Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 6, 1 June 1991 — Warm aloha for a gracious Kaupo native [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Warm aloha for a gracious Kaupo native

by Peggy Hiekok Hodge Special to Ka Wai Ola O OHA A tiny lei bedecked 100-year-old kupuna from Kaupo, Maui, born and raised in a grass shack by her pure Hawaiian grandmother, was the guest of honor at the annual luau of the prestigious Hale o Na Ali'i Society April 27, at the Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce in Honolulu. She is Agnes (Kelupaina) Lum Sui Kahoe, who devoured every sweet potato at her table, as that is her favorite food and the one staple they were able to raise on their arid land in Kaupo at the eastern base of Haleakaia. Her grandmother, Kaholokahiki, spoke only Hawaiian to her granddaughter, whom she raised as her hanai child. She taught her long-haired granddaughter how to quilt and sew and make the lauhala mats they slept on over a bare dirt floor. They cooked outside with dry wood they gathered for the fire — mostly sweet potatoes whieh Agnes loved to eat. "Life was hard in those days," Agnes told me in her whee!chair in the parlor of her Kaimuki cottage, recalling her past 100 years. She is the oldest living member of Hale o Na Ali'i Society and has belonged the longest of any member — 71 years. "We had to get our water from very far away and it was part sea water and part fresh. We also collected rain water in the big kegs they shipped salt salmon in. We bathed and drank water from the few streams we had, far away, too." She learned to read and write at the Catholic Cathedral School in Honolulu, but got homesick for Kaupo and returned to her Maui home at 12.

Lum Sui, the owner of the first coffee shop in Kaeleku, Hana, was born in Canton, China. He saw Agnes and chose her for his bride. They were married when she was 15 and had eight children — five boys and three girls. "To have babies was hard in those days," she told me. "My grandma, she helped me as I lay on the lauhala mat on the ground and told me when to push the baby out. No doctor, no nurse, no hospital."

When her first son, Sam Lum, was two years old, his father took him to China to be reared by his family there. Agnes and her family moved to Honolulu later where her husband was assistant manager of the Orient Chop Suey House. They lived on Tin Can Alley and Cunha Lane. Later she married a Hawaiian, Kealoha Kahoe, by whom she had two more sons. Today she sits upon a vanishing native monarchial throne and has outlived two husbands, four children and two grandchildren. T oday she lives in memories — a large photo on the wall of her beloved grandmother. Nearby, on !and she owns, live her daughters, Rose LumTam-Hoy and Florence Minn, and a son, Eddie . They all tend their aging mother. Her father was Au Lum, also known as Alama and her mother, Kaholokahiki, a pure Hawaiian from the village of Kaupo, past Hana and Kipahulu and even today off the beaten path. As the 500 guests at the luau of the society founded by Princess Abigail Kawananakoa applauded her at the celebration, she smiled behind hom rimmed glasses and her sparkling eyes filled with tears. Her petite face was lined with marks of years of hardship and happiness and her brown eyes sparkled when she smiled. A full head of curly white hair framed her fragile head, adorned with a beautiful haku lei. Agnes has lived through five governments in Hawaii— the monarchy of Queen Lili'uokalani, who was cruelly removed and imprisoned in 1893; the Provisional Government, the first Republic of Hawaii, the Territory and now Statehood. She recalled the 1917 funeral procession of the great Queen Lili'uokalani from Kawaiahao Church for burial at the Royal Mausoleum on Nuuanu Avenue, the koa casket hand drawn by sturdy stevedores. Members of the Kaahumanu Society wore hlaek holokus and royal feather !eis of the bright yellow bird o'o bird or strands of Oahu's paper thin ilima blossoms. Today she ignores the traffic of cars outside her home and the nearby freeway that has erased many of the old homes she knew there (mine included). Daughter Rose Tam-Hoy is her constant eompanion. She also is a long standing member of 30 years in Hale o Na Ali'i. When I stood up to leave, she smiled mischieviously and added: "When they asked me how many husbands I've had, I tell them only two!" Reprmted by permission o f Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Agnes Kahoe

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