Posted on: Thursday, August 8, 2002

Talafaaiva Atisanoe, mother of Konishiki, dead at 72

Advertiser Staff

When he struggled in Japan learning the intricacies of sumo, the language, customs or climate, Salevaa Atisanoe knew where to go for an uplifting word: his mother, Talafaaiva L.F. Vaa Atisanoe.

"Whenever things were tough or there was negative stuff, I'd call her. After talking to her, things would turn around," Atisanoe, known as sumo star Konsihiki, said of his mother, who died Monday at age 72.

"At first she didn't want me to go (to Japan), she was against it, but she became my biggest fan," Atisanoe said. "She was the heart of our whole family."

Friends said she became like a mother to all of the kids who visited her Nanakuli home. "I called her Tina, or mom in Samoan, because she treated me like part of the family," said Joe Onosai, a pastor in the Word of Life Church who was a high school football teammate of Salevaa's at University High at Pac-Five.

"We'd spend time at her house on weekends and she really helped me to perpetuate the Samoan language and culture. I could understand (the language) but I didn't speak it much. She taught me a lot of the traditional things," Onosai said.

She was born in American Samoa and arrived in Hawai'i about 40 years ago. She worked as a groundskeeper at Barbers Point Golf Course.

She is survived by her husband, Lautoa; sons, Alapati, Kasiano, Anoalo, Lautoa Jr. and Salevaa; and daughters Sailiaga, Malia, Luania I, Kahau and Luania II.

Services are 10 a.m. Saturday at the Samoan Church of Hawai'i, 87-140 Kahau Place, Nanakuli. Burial at 11:30 a.m. at Sunset Memorial Park.