Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 11, 1 November 2004 — Hawaiʻi Calls [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiʻi Calls

Like many island expatriates, Larry Kamahele of Washington state keeps eonneeted to his Hawaiian heritage through his love for musie and eulture

By Keaumiki Akui Like the eall of the wild, the islands of Hawai'i have beckoned Larry McCully Kamahele for over 50 years. As with many who left the islands for more favorable opportunities, the longing to return is always there. Kamahele's home in Edmonds, Washington, is filled with island memories, including his huge Hawaiian music library. He updates his eolleetion regularly, but it is the old traditional music that really ignites memories of a childhood on homestead land in Keaukaha. Kamahele was born in Honolulu, but his parents moved to Hawai'i island when he was young. In those days, many homestead matriarchs subsidized the family ineome by sewing leis and selling them at the docks to passengers on departing island steamers such as the Hualālai and Wai'ale'ale. Kamahele recalls that he was the first boy during that era to help his mother with the work. Eventually, he returned to Honolulu to attend the Hawaiian Mission Academy, graduating in 1947 then crossing the Pacific to continue his

education at the University of Washington. Kamahele excelled academically, earning a degree in microbiology. After serving with the U.S Army during the Korean Conflict, he returned to the Northwest and joined the laboratory staff of the Seattle-King County Puhlie Health Department. Seeking out fellow Hawaiian expatriates, he helped found the Wakinikona Hawaiian Club in 1962. (Wakinikona is the Hawaiianized version of "Washington.") Hawaiian seamen and longshoremen on the Seattle waterfront who, like Kamahele, longed for an

island connection, found it at the WHC, whieh quickly evolved into a family-oriented organization perpetaing the Hawaiian culture. (You ean read more about the club online at wakinikona.com). In 1988, after he retired from the county, Kamahele heeame co-founder and CEO of an asbestos removal eompany and even opened an office in Nānākuli. He finally retired from business in 1996 but soon heeame Deputy Director of NAPALI (National Pacific American Leadership Institute), a nonprofit organization

that offers skills training to young Pacific Islanders. Kamahele and his wife Wanda remain active in various ways. With his Hawaiian music collection and his library of over 850 books relating to Hawai'i, he is considered an authority on Hawaiian history and culture. Over the years, the Burke Museum and the University of Washington have sought out his advice. His memories of "small-kid" times growing up in Keaukaha and his love for his heritage are gifts he unselfishly shares with Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike in the Great Northwest.

Keaumiki Akui is the puhlie affairs specialist with OHA's governance division. His primary information sources for this article were the WHC website anā an article in the Northwest Hawai'i Times by Danny Ka'ōpūki. If you are a Hawaiian on the continent with an interesting story to tell, or if you know of one, please contact OHA Outreach Coordinator Aulani Apoliona at 594-1912, or via e-mail at aulania@oha.org. ■

I "U ■I 7T O , O 0 1 •< . I II 27 3 o J 3 I O I z e I Q I < I Q. I Q H 3 y q e J 3"

Larry Kamahele (center) jams some Hawaiian-style kanikapila at a Washington state Hovolauleva with fellow island expatriates Larry Awana (left) and Pete Nova (seated).