�鶹��ý

Kaua‘i is the oldest and fourth largest of the eight main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago. The island emerged five million years ago from a volcanic hot spot in the depths of the ocean that created rugged interior and spectacular cliffs on the Nā Pali Coast. Located some twenty-four hundred miles from the nearest landmass, Kaua‘i, like the rest of Hawai‘i, was one of the last places on earth to be inhabited. Ocean-voyaging Polynesians formed the first colonies when they arrived around AD 400–600. Kaua‘i also boasts mountaintop bogs, rainforests, deep canyons, tangled valleys, coral reefs, and sandy beaches. At over five thousand feet, Kaua‘i’s Mount Wai‘ale‘ale is the wettest place on the planet; it has an average annual rainfall at 468 inches.[1]

Some writers propose that Nephites settled the Pacific Islands, including Hawai‘i. Bruce S. Sutton, Church educator, theorizes that there are records which prove that in 220 BC Hotu Matu‘a (perhaps a Nephite) and Machaa (perhaps a Jaredite) left present-day Peru to settle in the East and South Pacific. Sutton feels that in 55 BC Hawai‘i Loa, perhaps also a descendant of Nephi, led an expedition fleeing the wars between the Lamanites and Nephites in Mesoamerica, specifically the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, or present-day southern Mexico. Hawai‘i Loa was perhaps the chief of a large ship built by Book of Mormon figure Hagoth. This group navigated the seas by relying on the stars and settled Hawai‘i, which was then largely uninhabited. They subsequently explored nearby islands, where they encountered other Nephites who were descendants of Hotu Matu‘a, who had discovered Hawai‘i earlier. Ki‘i, Hawai‘i Loa’s brother, went farther and found Tahiti, which was then inhabited with descendants of Nephi and Jared, who still spoke the Adamic language. Hawai‘i Loa’s comrades further extended their travels to Tahiti, Rapa Nui, the Tuamotus, and the Marquesas Islands. Since Hotu Matua and Hawai‘i Loa’s parties relocated to the Pacific Islands, both groups were spared from the mammoth destruction of the great battle at Cumorah where the rest of the Nephites were destroyed.[2]

Sutton has noted a collection of similarities between Nephites and Hawaiians, separated by the Pacific Ocean, providing extensive evidence to support a theory that Nephites settled Hawai‘i: religion, theocratic government, artifacts, and stories or legends. Like the Nephites, “the Hawaiians held a very strict observance of religious rights and customs. . . . This would most certainly suggest that the ship of Hawaii-Loa had strong religious leaders aboard who continued to teach, direct, and lead the people.” Both groups worshipped Kane, Ku, and Lono. In fact, when Captain Cook reached the Hawaiian Islands in 1779, the Hawaiians were waiting for Lono (perhaps Jesus Christ), who promised to return—an implication that Native Hawaiians perhaps knew “his gospel and were living his teachings as taught by their religious leaders.” Furthermore, both the Nephites and the Hawaiians established theocratic societies; the Hawaiians allotted authority to a lawgiver, and the Nephites gave authority to a chief judge. Several explorers and historians have noted congruencies in the artifacts of the two groups. Stone weapons, carvings, forts, woven materials, and fishing tools are found in Hawai‘i which are nearly identical to those discovered in Mesoamerica. The final link between the two groups is their common legends. For instance, similar stories explaining the speed of the sun’s movement were recorded by both cultures, despite the geographic distance between the two.[3]

The Kauaians developed a spiritual culture and religion: these ancients’ lives were greatly influenced by mana, the spiritual power of the elements, and their gods, who could take human, animal, or divine form. In several Kaua‘i locations, the ruins of sacred heiau (worship sites) or stone platforms, walls, and other wooden structures can be seen.[4]

Native Kauaians inhabited the fertile valleys of Hanapēpē and Waimea for centuries before Captain Cook arrived in 1778 on the island’s southeast coast. Later fur traders on route to China stopped at Kaua‘i to rest and gather supplies. Christian missionaries settled on Kaua‘i a few decades later in 1819, and in 1835 the first sugar plantation in the Hawaiian Islands was founded in Kōloa.[5]

At first Hawaiians were asked to work on the plantations. However, the Hawaiians’ lifestyle of living off the land was not conducive to working on a plantation in addition to survival, and other workers had to be found.[6] “The sugar industry flourished in the area by the 1880’s bringing in waves of immigrants.” Some of the first immigrants to work on the sugar plantations were those who came from the Gilbert Islands known as the South Sea Islanders. Other large populations of immigrants consisted of people with Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Filipino backgrounds. Many of these people became entrepreneurs, and many towns flourished because of the plantations. “Together, the plantations and immigrant entrepreneurs built churches, community halls, schools, hospitals, railroads, and businesses of all sorts. . . . Kaua‘i teemed with people. Following World War II, the plantation workforce dwindled and many of the smallest towns exist only in memory.”[7]

Latter-day Saints in Kaua‘i

Missionaries William Farrer and John Dixon arrived on Kaua‘i on December 21, 1850. These elders found no more than forty or fifty people who spoke the English language scattered over the island. Two days later they sailed around to Kōloa landing. In Kōloa the missionaries set up meetings with a few haoles (Caucasians) who worked at the plantation. After three weeks of missionary work, there was little positive response to the gospel message, and there even began to be antagonism from the plantation workers.[8] Subsequently, William Farrer and John Dixon departed Kaua‘i in December and January of 1850–51, and no other Utah missionaries returned for three years.[9]

Of all the Hawaiian Islands, only on Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau were Utah missionaries not the first successful Latter-day Saint missionaries. Instead, on these two islands the first investigators and convert baptisms were made by Hawaiians who had been taught the gospel elsewhere by the Utah elders. Latter-day Saint historian Lance D. Chase tells us, “It was not until hundreds of the local people of Niihau and Kauai had been taught the gospel and dozens baptized and confirmed members of the Church that the Utah missionaries returned to Kauai to share in the responsibility of the missionary work.”[10]

One of the major factors that helped missionary work in these windward isles was the baptism and subsequent ordination as an elder of P. H. Kaele, the district judge of Kaua‘i in Honolulu who began to teach the gospel upon returning to Kaua‘i. Kaele baptized about ninety people. He found it was difficult to fulfill his judicial responsibilities and teach the gospel simultaneously, so he wrote and asked for elders to be sent to help him with the work.[11]

In response to Kaele’s request, on July 9, 1853, mission president Phillip B. Lewis sailed for Kaua‘i with companion Elder J. W. Hosea Kauwahi.[12] By the end of August, between three and four hundred people had been baptized by these missionaries on Kaua‘i. At a conference in October 1853, Farrer was again appointed to preside over Kaua‘i, to be assisted by Elder William McBride.[13]

At this time all Latter-day Saints were encouraged to gather to central locations and a gathering place for the Saints in the Pacific Islands was discussed among the mission leadership and the local Saints. One wealthy high chief who owned property, Levi Ha‘alelea, offered a piece of land on the northeast side of Kaua‘i that the elders were considering acquiring as an establishment for the Saints, though in the end they chose Lā‘ie.[14] In the interim by 1883, there were eight branches in Kaua‘i with 458 members. One of the most influential Latter-day Saints of the 1800s, whose life straddles the breadth of the history of the Church on Kaua‘i, is Lilia Wahapaa.[15]

Lilia’s Early Life

Lilia Wahapaa was born December 27, 1835, and raised by her grandparents Mikolouka and Pakai in a thatched pili grass house standing on a raised platform of smooth river rock called Puehuehunui on the island of Kaua‘i.[16] Lilia’s parents, Makaiki and Nomu, were still an important part of Lilia’s life, though their family practiced the age-old tradition of ����Բ���. This Hawaiian term loosely translates to mean adoption. With ����Բ���, extended family was an important part of a child’s upbringing, even to the point of raising the child. Hānai was practiced to pass down knowledge and culture through the generations, and although these children would live with their grandparents, they still kept close ties with the rest of their immediate family. The Hawaiian paternal grandparents, if they so desired, could have claim on their son’s firstborn boy, and the maternal grandparents could have claim on their daughter’s firstborn girl. The family did not become smaller—it expanded. Since Lilia was the firstborn daughter of her parents, she lived with and was raised by her maternal grandparents.[17]

Pakai and Mikolouka were “people who lived at the back of the land”: they cultivated the land regardless of the rise and fall of kings. They grew plants such as taro and onions and kept animals like pigs and chickens. Because of their role with the land, Mikolouka and Pakai were exempt from paying labor tax on the chief’s land since they spent time farming their own land, though they presented gifts of their labor instead. As Lilia grew up, she spent much of her youth planting and weeding taro and fishing in the nearby river.[18]

Lilia and her sister attended school for six years, studying both reading and writing as well as Christianity from traveling Christian missionaries. Each child used chalk and a wooden slate to practice writing in Hawaiian, and they often sang the Hawaiian alphabet to learn and remember letters. However, it was difficult to keep a teacher employed in Kaua‘i, and Lilia had many teachers. Despite not having a regular teacher, she learned much from her schooling. Formal schooling was not all of Lilia’s education, however, because as part of ����Բ���, Grandmother Pakai taught Lilia how to use plants to help heal the sick by using brewed herbs for fevers and poultices for fractured limbs. Part of the Hawaiian lore of medicine included supplications to the ancient gods on behalf of the sick, but Pakai did not teach Lilia this aspect of healing because Pakai and Mikolouka became Christian in 1820. With their conversion to the United Church of Christ,[19] Pakai and Mikolouka discontinued making offerings to ancient Hawaiian gods so they could be faithful to the God of the Christian missionaries.[20]

Mikolouka and Pakai became great examples to Lilia of being devout Christians. Mikolouka even spent several years helping Reverend Rowell, a local Protestant preacher, build a chapel in Waimea known as the “Great Stone Church.”[21] When this United Church of Christ meetinghouse was completed, Lilia and her family attended every Sunday, spending the whole day at this chapel where Lilia, who had a great memory, memorized entire chapters of the Bible.[22]

Lilia Wahapaa’s Conversion

Lilia Wahapaa was one of the first converts during George Q. Cannon’s mission. Called by Brigham Young in 1850, George Q. Cannon was the first missionary to bring the gospel of the restored Church to the Sandwich Isles. Cannon’s name among the locals became George Pukuniahi. This last name unsurprisingly translated in Hawaiian to mean “cannon,” relating to the weapon that shoots cannon balls (poka pukuniahi). Cannon was respected among the island people for bringing the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to them in their own language—both through preaching and his translation of the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian language. He wrote in his journal that although he did not spend much time on Kaua‘i, Kauaians knew his name just as well as they did on other islands he visited more frequently. Cannon remained humble even with such notoriety, writing that he would prefer to save praise for his Father in Heaven.[23]

As previously noted, though Cannon did not spend much time on Kaua‘i, he sent other Latter-day Saints and missionaries to introduce the Church and spread the gospel on that island. However, for many of these early missionaries on Kaua‘i, the language barrier proved to be almost too much of a challenge in communicating with the people.[24] Because of the language difficulty, Elders John Dixon and William Farrer did not plan to preach to the people of Kaua’i. In January 1851, Dixon and Farrer wrote to Cannon telling him that they had tried to preach to the “white people” on the island, but they were unreceptive. Dixon and Farrer told Cannon that they did not think there was any further use in preaching on Kaua‘i and that it would be best to return home. Cannon was surprised at their perspective and wrote the following in his journal:

I said I believed in uniting works and faith; how would such prayers sound, ten elders sent out . . . to these islands to preach and to act, . . . and we found there were not whites that would receive us, turn round and go home and leave a whole nation to welter in ignorance because <Bro. R.> did not happen to tell us that we were to preach to them in their tongue. . . . The whisperings of the spirit to me were that if I should persevere and get the language & preach to this people I should be blessed. . . . This left me in the situation to either stay here and be blessed or go home under condemnation. I was as anxious to go home as anyone could be; but my priesthood and calling had to be magnified.[25]

Through Cannon’s encouragement, Farrer decided to stay, but Dixon returned home. Lewis McBride joined Farrer, and these men did much good for the Church on Kaua‘i.[26]

Just two years later in 1853, Cannon assigned a missionary named Elder Kualaulau, a hunchback from Maui, to proselytize the native Kauaians. Lilia’s life changed forever when she learned of the restored Church of Jesus Christ from Kualaulau, and when Lilia was around eighteen years old, she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kualaulau baptized her and her family near their home in a deep pool where the Makaweli and Waimea Rivers fork. Lilia was then confirmed a member of the Church, becoming one of the first converts in Kaua‘i. She began to be a major support in laying the foundation of the Church on that island. No other convert would have the impact Lilia would on the Church in Kaua‘i. Salome Fong observed, “She [Lilia] was here when the first boat load of Elders arrived and was also told that she would be alive when the last load of missionaries departed for the mainland.”[27] Indeed, Lilia met some of the first Latter-day Saint missionaries on Kaua‘i and many years later fulfilled this prophecy when she witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor pull the United States into World War II, and all Latter-day Saint missionaries left Hawai‘i.

Lilia quickly showed her faithfulness to her new church as she helped construct a hut out of grass up the Makaweli stream so Latter-day Saints would have a place to meet on Sundays. This building was not constructed of stone like the United Christian chapel Lilia grew up attending, but this grass church building provided a meeting place where many devout members could worship together.[28]

On March 14, 1854, Cannon visited Kaua‘i to check on progress. He wrote, “The branches were not in as good condition as they might or ought to be, but I think that there will be improvement from this time forward and they will begin to increase in faith, good works, and numbers.” He also talked much of the beauty on the island and remarked that he did not see any palis (hills or steep places).[29] Cannon’s estimation for increased faith and good works was accomplished on Kaua‘i, especially with the help of Lilia as a faithful Latter-day Saint.

The main reason Cannon had come to Kaua‘i was to review his translation of the Book of Mormon with J. W. H. Kauwahi. On December 21, 1853, Cannon, along with Elders Farrer, McBride, and Lewis, journeyed to Waimea, where local member Brother Samuela had prepared a place for the missionaries to use for translation. Interestingly, the place that Samuela chose for the conclusion of this phase of the Book of Mormon translation was a recently vacated jail in Waimea. Built partially underground, the thick walls provided a cooler environment. Cannon and the others had cots set up in the various cells for sleeping. Kauwahi assisted Cannon in the review process of the translation because of his knowledge of both the Hawaiian language and English. The work began on Christmas Eve 1853, and by January 31, 1854, the review was completed.[30] This translation published by the Church is still being used today (2023).[31] Although the prison can now only be found underneath another structure and the location where the translation was completed was never marked, Lilia Wahapaa, who lived nearby, must have been aware of this work, for she told her grandchildren that the old prison, near the Makaweli stream, was the location where this monumental translation took place.[32]

Walter Murray Gibson

In 1861 the prophet Brigham Young sent missionary Walter Murray Gibson to Hawai‘i. Shortly before Gibson’s arrival, Hawaiian mission leaders were called home in 1858 to help fight in the Utah War.[33] Because of the lack of leadership when the mission leaders returned home, Gibson assumed power over the Church on the island of Lāna‘i and the other islands, including Kaua‘i.[34]

Walter Murray Gibson was a businessman who unethically made money from his association in the Church. Gibson created a colony of Saints under his own name in Lāna‘i, collecting funds from the Hawaiian Saints to fuel his projects instead of building up the Church.[35] From September 1861 to April 1864, he used the organization of the Church in Hawai‘i as his personal political kingdom. During these years, Gibson introduced many false doctrines into the Church in Hawai‘i, and he even sold priesthood offices to local members. In a letter sent by Gibson on November 1, 1861, when he wanted to show the credibility of his endeavors, he mentioned that Lilia was with him and the other Saints in Palawai. Lilia was an important pioneer of the Church, and from this entry it is clear that she was willing to follow her priesthood leaders and move her family to Lāna‘i to gather with the Saints. Gibson asked if Lilia could rent out her house in Honolulu.[36]

A few concerned Hawaiian Saints saw through Gibson’s deception, and they wrote to former missionaries, informing them of Gibson’s actions. When news of Gibson’s deceit reached President Young, he sent Ezra T. Benson, Lorenzo Snow, and a few former missionaries to investigate the situation. These men found the charges to be true, and in 1864 Gibson was excommunicated for preaching false doctrine and stealing funds from the Church.[37] Because Gibson bought land under his own name, the Church could no longer use Lāna‘i as their meeting place. Instead, Brigham Young sent others to establish a new gathering place for the Saints in Lā‘ie on the island of O‘ahu.[38] It is important to note that despite Gibson’s treachery, Lilia remained true to her covenants.

Lilia’s Married Life

In 1870, when new Church leaders in Hawai‘i found a new place for the Latter-day Saints to join together, Lilia and her family joined many other Saints who were gathering in Lā‘ie. After Lilia moved to Lā‘ie, she met and married Makuakane, and they became parents of a baby girl named Jane Keamalu. Tragically, Makuakane died shortly after, and Lilia returned with her daughter to Waimea Valley on Kaua‘i. Sometime after her return, Lilia married Kaneihalau Papa and went to live on his king-given plot of land at Haikioa. Lilia and Kaneihalau had eight children together, but then Kaneihalau died as well. Lilia married a third time to a man named Keoua, but she retained the last name Kaneihalau. Lilia would outlive all three of her husbands and eight of her nine children as well.[39]

Lilia’s Impact on the Church

Lilia Wahapaa in 1919. Courtesy of Byron Jones.

Lilia spent the remainder of her life living in Waimea Valley, where she became a fundamental part of the Waimea Branch. In 1882 she served for one year as a second counselor in the Relief Society presidency. Then, she served for ten years from 1883 to 1893 as a first counselor in the Relief Society presidency. Lilia was then called as the Relief Society president in 1893 when she was fifty-eight years old, serving for thirty-three years as Relief Society president for the Waimea Branch until she was released due to her advanced age in 1926 at the age of ninety-one. Through her service in these callings, she blessed countless Latter-day Saints of all ages. A faithful Relief Society leader for the Church, Lilia spent over forty-four years leading and serving women in her branch. “Girls were born, became mothers, grandmothers, then died all during Lilia’s administration.”[40]

Lilia in Relief Society

Records show that Lilia contributed to Relief Society meetings in many ways. For instance, on April 6, 1906, she was the Relief Society delegate from Kaua‘i for a conference in O‘ahu. Records show that on August 24, 1907, Lilia gave remarks during a Relief Society lesson and that on September 18, 1907, Lilia gave a talk in church. During Relief Society, they taught both gospel lessons and Hawaiian language lessons. We do not have records of every time that Lilia participated in her branch, but examples such as these show how greatly her testimony affected those around her. For instance, on February 4, 1940, a member recorded their feelings when they visited the Waimea chapel on the island of Kaua‘i. This visitor wrote that one of the most faith-promoting instances occurred when Lilia, over one hundred years of age, bore her beautiful testimony for the congregation. The visitor could not understand the Hawaiian that Lilia spoke but stated that hearing Lilia was “a great testimony of faith to my soul that will never be forgotten, because I received a great lesson from this one experience of faith.”[41]

Lilia never wavered in her dedication to taking care of the women in her branch when they were in need. Among Kauaians, she was revered as a healer. Lilia used the knowledge that Grandmother Pakai had taught her about herbs and poultices to look after mothers and children who were sick. If needed, she even slept near the sick women and children to provide any further assistance that they needed to recover.[42]

Faithfulness amidst Great Difficulty

Lilia’s home in Haikioa was four miles from the Waimea chapel, and she could get there only by crossing the Makaweli River, going over the Waimea River by a narrow swinging bridge, and traveling down a “treacherous trail” along a canyon wall. In 1940, when she was about 104 years old, Lilia fell from this swinging bridge and was injured, but in just a few short weeks she returned to church, hobbling down the path with crutches.[43] When it rained, Lilia would carry her shoes past the second swinging bridge near the Menehune ditch, walking through mud. Once she got to the other side, she would wash her feet, put her shoes back on, and continue to church.[44] Despite the long walk, the rather difficult journey, and her frail body as she progressed in years, Lilia was the first person to arrive at each meeting and the last one to leave.[45] She loved her fellow Latter-day Saints and her branch too much to skip meetings—even when others would have understood her absence. Lilia’s attendance at meetings was not about impressing her neighbors, it was about serving them.

One of the members from Lilia’s branch wrote about the Waimea Chapel. They met in one hall on the porch and inside sat on benches. When this Waimea branch member was growing up, they remembered that someone would blow a conch shell five minutes before 10:00 a.m. when meetings started. For the sacrament, they used Saloon Pilot crackers and rainwater or clean ditch water for the ordinance. The sacrament was passed on trays without handles, and the priesthood blessed the sacrament in the Hawaiian language.

Lilia’s faithful attendance at meetings also extended to conferences. In 1935 the first stake was organized outside of the continental United States on O‘ahu.[46] Lilia was there when this stake was formed. In pictures taken at those stake meetings, Lilia was always participating in the O‘ahu Singing Mothers, sitting in the front row. Lilia also ensured that she shook hands with every General Authority who came to the conferences. In 1943 Lilia came to stake conference walking with her cane in one hand and carrying a bouquet of roses in the other for an Apostle who was presiding at the conference that day.[47]

Lilia’s Care for Missionaries

Lilia’s callings in Relief Society were not her only way of serving others. Lilia took great care to look after the missionaries who served on the island of Kaua‘i. She washed and mended their clothes so they would appear more presentable. It is estimated that at least three hundred missionaries who served in the islands also visited and enjoyed the hospitality of Lilia’s home over her lifetime. She had an impressive memory for talking about them even years after the they had returned home. The people of Kaua‘i knew that Lilia prided herself in the fact that “to these lonely boys she was a beloved ‘Tutu’ (grandmother).”[48]

Elder Clyde Norman and Sister Lilia Wahapaa. Courtesy of Leilani Grange.

Often, Lilia’s name appears in missionaries’ journals. For example, Lorenzo Taylor wrote much of Lilia while he was serving in Kaua‘i. On May 30, 1904, Taylor came to Lilia’s house for the first time and stayed there with his companion for about a week. When writing about Lilia, he wrote, “She is a very nice saint.” Taylor and his companion also stayed at “Lilia’s family place” for a few days in September while they preached the gospel. Then, in November 1904, Taylor and his companion stayed with Lilia again, referring to her home as “a place where all the elders are welcome.” Taylor’s descriptions of Lilia’s house increased in familiarity until in January 1905, he referred to her house as “our old home.” Taylor continued to consider Lilia’s house as his home, and he and his companion continued to visit and stay at Lilia’s home nearly every other month while Taylor was in the area. He wrote many endearing things about her, writing, “We are treated very good at Lilia Wahapaa’s.”[49]

From Taylor’s missionary journals, we see that Lilia did more than just offer a place to stay; she also helped the elders with their day-to-day tasks. Taylor noted times when Lilia washed their clothes, and on March 22, 1905, Lilia also lent Taylor a horse so he could travel more easily. Her home was also a place of spiritual refuge. On August 24, 1905, Taylor and his companion used Lilia’s home as a place to fast and study all day. On October 22, 1905, the elders held a meeting and a baptism for a woman named Kanahele in front of Lilia’s home. Perhaps Kanahele’s baptism gave Lilia a moment to reflect on her own baptism, in the same place, fifty-two years before. During Taylor’s last visit with Lilia, on August 21, 1906, he wrote, “Lilia is the same dear old mother and can’t do too much for us. It really seems homelike to [sic��.”[50] Taylor is an example of hundreds of missionaries who had similar experiences with Lilia. Lilia’s love for missionaries was not limited to the young missionaries who visited her home. She also loved visiting with the mission presidents and their wives. During her lifetime, Lilia knew all twenty-six mission presidents and their wives who presided over the Hawaiian mission.[51]

Lilia’s Experiences with Technology

“A Life That Spans the Mormon Era.” Courtesy of Leilani Grange.

In 1941, when Lilia was around 106 years old, she visited her grandson George Kaui in Honolulu. Unfortunately, this trip took place during a climactic part of World War II when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Lilia was visiting her grandson in the neighboring city of Honolulu—just nine miles away. Lilia could not have known the impact that this bombing would have on the rest of the world, but she guessed the effect it would have on her. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor so near, Lilia’s suspicions were confirmed, and she was not allowed to travel off the island for some time. She began to long for her home, saying simply, “Auwe, I want to go home.” On clear days, she could even see her island in the distance. After about five months, arrangements were made for her to come home on an airplane. At 106, Lilia had never been on an airplane before, but she agreed to take the flight home. Newspapers wrote about this occurrence, and they speculated that Lilia was likely the oldest living convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alive at the time. They also mentioned that the exact time that the plane would take Lilia home was kept a secret by the military to avoid any disruptions.[52]

Lilia’s adventures with technology continued when she was invited to speak on the radio as a guest speaker. She joined the radio show What’s Cooking? on Henry C. Putnam’s KGMB broadcast on December 21, 1942, at 5:45 in the evening. At this time, newspapers placed Lilia’s age at around 106, and Lilia was believed to be the oldest resident in Hawai‘i. For the radio show, Lilia offered a special prayer for servicemen and war workers.[53]

Lilia’s Passing

Lilia Wahapaa, age 105, 1940. Courtesy of Leilani Grange.

On November 12, 1944, Lilia Wahapaa passed away in her home on Kaua‘i following a brief illness. Although no one knew her exact age, she was most likely 108 years old, and she was close to what was likely her 109th birthday.[54] Unfortunately, any attempt at knowing Lilia’s exact age was difficult because Lilia said that she did not know her exact age either, and she became aggravated when people pestered her for an exact number.[55] Lilia outlived each of her three husbands and eight of her nine children. Her remaining daughter, Lily K. Kauhi, was constantly by her mother’s side up to her passing.[56] To celebrate the life of Lilia Wahapaa, a few newspaper articles were written about her. These articles invited friends to say farewell to this beloved woman at her funeral in the Lanakila Ward chapel in Honolulu on November 19. The funeral was a multiple-day occurrence with a funeral lasting from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and a funeral procession which left from the Nuuanu mortuary went from 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. the following day.[57]

Lilia’s life was one of faithful service as a disciple of Christ who endured to the end. She was alive during twenty-five US presidential elections: born twenty-six years before Abraham Lincoln was elected president and died during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s long presidency. Lilia was born the year before Hawai‘i’s last king, Kalākaua, was born, but he died fifty-three years before Lilia passed. In 1893, when Lilia was fifty-seven, she witnessed the induction ceremony of Sanford B. Dole as president of the Provisional Government of Hawai‘i. Afterward, Lilia met every governor of Hawai‘i until the day she died.[58] These are just a few of the things that occurred during the lifetime of this faithful woman, but more than her longevity, the thing which marks her life is her continuous effort to strengthen the Church on Kaua‘i.

Lilia’s birth name Wahapaa means mouth closed in Hawaiian. Lilia Wahapaa certainly proved this name by her quiet, impactful, charitable acts during her life. We do not need to hear Lilia speak to know that she changed the lives of those around her—we can see Lilia’s goodness through her remarkable life. In honor of Lilia’s efforts, Salome Fong saluted her as the noble mother of the Hawaiian mission and recited this apt poem:

Lives of great women all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.[59]

Notes

[1] Edward Joesting, Kauai: The Separate Kingdom (Manoa: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1984), 5–19.

[2] Bruce S. Sutton, Lehi, Father of Polynesia: Polynesians Are Nephites (Orem, UT: Hawaiki Publishing, 2001), 62–63, 67, 77.

[3] Sutton, Lehi, 78, 84, 112.

[4] Sutton, Lehi, 12–20.

[5] Sutton, Lehi, 42, 119, 130–31.

[6] Linda Gonsalves, notes taken from discussion, July 15, 2009, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[7] West Kaua‘i Visitor Center & Kaua‘i Economic Development Board, West Kaua‘i Heritage Corridor, 2008.

[8] R. Lanier Britsch, Moramona: The Mormons in Hawaii (Lā‘ie: Brigham Young University–Hawaii, 1989), 13.

[9] Linda Gonsalves, The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Kaua‘i (Kaua‘i: Kauai Hawaii Stake Relief Society Ad-Hoc Committee, 1997), 2, 4.

[10] Lance D. Chase, The Beginnings of Mormon Missionary Work on Kauai, 1850–54 (Lihue, HI: Mormon Pacific Historical Society, 1995), 26.

[11] P. H. Kaele as cited in Gonsalves, History of the Church, 4.

[12] J. W. Hosea Kauwahi as cited in Gonsalves, History of the Church, 4.

[13] Chase, Beginnings of Mormon Missionary Work, 30.

[14] Gonsalves, History of the Church, 8.

[15] Leon Huntsman, “The Evidence of Things Not Seen,” Kauai Komments, March 1940, 25.

[16] Clarice B. Taylor, “Wahapaa—A Kauai Kuaaina,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 1940, https://newspapers.com/clip/20358152/wahapaa-a-kauai-kuaaina/.

[17] Kazz Regelman, “All in the Family,” Maui Nō Ka ‘Oi Magazine, November/December 2016, https://www.mauimagazine.net/hawaiian-hanai/.

[18] Taylor, “Wahapaa.”

[19] Don J. Hibbard, “Waimea United Church of Christ (Waimea Foreign Church),” Society of Architectual Historians SAH Archipedia, 2011, https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/HI-01-KA2.

[20] Taylor, “Wahapaa.”

[21] Hibbard, “Waimea United Church of Christ.”

[22] Taylor, “Wahapaa.”

[23]The Journals of George Q. Cannon, ed. Adrian W. Cannon et al. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999), 437.

[24]Journals of George Q. Cannon, 305.

[25]Journals of George Q. Cannon, 47–49.

[26]Journals of George Q. Cannon, 50, 388.

[27] Salome Fong, Life of Sister Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau, Church History Library, MS 10880, 1945.

[28] Taylor, “Wahapaa.”

[29]Journals of George Q. Cannon, 418–19.

[30] Gonsalves, History of the Church, 115.

[31]“Hawaiian Edition of Book of Mormon,” Church News, November 22, 2008, 15.

[32] Clarice B. Taylor, “Little Tales All About Hawaii,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 2, 1950.

[33] The Utah War was a dispute between the Mormons in Utah Territory and the US government. The US government was misled into thinking the Mormons were in rebellion against US authority.

[34] Fred E. Woods, “The Palawai Pioneers of the Island of Lanai: The First Hawaiian Latter-day Saint Gathering Place (1854–1864),” Mormon Historical Studies 5, no. 2 (Fall 2004): 22–25.

[35] Jacob Adler and Robert M. Kamins, “Shepherd King of Lanai,” in The Fantastic Life of Walter Murray Gibson: Hawaii’s Minister of Everything (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1986) 69–76, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvp2n5n5.9.

[36] Robert Brown, Robert Brown correspondence, 1861–1864, Church History Library, MS 3690, 1864.

[37] Woods, “Palawai Pioneers,” 22–25.

[38] Adler and Kamins, “Shepherd King.”

[39] Castle H. Murphy, “Beloved Hawaiian Member Dies at 108,” Deseret News, January 13, 1945.

[40] Salome Fong, “Life of Sister Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau,” Church History Library, MS 10880, 1945.

[41] Huntsman, “Evidence of Things Not Seen,” 25.

[42] Fong, “Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau.”

[43] Fong, “Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau.”

[44] Florence Kajiwara and Hattie Blackstad, “Waihona Hoomana’o.”

[45] Fong, “Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau.”

[46] Matthew O. Richardson, “The Last Tabernacle: A Refuge on Oahu,” in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: The Pacific Isles, ed. Reid L. Neilson, Steven C. Harper, Craig K. Manscill, and Mary Jane Woodger (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2008), 55–74.

[47] Fong, “Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau.”

[48] Fong, “Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau.”

[49] Lorenzo Taylor, Hawaiian Mission 1904–1908, comp. Beth Taylor and Morris Taylor (Hyde Park, UT: M. H. Taylor 1990), 7–55.

[50] Taylor, Hawaiian Mission, 33–86.

[51] Fong, “Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau.”

[52] Virginia Bennet Hill, “Wahapaa, 106, to Get Her First Plane Ride,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, April 3, 1942.

[53] “Hawaiian Woman, 106, Will Speak on Radio for First Time,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 21, 1942.

[54] “Woman, 108, Dies at Home,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 14, 1944.

[55] “Hawaiian Woman.”

[56] Murphy, “Hawaiian Member Dies.”

[57] “Woman, 108, Dies at Home.”

[58] Murphy, “Hawaiian Member Dies.”

[59] Fong, “Lilia Wahapaa Kanihalau.”