Grandmaster Fred Lara

Grandmaster Fred Lara was born in Waipahu, Hawaii, on the Island of Oahu. One day during his teenage years, he was beaten up so bad by a group of boys that he was rescued by an old man who picked him up and cared for him at his home. There he used used the ancient Chinese black paste like medicine which he rubbed all over his body. He told Grandmaster Lara that it was going to hurt and to yell as loud as he could. It hurt as he began using a large spoon to scrape the medicine off and returned it to the jar. After several days of treatment, he began to feel better.

It was later that Grandmaster Lara learned that that he was a Martial Arts Master named Cheu Dun Jing from Korea. When he got well enough, he told Grandmaster Lara that he would teach him how to defend himself in street fighting. He taught him how to develop the "Kung Fu Body" which consists of turning, twisting, coiling, crouching and whipping movements to resemble the Snake and the Dragon. Along with proper breathing techniques of the Buddhist and Tao systems. The training was so demanding that in 1941, he decided to change to a less rigorous training schedule.

Grandmaster Lara first joined under Grandmaster James Mitose, Professor William Chow and Sifu Thomas Young. At that time, Grandmaster Isaac Kaawa joined him. Four years later, Bobby Lowe and Manny Dela Cruz also joined. Grandmaster Lara was Professor William Chow's first assistant and Isaac Kaawa was Chow's first Sergeant at Arms. In 1963, he went back to Sifu Cheu Dun Jung who is affil;iated with Park Bok Nam who then taught Grandmaster Lara the art of the Poison Hand. He also taught him how to read aura in humans, animals and trees along with meditation, special training in healing and massaging the internal organs and moving Chi throughout the entire body system.

In 1972, Grandmaster's Fred Lara and Ming Lum became advisors to the Lontayao Martial Arts Organization. In 2001, he became one of the senior advisors for the Hawaii Martial Arts International Society and the Abregana Self Defense Institute.