Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 10, 1 October 2014 — A posthumous tribute to OHA employee and volunteer [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
A posthumous tribute to OHA employee and
volunteer
By KWO Staff
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees has honored longtime employee and volunteer Apolei Kaha'i Bargamento with a posthumous resolution in appreciation of her "unwavering dedication to helping Native Hawaiians in ways both large and small and making the hardships of others less burdensome through her compassion, her intelligence and her kōkua. "Apolei Kaha'i Bargamento always opened her home and her heart to those who sought refuge,"
the board's resolution says. Holding back tears, OHA Chairperson Colette Machado described the loss as, "It's like a bright light has gone into darkness here at OHA," because Bargamento exemplified the kind of loving and compassionate spirit of "our Hawaiian people." "Thank you for coming to honor her," Machado said to Bargamento's family members, who spanned several generations, in attendance for the presentation on Sept. 4 at Nā Lama Kukui. A pure Hawaiian, Bargamento advocated for the Native Hawaiian people for 26 years at OHA starting
in 1988 after receiving computer training certification at Alu Like Inc.'s Hawai'i Computer Training Center. A lifelong learner, she graduated with honors that same year, receiving her associate of arts degree at 66. She began as a secretary to OHA Governance Affairs Officer Jalna Keala, and in the mid- 1990s helped spearhead a voter registration initiative that registered more than 107,000 Native Hawaiian voters during a remarkable campaign. She later worked in OHA's Native Rights, Land and Culture Hale, advocating for the Native Hawaiian people "on a myriad of important
issues impacting historic and eultural sites, iwi kūpuna, trails and access, traditional and customary gathering and subsistence rights, and other constitutionally, statutorily and judicially protected Native Hawaiian rights and practices," the resolution says. Bargamento, a trained Parliamentarian, also served as a liaison to OHA's Native Hawaiian Historic Preservation Council.
In a sign of her continuing devotion to the Hawaiian people, "Aunty Apolei" a hulu kupuna, or esteemed elder, retired from OHA in 2009 and then immediately returned as a volunteer. She remained a volunteer up until her death in July 2014 at 86. Bargamento, an active member of the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, greatly appreciated her Hawaiian culture, studying chant, language, history and genealogy. Her career includes serving as an administrative secretary in California and as executive secretary to the admissions director at Brigham Young University in Hawai'i. She taught seminary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than 14 years. At the Sept. 4 meeting, OHA Trustees Robert Lindsey and Oswald Stender presented a framed original of the resolution to Bargamento's family, and a special song was sung in her honor, prepared by Hau'oli Akaka and KalaniAkana. ■
www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org MATI\/F HAWAIIAM ns MFWg I F F ATI I D F "s I F \/ F M T "s
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The lale Aunty Apolei Kaha'i Bargamento, a longtime OHA employee and volunteer, was honored with a resolution from the Board of Trustees. - Photo: Fmncine Murmy
On Sept. 4 the OHA Trustees honored Bargamento with a posthumous resolution presented to her family. - Photos: UsaAsato
Family members read the resolution.