By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

It happened just after school started at Ma'ema'e Elementary on Wyllie Street. A student messenger ran into the fifth-grade classroom and panted, "Mrs. Nakamura, you won't believe what happened. The chapel is gone."

"That can't be. It was there yesterday."

Counselor Dennis Takatsuki couldn't believe his eyes. "There wasn't much wind or rain. The old building just leaned for a while, then collapsed."

"Termites," explained fifth-grader Danny Chen, wise beyond his years.

And so 152 years of Nu'uanu Valley history lay in a heap of rubble, the little green steeple tilted like a broken bone. That was three years ago. Now the fifth-grade class is leading a crusade to restore the ancient sanctuary.

It was John Ii, Kamehameha's spittoon bearer, who donated the land because Hawaiians had to walk too far from Nu'uanu Valley to attend Kaumakapili Church in Kahili. A grass annex-chapel went up in 1851, then a frame building.

That lasted until 1923 when another chapel like the first was built on the stone foundation by the cemetery.

The Sunday school was what made the little chapel so popular. Two young daughters of Hawai'i's most prominent missionaries started it. Frank Judd, who later became chief justice of the supreme court, taught there.

Things really took off for Ma'ema'e Chapel when a powerhouse named Mrs. Elizabeth Waterhouse moved across the street in 1894. She had the yard weeded and the fence painted. Every Christmas she invited the neighborhood in to see the Christmas tree and to have ice cream and cake.

In 1894, Mrs. Waterhouse opened a kindergarten in the chapel. She noticed that mothers in Nu'uanu Valley wouldn't let their children start school until they were old enough for the second or third grade because it was too far for first-graders to walk all the way to Honolulu.

The kindergarten blossomed into the Ma'em'ae public school that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2000. Mother Waterhouse returned from Europe to find soldiers who fought in the Philippines during the 1898 Spanish-American War stationed in Nu'uanu Valley near the school.

Ohhhh, boy. She discovered that the soldiers were gambling, teaching the kids to shoot craps and play poker. The little chapel lived through these tempestuous times until it collapsed of old age.

This year the fifth-graders came to the rescue. They sold snacks at a basketball game, went around the neighborhood for support. Ciera Pagud and her team of four knocked on 10 doors. Seven teams collected $100. So far, they've donated $2,500 to the restoration fund.

On Sunday they are sponsoring a Fun-Run to raise more money. Sign up or donate at Room 37 or call Ma'ema'e School, 595-5400.

Henry Maunakea, restoration chairman at Kaumakapili Church, said the Ma'ema'e Chapel fund has about $8,000 and rebuilding will begin when the Kaumakapili restoration is finished.