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By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
Helen Kapililani Sanborn Davis was 90 years old when she decided to write her first book. It took three years to finish, but the recently released "Reminiscences of a Life in the Islands" is worth the wait.
"A few years ago, my daughter just said it was time for me to write a book," Davis said. "She told me too many stories would be lost if I didn’t get them all down." So with the help of writer Maili Yardley and the financial support of a benefactor who wants to remain anonymous, Davis set out to tell her story.
At first glance, you might think this is another one of those privately printed "vanity" memoirs in which people of power or privilege get to rewrite history the way they want it recorded. And at first glance only, maybe you’d be right.
Born in Lihu‘e, raised in Hanalei, educated at Punahou, married for 45 years to a gentleman rancher and Big Five executive, her story is like that of many others of the era who lived in sprawling homes, knew and visited all the best people and took pride in steering the Islands from on high in turbulent times.
In a cursory reading of her book you’d see the big homes, the parties, the hired help, the glamorous travels and think: "Some people are so lucky." In many ways, you wouldn’t be that far off.
The book, filled with hundreds of pictures, takes you on a journey from the pastoral days of Kaua‘i in the early 1900s up through the hectic rush of the year 2000. In between, there are tsunamis, great fires, two world wars, statehood, births, deaths, marriages, the rise and fall of the Big Five, homes built and lost, travels around the world and — above all else — plenty of friends made.
There’s more, though, things more profound and personal: a strained relationship with her father, the death of her first child at age 9, the loss of her and her husband’s oceanside home in the tsunami of 1946, a family separated for several years by World War II, nightmarish memories of a brush fire that almost claimed another home, this time in Waipio.
These, too, are the stuff of a full life, the things that elevate a personal memoir beyond vanity. No matter how good things look on the surface, there’s always pain underneath. You learn to take the bad with the good, ride through the troughs until you’re on the hilltops again. And, if you’re genuinely lucky, you stay around long enough to write about it all.
These days, Davis is still going strong. She starts her day with a brisk walk and follows it by swimming laps in a pool. Friends describe her as a great old gal. She’s out and about all day, tending to family, friends and favorite causes, especially maintaining the beauty of the Islands. She goes to church every Sunday, drives her own car and fights hard to keep living life, for better or worse, to the fullest.
Helen Davis’ book "Reminiscences of a Life in the Islands" (privately printed, $21.95) is available at Native Books & Beautiful Things stores in Ward Warehouse and downtown Honolulu. Mike Leidemann can be reached by phone (525-5460) or e-mail (mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com).
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