Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 4, 1 April 2012 — Remembering Newton Kulani Purdy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Remembering Newton Kulani Purdy

\ewton Kulani Purdy was born Oct. 15, 1928, in Kalaupapa, Moloka'i. His father, Robert Waipa Purdy, was a 1e,nrosv natie,nt who

lived in Kalaupapa with Kulani's mother, Marcy Kepalai Kinney. Kulani's mother did not have leprosy but had volunteered to accompany his father to Kalaupapa to care for him as a family helper. State law at the time required the separation of all children at birth from their parents. Most of the children grew up with other relatives or were taken to an orphanage. Immediately after

Kulani was born, he was taken from his parents and was raised outside the Kalaupapa settlement by an aunt. Though Kulani was born in Kalaupapa, his birth certificate listed his plaee of birth as Honolulu. This was a eommon practice by the Health Department for birth certiflcates of the children born in Kalaupapa. At the time it was done to spare children born at Kalaupapa the stigma of having a parent or parents with leprosy. Yet, despite this sadness of having to be taken from his parents at birth, Kulani was never bitter. Kulani attended Roosevelt High School butleftbefore graduating tojoin the Army. He was in the Army for seven years, serving as an infantry soldier, military poliee offlcer and Army Signal Corps. At one point during his service in the Army, he served under Gen. "Ike" Eisenhower. His flnal Army assignment was in New York City, where he was honorably discharged. He decided to stay in New York and ended up living there for more than 50 years. In New York he worked in a fabric shop and later at the Hawai'i Visitors Bureau. He was very passionate about organizing Hawaiians to get together. He flrst got involved with the Hawaiian entertainers at the Hawaiian Room of the Lexington Hotel. Kulani began to compose a

newsletter and phone directory for all Hawaiians living on the East Coast and sent them to everyone and anyone that was interested. This was before . the īnternet and his newx1et-

ter provided them with a way to network with eaeh other. He named the newsletter the Polynesian Registry. He produced the newsletter entirely at his own expense. Because of this it appeared sporadically depending on what he had left over after paying for his living expenses. Kulani spread the word about the annual Hawaiian May Day pienie in Central Park. It started

more than 20 years ago by members of the loeal Hawaiian community to eelebrate May Day. The annual Central Park Pienie brings together more than 300 people from the Hawaiian community together eaeh year. It was flrst held on the first Sunday in May then later moved to the first Sunday in June. This event, whieh is a potluck, has afforded hundreds of Hawaiian expatriates a ehanee to sing, dance, eat, talk story and meet old and new friends. Kulani was a confirmed bachelor, and his 'ohana consisted of all the "loeal" expats in and around the New York area, extending into New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. He was known as the glue that held everyone together and was the first to reach out to homesick Hawaiians in Manhattan. Everyone knew him for his kindness and generosity. Kulani left New York in 2006 to return home to Moloka'i. He lived at Home Pumehana on Moloka'i when he first returned to Hawai'i. He was very involved with a program on Moloka 'i encouraging kūpuna to be more active. Later and until his death he lived at Lē'ahi Hospital on O'ahu. Kulani Purdy passed away peacefully on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Lē'ahi Hospital. He was 83. ■

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