HONOKAHUA, Maui — When retiree Katherine Smith and her husband began spending part of each year in a Kapalua condominium, she was curious about her life's new landscape. What had preceded the resort? Pineapple fields, she knew, and before that, a ranch, her Hawaiian friends told her. But in olden days? "There was no one here who belonged to the families that lived in this kuleana before ranching times," she said. "The people who might have those stories, those genealogies, are scattered. They could be in Wailuku or Kamuela, or anywhere."

A title search on land where her condominium sits showed that the earliest owner of record was a hapa Hawaiian woman, Sarah Kani'aulono Davis. Smith's own research revealed that the woman she came to lovingly know as "Kale" — a Hawaiian way of saying "Sallie," Sarah's nickname — was the daughter of Kamehemeha's adviser, Isaac Davis, and a Big Island chiefess named Nakai Nalima'alu'alu.

Kale was married for a time to the Scottish sea captain Alexander Adams, commander of Kamehemeha's sailing fleet. And the Hawaiian woman was the last chiefess of Honokahua Valley, a portion of the land known today as Kapalua.

"After I found Kale, I knew I was going to write a book. I didn't know how, and I hadn't a clue. I don't know anything about genre. I don't know anything about story arc," Smith said, sounding a bit surprised still at the notion of herself as an author. For three or four years, she told friends she was writing a book, but, she said, smiling, "I wasn't writing. I was researching" — an addictive pursuit that has tripped up many a prospective author who never quite gets around to putting the story on paper.

TURNING POINT

She was saved by a friend, Terry Laszlo-Gopadze, who, having seen an essay of Smith's, urged her not to delay any longer in writing the book. Eight months later, "The Love Remains," Smith's self-published fictional story of Kale Davis' life, was finished.

"This book is very much a collaboration," Smith says, thinking back to an invitation 10 years ago to a Thanksgiving lu'au at the home of Darryl and Vicky 'Aiwohi. "They were the people who opened up the world of Hawaiian culture to me," Smith said, telling her stories of the old days in Honokahua and neighboring Honolua and Napili.

But Smith wanted to know more. "I'm really nosy," she said.

She joined the Hawaiian-language choir at her church, under the direction of Henrietta Mahuna, and she enrolled in Punana Leo's free Hawaiian language classes. She sought out others who helped her learn more about Hawaiian culture — kumu hula Hokulani Holt-Padilla, craftsman Palani Sinenci, cultural practitioner Clifford Nae'ole, chanter Charles Ka'upu. She studied navigation, makahiki customs, the kapu system, village and ahupua'a organization, kapu and religion. She visited archives and read painstakingly, word by dictionary word, through Hawaiian documents and newspapers, looking for any mention of the area, or of Kale Davis.

And, she said, it felt as though Kale was a collaborator, too.

A BREAKTHROUGH

"Kale was not a famous person," she said. Smith has found no image of her, no detail of her life beyond a bare genealogy. But whenever Smith really needed something, somehow the facts would emerge.

"I went to her grave to pray and made offerings, and then all these doors started opening. It was then I uncovered her name chant in the Bishop Museum," she said. A direct descendent who works for Kapalua Land Co. helped smooth her way with that company.

Smith was referred to Aloha Keko'olani on O'ahu to review a book on Hawaiian cultural matters, and Keko'olani also turned out to be related to Kale.

Smith was puzzling about the Hawaiian way of drying fish, and her friend, Henriette Mahuna, was able to explain to her how the fish would be split open, salted and dried on the rocks by the sea, the trade winds helping in the drying process and keeping the flies from descending. Later, looking over the natural stone shelves at Oneloa Bay, the heart of Honokahua, she had a revelation. "Suddenly, I realized that the whole operation could be done there. I just knew that I knew," she said.

FAMILY MATTERS

Quite incidentally, "The Love Remains" has been a source of discovery and reconciliation for Kale's widespread descendants, who include children from several marriages. Smith has become an impromptu genealogist for the families, meeting with descendants and even showing them where Kale is believed to be buried.

"All of a sudden, the whole family is starting to come together," she said. "There are things happening way beyond the book."

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.