Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 9, 1 September 2013 — Farden matriarch is last of an acclaimed generation [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Farden matriarch is last of an acclaimed generation

EDNA ENA PUALANI FARDEN BEKEART • 1917-2013

By Kekoa Enomoto The matriarch of Lahaina's acclaimed Farden 'ohana, whieh immortalized in song the family's seaside home at Puamana, has died. Edna Ena Pualani Farden Bekeart, 95, died June 17 in Kāne'ohe, O'ahu. Services were held last month on Maui and O'ahu. Bekeart was born Dec. 27, 19 17, in Moanui, Lahaina, Maui, the 12th of 13 children of Charles Kekua and Annie Kahalepouli Shaw Farden. Bekeart's father and sister, Irmgard Farden 'Āluli, co-composed the ieonie 1937 song "Puamana." A Lahainaluna High School and University of Hawai'i at

Mānoa graduate, Bekeart served on the faculties of Kamehameha, Royal and Holy Nativity schools. At the latter campuses, she started Hawaiian studies programs. She married Robert Francis Bekeart in 1941; then sang, eomposed and recorded with the Farden Sisters quintet starting in the 1950s. She also taught hula for decades, including at UH-Mānoa. Her honors included the 2008

Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawai'i Academy of Recording Arts; induction into the National League of American Pen Women, Honolulu Branch, for musical achievement; and charter membership as a Lei Hulu Makua, or precious elder, of Hale O Nā Ali'i O Hawai'i, Hālau 'O Wahīika'ahu'ula, Helu 'Ekahi (Honolulu Chapter). She also belonged to the Prince Kūhiō Hawaiian Civic Club, Mau-

nalua Hawaiian Civic Club and Delta Kappa Gamma sorority, and composed theme songs for the latter two groups. Hailama Farden - who serves as ikū nahalani, or premier, of the royal society Hale O Nā Ali'i O Hawai'i - said his grandaunt was the last of her inlliu'nlinl annnnilion of Fardens

He noted she was a compelling storyteller and the only trained musician among his aunties. "And you could see that in her songs," he recalled. "Most of her songs ... were filled with minor notes, and they were beautiful. Some provided background music for movies. She had that knaek of creating songs that really stirred the spirit." Songs she composed or cocomposed included "Maunalua Bay," "Menehune Holiday," the award-winning "It's Aloha Week Onee Again" and the 1960s ehildren's hit "Sassy Little Myna Bird." Farden added that a pololū (spear) presided at the O'ahu memorial services. (It was a nod to family lore that says a femalewarrior ancestor used a pololū

at the 1790 Battle of Kepaniwai in Maui's 'Iao Valley.) Farden called the artifact's presence "symbolic because it (pololū) took care of our ancestors." Bekeart is survived by two sons, Bastel Francois (Gloria Evans) Bekeart of California and Dana (Dorothy Roberts) Bekeart of Kaua'i; a daughter, Marquita (William) Denison of Waimea, Hawai'i; and four grandchildren. ■

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Edna Ena Pualani Farden Bekeart. - Courtesy phoio