Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 5, 1 May 2005 — Country Roads [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Country Roads

Island expatriate Dr. Ku'uleialoha Kāneakua Patton spreads Hawaiian aloha in Appalaehia

By Keaumiki Akui Floyd Hatfield was acquitted of stealing Ran'l McCoy's razorback hogs back in 1878 in Tug Valley, West Virginia. That didn't sit well with the McCoys, who then ambushed a group of Hatfields. Thus began America's most famous family feud, whieh ultimately involved two states, two governors, two National Guard units and a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court before it ended around 1891. West Virginia is replete with folklore like the tale of the Hatfields and McCoys, and aside from the Appalaehian Mountains one would be hard-pressed to find anyone who knows mueh more about the Mountain State. So we asked a loeal girl, born and raised in Hawai'i. Dr. Ku'uleialoha Kāneakua Patton's long journey to West Virginia began in Kaka'ako in 1944. Her pedigree reads like a who's who of Hawaiian music. She learned her native tongue, hula, music and culture from her parents, Queenie Lucy Cummings Kāneakua and Ernest Keaupuni Contrades. Her tūtū, Maria Kaikaka of Waipouli, Kaua'i, taught her lā'au lapa'au (herbal healing) and the spirituality of her culture. Her tūtū kāne was John Mahi'ai Kāneakua, whose sister, Isabella Desha, was mother to the matriarch of the musical Beamer 'ohana, Helen Desha Beamer. Ku'uleialoha began dancing

hula professionally in Hawai'i's nightclubs at the age of 14, having studied since "small-kid time" from nā kumu hula Adeline Lee, Henry Mo'ikeha Pā, Puanani Alama, Louise Kaleikī and others. Hula took her to the Bora Bora Club in San Francisco in 1965, then with the USO to Vietnam the next year along with Barry Manilow, Eddy Arnold, Lannie Kazan and the Artie Shaw Band. That same year, Ku'ulei took top honors at the first Tahiti Fete in Long Beach, Calif., with Tahiti artist Marie Mariterangi, and for three years she performed with the cast of ABC's "Lū'au Show" on television with Bill Gordon and the late Rava "Josie" Over. Ku'uleialoha has performed

and taught hula throughout the mainland, in Europe, Japan, China and Taiwan. In 1989, she married Donald Wesley Patton, whose work as a construction superintendent led them to West Virginia in the year 2000. "I started my hālau in 2002 with a bunch of kids from O'ahu who were students at West Virginia State College," she said. Together, they produced the community's first real Hawaiian lū'au. "It was a huge success," she recalls. The Pattons reside on a retired country farm in rural Elkville. "The people here are very mueh like Hawaiians," she says, "simple folks always willing to help you when in need." Even the postal

service doesn't use the familiar RFD addresses. Instead you will find an HC number, meaning "hired carrier," where people actually bid to carry the mail. Ku'ulei and her husband have four children and seven grandchildren spread out over five states, including Hawai'i. She holds a master's degree in Christian studies and church ministry from the Sure Foundation Theological Institute in Detroit and earned her doctorate degree of divinity in counseling from the Buxton University in London, England. Besides keeping busy as an ordained minister, her nonprofit organization, "Keiki o ka 'Āina" performs at state fairs, lū'au and community functions all year long. They also teach multi-culture at all levels of education. Ku'uleialoha and Donald Patton will return home to the islands when her assignment as kahu in West Virginia is over. Hawai'i will weleome them home, but they will be sorely missed in the Appalaehian Mountains of West Virginia. Keaumiki Akui is the puhlie ajfairs specialist with OHA's governance division. lfyou are a Hawaiian on the continent with an interesting story to tell. or ifyou know of one. please contact OHA Outreach Coordinator Aulani Apoliona at 594-1912. or via e-mail at auIania@oha.org.

Ku'uleialoha Kaneakua Patton (at left, wearing the Kamehameha shirt) with members Of her West Virginia hula group. Photo: Courtesy of the Kaneakua 'Ohana