPR. He never missed a broadcast and after that neither did we.

Howard's Story (as told by James Liljestrand)

Paul Howard Liljestrand
(1911-2004)

1911: Paul Howard Liljestrand is born

Paul Howard was born 4 Oct 1911 in Waterloo, Iowa to Sven “Harry” Liljestrand and Ethel Hardy, their first child.

Ancestry.com, Iowa, U.S., Births (series) 1880-1904, 1921-1944 and Delayed Births (series), 1856-1940 > Delayed Birth Records > ALL > Delayed births, no. 440001-445000, 1911-1912 > image 1673 of 5012, accessed 9 May 2026.

1929: Becoming a Medical Doctor

After returning to the United States from his parents’ missionary trip to China, Howard attended Ohio Wesleyan University and Harvard Medical School. After an internship at the Queen’s Hospital in Hawaii, he received his medical license in 1939.

Howard was licensed in Hawaii after a two year internship training program at Queens Hospital in Honolulu. The family story is that he with Helen Betty in 1937 upon graduating Harvard Medical School went to Hawaii to train and prepare to go to India as missionaries. The health of Helen Betty was and issue (allergies sounding like celiac disease) caused them to cancel those plans. Other family reported Howard saying that he never wanted to be poor, Helen Betty writing that the climate was such in Hawaii that she would be happy to settle there, and shortly Howard had acquired the Dole Pineapple Hospital up in back of Pearl Harbor. He developed the hospital such that it had more than one operating room, a nurses station in the center of the hospital with glass allowing each patient to be observed as if in an ICU (intensive care unit). Each room had a lanai for visitors on the outside of the room. It was unusually efficient in that visitors and nurses did not get in each others way. Helen Betty was the administrator, head of medical records and Human Resources. They soon hired Chinese doctors who could cover for Howard and the ‘Leeward Clinic and Hospital’ thrived. When they retired they reported that they sold the hospital to the city of Honolulu for a dollar and they subsequently turned it over to Kaiser Permanente which has further developed the facility into an outpatient care center.
The clinic is now called called Kaiser West Oahu Clinic, located in Kapolei up in back of Pearl Harbor. In the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor the house where the family was living escaped damage but the buildings around them were all damaged. The new rebuilt Medical Center is an outpatient only and an Urgent care facility. Currently this area is growing rapidly.

Photograph Gallery

Howard & Betty wedding portrait taken her father, 1937

Howard in the basket, Chengdu, China, abt 1918

Howard playing in Chengdu, China, abt 1920

Eric, Sven, Robert, Ethyl, Betty, Howard at his graduation, 1937

Howard and Betty marriage certificate, 1937

Helen Betty Horner high school graduation, abt 1930

Howard and Betty in Woods Hole, abt 1933

Howard and Betty with Bobby & Lana, abt 1945

The four children of Howard and Betty, 1950

Scenes from life at the Liljestrand House

Ossipov drawing of the Liljestrand House, lower level ,1945

Sketch of Liljestrand House in House Beautiful, 1959

Wendla, Bob, Lana, Eric, Honolulu, abt 1955

Bob, Howard, Eric, Betty, Wendla, Lana, Honolulu 1959

Son Robert Hardy Liljestrand, about 2016

Howard with his 2nd wife Alberta, Honolulu, 1999

Howard and Betty in the News

Horner-Liljestrand, 1937

Newspaperarchive.com, Rolfe Arrow, Rolfe, Iowa,
Thursday, 16 Dec 1937, p. 4 : downloaded 29 Oct 2024.

Liljestrand Home, 1958

Newspapers.com, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii,
Thursday, 18 Jun 1958, p. 13 : downloaded 29 Oct 2024.

In 1962 Aunt Betty, as she was known to her nephews through Robert Stratton, was very family oriented, Jim (James Stratton) was a Medical Student at Northwestern when Betty made trips from Honolulu to Chicago to attend the Womens Auxilliary to the American Medical Association where she became President in 1973. Despite being quite busy with her organizational duties she sought out Jim and would take him to dinner on each visit. She was quiet and extremely competent in organizational matters. At Leeward Clinic where Howard saw patients and performed his surgeries Betty was the Administrator, Human Resource person, recruiter of nurses and the eyes and ears for Howard who was the owner and founding physician. At one point there were 5 Chinese doctors working full time at Leeward Clinic which allowed Howard to leave on long photo, and cinematic journeys to India and the south pacific. This left Betty to exercise her organizational talents in the Women’s Auxiliary. She was also a well know social and entertainment expert in Honolulu. She and Howard were tied in to the governor’s social life and Howard delivered the Governor’s wife’s babies.

Tantalus Garden, 1956

Newspapers.com, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, Hawaii,
Saturday, 7 Jan 1956, p. 70 : downloaded 29 Oct 2024.

Liljestrand Home, 1958

GenealogyBank.com, Utica Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York,
Sunday, 10 Aug 1958, p. 24 : downloaded 21 Nov 2024.

Mrs. Liljestrand, 1973

Newspapers.com, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii, Wednesday, 11 Jul 1973, p. 37 : downloaded 29 Oct 2024.

The 3 younger children were adopted. Howard always said he ‘found Wendla, Eric, and Lanna and brought them home. Bob the first born was 6 months junior to Jim.

Liljestrand House, 2024

Newspapers.com, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii,
Saturday, 6 Apr 2024, p. A8 : downloaded 18 Nov 2024.

A Tour of the Liljestrand House

Tropical Modern: Touring Hawaii's Most Iconic MCM Home Nestled Amongst the Hillside is a 16 minute video in which Shan Liljestrand, grandson of Howard and Betty and president of the Liljestrand Foundation, provides a wonderful narrated visual tour of the Liljestrand House.

Trudy Couillard with 3 Generations of Liljestrands

Trudy Couillard worked closely with the Liljestrand family and their foundation for many years. The photos below show her with 3 generations of Liljestrands: Howard, his son Robert, and Robert’s son Shan.

Life at Liljestrand

This 70 minute video sponsored by the Liljestrand Foundation features a panel discussion with Howard and Betty’s son Robert Hardy Liljestrand providing a slide show of his grandparents’ life in China and beyond, as well as memories of his father.

The Huntington Library

The Huntington Library in San Marion, California, in partnership with the Liljestrand Foundation, is stewarding the Liljestrand family archive, documenting the Liljestrand House’s architectural history as well as Howard and Betty Liljestrand’s lives in Hawaiʻi and beyond.

Death in 2004

Newspapers.com, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii,
Thursday, 17 Jun 2004, p. 18 : downloaded 20 Nov 2024.

Reunion at The Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole, 1987

Boston Globe, Family copy

Howard’s 2nd wife Alberta “Al” Chartier
(1910-2012)

Howard’s wife Betty died in 1991 at the age of 79. He married Alberta “Al” Chartier, who had 3 prior husbands, some time after that.

Jim’s Recollections

Al Cartier appearing at the Explorers Club Honolulu with Howard was a lively fun person to be around. She was a nurse by training, had a gay son (only child) who took his own live in his mid forties. This was a real tragedy in her life. The story we heard is that her husband left her because of their son being gay. As a younger woman she bought some beach property on the north side of Oahu before there was any hint of future development. She basically forgot about it, as she told the story. One day the guy who sold her the property wanted to buy it back and offered her 93 million dollars which she took. At this Explorers Club the two would josh each other saying you charged me too much and you should have paid me more.

Al accompanied Howard to his Harvard Medical School reunions in Boston when Alice and Jim would meet them for dinner-one time at the Plaza Hotel. Al reportedly did not like Trudy who managed the 3300 Mt Tantalus Drive house and lived in the caretaker’s apartment on the ground floor looking out on Diamond Head. Trudy’s husband was the tennis coach for Punahoe High School and was Howard’s almost daily tennis partner and coach. For years Howard was the All Island over-eighty tennis champion! Al actually fired Trudy (who returned as soon as Al moved out of the house and into a luxury nursing home. Al also wanted to move things around in the master bedroom and change the other rooms around and of course Howard would have none of it as he was committed to preserving everything in the original Ossipov design.

Al’s Obituary

Newspapers.com, West Hawaii Today, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii,
Tuesday, 25 Dec 2012, p. A4 : downloaded 8 Mar 2026.

Al’s son Frederic Mueller’s Obituary

Newspapers.com, Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii,
Friday, 9 May 1989, p. A-6 : downloaded 8 Mar 2026.