A lu'au and a celebration of life will be held June 14 at the Kamehameha Schools to honor the memory and achievements of the revered Hawaiian treasure, Auntie Winona Kapuailohiamanonokalani Desha Beamer.

"My mom did not want a public funeral, but she didn't say we couldn't have a party," said her son Keola Beamer, the award-winning singer, composer and musician, in announcing the community tribute honoring his late mother. She died peacefully in her sleep April 10 at the Beamer home in Lahaina. She was 84.

"We had a beautiful scattering of the ashes," he said of the private services on the family's Waimea ranch. "That was our obligation to mom."

After discussions with family and close friends, Keola Beamer said he decided it was time to celebrate the life of his mother and to enable her legion of friends and fans to say aloha, too.

"The outcry of aloha, the support from around the world, has been incredible," he said. "I had no idea that she had this part of her life before I was born."

The celebration will be at Kekuhaupi'o Gymnasium, on the Kapalama campus of the Kamehameha Schools, where Auntie Nona was a beloved figure and where she shared her mana'o and teachings. Dr. Michael Chun, president of Kamehameha, and his staff are cooperating.

"There will be music," Keola Beamer confirmed. "But 'Pupu Hinuhinu' — that will be a tough one," referring to her cherished lullaby about a shell, often the very first song taught to keiki.

Calabash donations will be accepted at the gym door, to be distributed among Auntie Nona's pet projects: the Hula Preservation Society, Mohala Hou Foundation and the Beamer Family Scholarships at Kamehameha. Kaho'onei Panoke, a family friend, is coordinating the effort.

Because of Auntie Nona's love for the color orange and her adoration of pulelehua (butterflies), those attending are asked to wear orange or butterfly decor.

"My mom loved butterflies, all kinds of butterflies," Keola Beamer writes in a warm and affectionate memoir on kbeamer.com. "In her bedroom there were butterflies everywhere. Orange ones, red ones, green ones. They fluttered in the gentle trade winds that blew in from the ocean. From her bed, Mom would watch her butterflies rising and falling in the sunlight that filtered in through the window."

Her passing has helped him understand the concept of the butterfly — the metamorphosis from cocoon to a free spirit.

"She lived a life that made a difference in this world," Keola Beamer said.