Maui No Ka Oi!

My Story: 101 Coconut Trees

MAUI NO KA OI means that Maui is the best in Hawaiian. When I was 12 years old, our family left Maui and moved to Kona on the Big Island. It was a difficult adjustment and I remained homesick for our home in Honokowai for many years. After my father died, I chose to attend school back in Maui, so spent my junior year of high school at Lahainaluna. It was one of the high points in my life. Things were hard living on my own there, so I returned and graduated from Konawaena High School on the Big Island. I left Hawaii after that and came to Seattle and then to Portland to attend school, and then came to San Francisco, the beautiful City by the Bay. I decided that is where I would make my home. But Maui is always in my heart and I have many wonderful memories of the way it was.

Sometime I will write about growing up in Honokowai in the 1950's, life on the plantation, and living next to the sea in what is now "downtown" Honokowai. Now all the kiawe trees are cleared away and there is a park. But I remember as a small child getting up early in the morning and going out to the reef to catch lobster to sell to the old Filipino men. I am now on the mainland and whenever I return to Maui I see images of my past and how wonderful and beautiful it was. It still is.

My Family This is my family as they looked before I was born: Brother Harold, sister Loretta, and baby Linda. Later to come were myself and my little sister, Ligaya. My father, Juan Bravo Lusano, was born in Dagupan, Pangasinan, Philippines and left when he was only about 14. He came to Hawaii and there met my mother, Elizabeth Losada. My father was a very talented musician and met my mother when she was very young.

Ron's Family Gallery		Surfing Honolua Bay
My Time in the Army		Return to Home Page

E-Mail: BeegUlua@hotmail.com
Last update 8/12/99

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