Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 3, 1 March 2000 — WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH MARTHA POEPOE HOHU shares her Iegacy of music and aloha [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH MARTHA POEPOE HOHU shares her Iegacy of music and aloha

By teslie K e I i ' i I a u a h| S M w a f t Editor's note: In honor ofWomen 's History month, we present thisfocus on Martha Poepoe Hohu, retired educator and life-long member of Kaumakapili Church. Following are excerptsfrom Leslie K. Stewart's pieee whieh will be published infull in "Volume II of the 'Ōiwi Journal" later this year. This is a story about one woman 's life artd the thousands of people that she has touched over the Iast nine decades. MARTHA KAUMAKAOKALANI Poepoe was born Jan. 7, 1907, the ninth of eleven children, and the sixth daughter of Henry and Lueia Poepoe. She attended Princess Ka'iiilani Llementary School through the sixth grade, then entered Kamehameha Schools, graduating in 1925. From there she went to the Territorial Normal and Training School, and, in 1932, received her bachelor's degree in education ffom the University of Hawai'i. For more than 40 years, she taught at Kamehameha Schools where she was an accompanist, composer and arranger until she retired in 1972. Aunty Martha also

served as choir director and organist of Kaumakapili Church from 1930 to 1997, and flew regularly to Kalaupapa from 1955 to 1965 to teach the patients there how to sing Hawaiian songs. She spent 25 years making weekly trips to Hāna to direct the Hotel Hāna Maui Choral Group, and also directed the HaWaiian Flectric Choral Group. , For 18 years, she served as a docent at Washington Plaee and worked with Hawaiianlanguage scholar Mary Kawena Pūku'i at the

Bishop Museum. Besides teāching, Aunty Martha is also known for her contribution to the preservation of Hawaiian hīmeni (hymns). She spearheaded the compilation of two wellknown hymnals. The first, "Leo Ho 'onani" (Beautiful Voice), was published in 1953; the second. "Nā Hīmeni Haipule Hawai'i" (Religious Hymns of Hawai'i), published in 1972, is now a standard throughout the islands. For her diverse accomplishments, Aunty Martha has

won numerous awards, including Mother of the Year in 1959, a — Na Hōkū Hanohano lifetime ■ achievement award in 1995 and the Kamehameha Schools » Order of Ke Ali'i Pauahi in 1998. 1 I enry Keli'ikuniaupuni PoeI poe, Aunty Martha's father, was pastor of Kaumakapili I Church from 1903 to 1950. I "We never missed a Sunday. All 1 1 of us children spent every

Sunday with Daddy up at the pulpit. Back then Daddy never carried any notecards or pieces of paper to remember his sermons; he could quote passages from the Bible by heart. When he spoke or sang, he put his whole heart into it, and if you were sitting in the congregation, you could feel the power of what he was say-

ing," Aunty Martha recalled. Aunty Martha credits her musical foundation to her fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Sally Trask of Princess Ka'iulani Elementary School, who taught her how to read music and play the piano. "Mrs. Trask ī laid the technical o foundation of under- ^ standing music whieh £> has allowed me to | expand my knowledge | o and to share it with others," she explained. Aunty Martha was among the first Kame-

hameha students to participate in the annual song contest. "I believe the song contest began in 1 922," shē said. "Originally the students wrote their own songs and poems to sing in a friendly competition. We composed our own as a way to unify our class. It allowed them to Iearn the Hawaiian language and the beauty whieh is so evident in the words." Aunty Marthā, now 92, chosē to serve the Hawaiian community with her talent and intelligence. "God gave me many gifts. I must share these gifts with people who want to listen and learn. If I kept all of my knowlege to myself, what would the younger generation have? I would not be worthy of all of the blessings that God has bestowed upon me if I didn't share it with everyone," she said. ■

'If I kept all of my knowledge I to myself, what would the younger generation have? I would not be worthy of all of the blessings that God has bestowed upon me' — Martha Hohu

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Kamehameha Schools President Miehael Chun presented Hohu with the Order of Ke Ali'i Pauahi, Kamehameha's highest honor.

Martha Hohu shares stories with great-grandniece Leslie Stewart after church at Kaumakapili. Hohu has attended services, directed the choir and served as organist and accompanist for most of her life.