Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 2, 1 February 1997 — One family's search for a Hawaiian identity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

One family's search for a Hawaiian identity

Trying to find your Hawaiian ancestry ean be a difficult task. Rorey La Puente attended the Kamehameha Schools from kindergarten to 6th grade and when he was about to enter the 7th grade, he was not allowed to eonhnue because he and his family had been unable to prove he had Hawaiian blood. Rorey's father, Richard La Puente, has been trying to locate proof of his Hawaiian ancestry. He has been searching everywhere, to no avail. Then he heard of OHA's Operation 'Ohana program. Now the family is asking for help from anyone who might have known the La Puente family, or who were their neighbors in 'Iwilei or Auld Lane about 1920. This is their story: Richard's father, Martin La Puente, was given away when he was about a year old. Martin's hanai parents were Ramon La Puente and Adriana Palensuela. Martin's hanai father died when he was still young, so he was raised by his hanai mother. Neither parent ever told him he was adopted, so he grew up believing he was Filipino. Yet neighbors told him, as a boy, that his real parents were Hawaiian, something that hatmts him today. Because he was hanai, there is no record of an adoption where it would be possible to get his birth par-

ents' names. Richard checked with the Board of Health, the Latter Day Saints' Family History Center, census records and so on, but has not found anything. Though he does not have a birth certificate, Martin La Puente believes he was born on June 10, 1919, and was baptised at Church of Our Lady of Peaee on June 22, 1919. His family hved in 'Iwilei and the Auld Lane area of Palama, where many Hawaiians from Ni'ihau lived. He attended Ka'iulani School, Kalihi-Kai School,

Pu'uhale School, Watertown School (now the Naval Reserve), and served in the U.S. Army, receiving various medals during World War II. He later lived in Damon Tract, Halawa housing, Pearl City and now lives in Waipahu.

Anyone who thinks they may have information that will help the family in their search may eall Richard La Puente at 626-0194.

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Looking for their Hawaiian eonneehon: (left to right): Rorey La Puente, Richard La Puente, Emilia and Martin La Puente.