Kauahipaula, who worked until this year at the Waiau Hawaiian Language Immersion Program, was 88.

She was the oldest continuously employed kupuna in the Leeward district and possibly the state, said Kalani Akana, a teaching colleague. Kauahipaula often rose at 4 a.m. to catch the bus to school.

"In her capacity as kupuna, she has influenced and taught countless numbers of children and teachers," Akana said. "What was once her humiliation became her honor."

Kauahipaula, who was born in 1914, was once banned from speaking her native language in the classroom. When she was a child, she was hit with a ruler until her fingers bled, put in the corner or made to wear a dunce cap for speaking Hawaiian, Akana said.

Kauahipaula, like many others of her generation, only received an eighth-grade education, but those who knew her said she was a born teacher.

"Teaching was her life's work. She never dreamed that something she was once made fun of was something that she would later want to be proud of," he said. "Seeing the children blossoming and proud to speak their language was what she lived for."

Kauahipaula was a Hawaiian language specialist at Kamehameha Schools and also volunteered to teach Hawaiian and the Hawaiian culture at the Anuenue Hawaiian Language Immersion and Samuel Kamakau schools. Kauahipaula also taught at the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center in Wai'anae and Central O'ahu, at several hula halau and at her home.

"It's a great loss to our Hawaiian youth," said Hailama Farden, a Hawaiian language teacher who first met Kauahipaula when he was a fourth-grade student some 25 years ago.

Although Kauahipaula was born on O'ahu, she spent most of her childhood on the Big Island with her parents, David Kapu Brown and Lizzie Kalili Kaeha. Many of those school days were in Waiakea, where her father built the family house on homestead land. It was a remote, rural existence, in which the only place to find running water was a nearby stream.

"She wanted to share the culture because that's how she grew up," Akana said. "People like myself had to go to school to learn what she actually lived."

Kauahipaula was a very simple person, yet very deep in her thoughts and ideas, said Melelani Pang, the president of Ahahui 'Olelo Hawai'i.

She was always telling students, "Mai hilahila," which means don't be ashamed, Pang said.

"It was such a general statement but when she said it, different people could have different perceptions," Pang said. "To her, that statement held not only for language, but also for culture, lifestyle and who you are as an individual."

Kauahipaula and others like her are hard to replace because of their extensive influence on the lives they touched, he said.

"Kupuna was like my hanai grandmother," Farden said. "She encouraged me to become a teacher and to share the language."

One of Kauahipaula's greatest desires was to see the Hawaiian language become the first language for Hawaiians, he said.

She also wanted Hawaiians to know their culture and their history, he said.

Kauahipaula accomplished some of this goal by teaching and also by serving as host of the longest-running Hawaiian language TV talk show, "Manaleo," which airs on Channel 53 at 7 p.m. Saturdays. The program's mission is to perpetuate the Hawaiian voice for generations.

Kauahipaula was also a board member of the 'Ahahui 'Olelo Hawai'i, the state's only Hawaiian language association, as well as a consultant to Ka Haka'ula a Ke'elikolani Hawaiian Language College in Hilo.

She received many awards throughout her life, including the Hawaii Alliance of Language Teachers' award for excellence in teaching in 1999 and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' Ke Kukui Malamalama Excellence in Hawaiian Education award for 2000.

She was honored by the city in 2002 for her countless hours of community service.

Kauahipaula was a member of many organizations, including Hale O Na Ali'i O Hawai'i, the Ka'ahumanu Society, Ka Lahui Hawai'i and the Royal Order of Kamehameha's Women's Auxiliary.

She is survived by a son, Herman Nunuha; sister, Margaret Spencer; 18 grandchildren, 49 great-grandchildren and 19 great-great-grandchildren.