Lilia Hale nurtured language's rebirth
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Lilia Wahinemaikai Hale of Waimanalo, one of the preeminent champions of the Hawaiian language renaissance, died June 5 at Castle Memorial Medical Center. She was 90.
Advertiser library photo • 1998
Hale is the second among the shrinking number of "manaleo" (native speakers of Hawaiian) lost in the last week. Elizabeth Kauahipaula, another kupuna and resource for language students, died Sunday.
Lilia Wahinemaikai Hale was a leading proponent of the Hawaiian language. Her passing was called a "great sorrow for the Hawaiian nation."
Hale's passing is being mourned by students and faculty at the University of Hawai'i department of Hawaiian and Indo-Pacific languages and literatures. She worked there as a resource person until her retirement in September, said Laiana Wong, coordinator of the department's Hawaiian language section.
Wong said he did not know how many manaleo remain.
"I know that when I got involved in Hawaiian language 15 years ago, people were talking about it then — how few there are," he said.
Hale was born in Palama, adopted according to traditional hanai customs by her grandparents, said Kimo Armitage, one of Hale's students who became especially close to her. After her grandmother died, she lived with various relatives on several islands until her grandfather remarried and felt he could care for her, Armitage said.
Hale's passion for teaching Hawaiian may date to her own childhood when, like so many Hawaiians of her age, she was forbidden to speak her native tongue in school, he said. Her teacher compelled her to answer to "Lydia" instead of Lilia, which is Hawaiian for "lily," Armitage said.
"When she didn't answer, the teacher whacked her," he said. "When she would tell that story, it was really a vivid memory for her. It really hurt her."
When the Hawaiian renaissance began in the 1970s, language teacher Robert Snakenberg asked her to join in an early version of the kupuna (elder) program called Halau Likolaulani.
"She said, 'A'ohe palapala,' which means, 'I don't have a degree,' " Armitage said. "He told her, 'You don't have a degree, but you have the pedigree.' "
Hale has appeared in documentaries on Hawaiian culture, including "Hawaiian Voices: Bridging Past to Present," a 1998 film in Eddie and Myrna Kamae's Hawaiian Legacy Series. And she wrote two children's books:
" 'Olelo No'eau No Na Keiki," a volume of proverbs for children; and a book describing animal sounds as expressed in Hawaiian, "Ka Hulu Kohukohu."
She had a gentle approach with teaching keiki, Armitage said.
"Her educational philosophy was never to correct the child," he said. "When they would make a mistake, she would just repeat it correctly. She believed in teaching by example."
It's been a sad week for those who nurture the rebirth of Hawaiian as a living language, he said.
"We're losing all those people who were integral not only to the Hawaiian renaissance but who we view as sources of so many things that have to do with culture," Armitage said. "To lose both Mama Elizabeth and Mama Lilia is such a great sorrow for the Hawaiian nation."
Hale is survived by her son, John Keali'inohomoku; daughters, Laverne Oliveira, Shirley Leslie and Elizabeth Hale; sister, Annie Lee; 24 grandchildren, 63 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren.
Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Honolulu Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2313 Nu'uanu Ave.; service to follow at 11 a.m. No flowers. Arrangements by Moanalua Mortuary.
Ashes will be scattered later at Napo'opo'o Bay in Kona on the Big Island.
