Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 8, 1 August 2007 — Trustee Dela Cruz's amazing voice will be missed [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Trustee Dela Cruz's amazing voice will be missed

Jūhn Waihe'e IV Vice Chair, TrustEE, At-Larga

"Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near the infinite." -Thomas Carlyle, 19,h century historian Iwill never forget the first time I ever heard Linda Dela Cruz sing live. For many Linda will be remembered for her incredible voice: the ha'i style falsetto that "struck a precarious balance between strength and fragility." Inevitably, it would establish her plaee in Hawaiian music history as "Hawai'i's Canary" and gain her a Nā Hōkū Hanohano Lifetime Achievement Award. For many, Linda will also be remembered for her incredible voice of a different sort: as an advocate for homestead and Native Hawaiian issues on the

island of Hawai'i. Eventually, this drive would lead her to political achievement as an OHA trustee in 2000. The 2000 OHA Board of Trustees elections were unique for several reasons. It was the first election following the infamous Rice decision. Anyone could run or vote. The sitting board had been forced to resign and was replaced with governor appointees. Then there was that elections challenge. Along with Linda, I was also elected for my first term in that 2000 election. The aforementioned bedlam that had preceded it, as well as a subsequent court challenge seeking to eliminate Hawaiian entitlements altogether, had the newly elected board anxious to start working. The trustees-elect collectively decided that rather than wait until the investiture ceremony to take our oaths of office, we'd do it as soon as was permissible by law. On the morning of the big day, 21 days after the general election, OHA's boardroom was packed with well-wish-ers. The abundance of people in close proximity, along with my confining suit and layers of lei, had me feeling uncomfortably warm. While my eolleagues all seemed very composed,

the heat coupled with the conspicuous nature of the whole affair had me feeling extremely nervous. Eaeh of us had been instructed upon arrival to stand at the board table behind his/her designated seat to wait until the Chief Justice arrived to swear us in. And so we did. For nearly an hour we stood there in a manner that Trustee Stender would later describe somewhat tongue-in-cheek, yet rather accurately, as being "like a bunch of stupids." The unexplained inactivity only magnified my unease. Something was obviously not right. After what seemed like an eternity, I vaguely heard the rumblings of a small commotion in the hallway foretelling the arrival of the then-acting Chairman Clayton Hee, with fully equipped eamera people from the loeal news stations following in tow. Combined with the added heat from the camera-mounted lights, the thick smell of maile and plkake in the air ceased to be fragrant, and became nauseating instead. Taking a seat at the head of the board table, Chairman Hee informed us all that at 4:30 p.m. the preceding day an election complaint had been filed. The Chief Justice would not be coming; we

would not be getting sworn in. At that moment I regretted not having eaten breakfast that morning, as my vision became dim and my head dizzy. After the ehainnan exited the room to talk to reporters, everyone remaining seemed dumb with shock. I took a seat. It was then that Trustee Dela Cruz did the one thing that seemed natural to her. She sang. "Put the dishes in the sink boys; put the dishes in the sink boys ..." Suddenly I felt the oxygen return to my brain, and everything was put into perspective. While we had experienced an unfortunate turn of events, it was not the end of the world. Life would go on. And so it did. Along with Linda we would all eventually be sworn in and be faced by the many challenges the office would present us. And while Trustee Dela Cruz's time at OHA will probably be best remembered by her initiatives like the Native Hawaiian Registry and the Micro Loan program, I will remember the auntie who was always ready with a song or joke to put things back into perspective. We will deeply miss our angel and the music she brought us. S

LEO 'ELELE ■ TRUSTEE MESSAGES