Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 7, 1 Iulai 2022 — Educator and Advocate of Kūpuna Wisdom and Cultural Values [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
Educator and Advocate of Kūpuna Wisdom and Cultural Values
HE HO'OMANA'O ^ I N MEMORIAM
Elizabeth "Betty" Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins Feb. 11, 1928 - April 30, 2022
The earthly life journey of Elizabeth "Betty" Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins ended with her entry into heaven on April 30, 2022. Known as 'Aunty Betty" she lived a full and extraordinary life. She was a hulu kupuna, a respected Hawaiian elder, a retired educator, a community participant, and an advocate of kūpuna knowledge, wisdom, and Hawaiian cultural values. Aunty Betty was a mentor to many and a teacher to everyone. She was a master educator who developed a profound method of instruction through shared cultural understanding of a code of ethics she called the "4Bs" - Believe, Behave, Become and Belong. She developed, coordinated, and produced cultural awareness sensitivity workshops with the help of many friends, retired DOE educators, and other kūpuna to groups locally and nationally. Recognizing and emphasizing the importance of Hawaiian language, tradition, history, and values through teaching, modeling and mentorship, Aunty Betty eap-
tivated audiences with her 'ano - a connection to eulture, nature, beauty, and spirit - ffom formal classroom settings to the most relaxed impromptu educational gathering to the transformation of a conferenee room with a purposeful Hawaiian sense of plaee. Aunty Betty is the first born of a first born of a first born. Her names and plaee of birth on Hawai'i Island connect her lineage and culturally directed her be-
ing and paths. She understood and fully embraced being hiapo. She graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1945 and was the first student of color to attend Muskingum College (now Muskingum University) in Ohio. A retired el-
ementary school teacher, she taught in Ohio, California, Micronesia and Hawai'i. She led and directed the Hālau o l Hale'iwa Hawaiian Studies Program at Hale'iwa Elementary for eight years. At Hale'iwa Elementary, she implemented a new teaching program called "3-on-2" that combined two : classrooms taught by three teachers. The May Day eelebrations and programs at Hale'iwa Elementary were legendary back then and fostered a profound sense of eommunity pride. Hale'iwa/Waialua keiki in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s remembered being taught by Mrs. Jenkins. At the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) she served as : alaka'i for the Kūpuna Team that offered workshops and l presentations, represented OHA at various educational l and cultural functions, and coordinated protocol for visiting Indigenous guests. ; Their first project was initiated with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense at Tripler l Army Medical Center. She developed the Ho'olauna SeSEE REMEMBERING AUNTY BETTY ON PAGE 20
J HE HO'OMANA'O ^ I N MEMORIAM
REMEMBERING AUNTY BETTY
Continued from page 19 ries, whieh focused on providing services and care to veterans and military personnel. It was highly successful and they were doing workshops loeally and nationally, fielding requests from Hawaiian Civic Clubs and other Hawaiian organizations, along with state and federal agencies. Aunty Betty was a guest of the Haudenosaunee Nation (Iroquois Confederacy), the only sovereign nation within the United States. There, she shared our Native Hawaiian culture and stories. From 2006-2015, she participated in the annual Ameriean Puhlie Heahh Association (APHA) American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian (AIANNH) Caucus' "Wisdom of the Elders" session, representing Native Hawaiian kūpuna. She helped facilitate Tūtū's Hale - a plaee for mele, hula, storytelling, lei making, weaving and Hawaiian games - as part of Lei Day's Kūlana Lei exhibits and activities from 2009-2019. During her lifetime, Aunty Betty received numerous awards and accolades, including an honorary doctorate from the World Indigenous Nations University, a Honpa Hongwanji Living Treasures Award, an Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs
Kukui Lama Kū Award, and a Hui of Hawaiian Royal Societies Ali'i Kalani Award. She was a member of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, the 'Ahahui Ka'ahumanu, the Ali'i Pauahi Hawaiian Civic Club, and served in 1985 as the Aloha Lestivals MōT Wahine and in 1986 as Vice-Chair of the Year of the Hawaiian celebration. Her husband, Jack Jenkins, and parents Richmond Kaliko Ellis and Elizabeth Nalani Mersberg Spencer MeMillan Ellis, preceded her to Heaven. She is survived by children Kimo Jenkins (Lucy Anna), Kaipo Jenkins, Nalani Jenkins (Tracy), and hānai son Kawika Au; nieee Catherine Jenkins; mo'opuna Kalawai'a, Kawohionalani, Anuhea, Jordan, Kawehi, Miehael, Kaha'i, Pono, Aulani, Jane, Julie and Kona (who affectionally eall her "Hine"); six great-grandchildren; caregivers Chickie, Babette, Lehua, Sai, Brenda, Jackson, Kukui, Mary, Liana, and Exxon, and numerous other 'ohana. She gathered and connected everyone who knew her into a beautiful lei of Hawai'i Nei. She will be missed but never forgotten. ■ Funeral service on Saturday July 9, 2022 at Kawaiaha'o Church. 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. greeting and visitation; 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. service. Celebration ofLife & Paina tofollow atHawai'i Convention Center, Room #311 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- ' :• tjm, Jr i ikg j Aunty Betty Jenkins. - Photo: Courtesy