Passed Away, Gone
("Ua Hala, Ua Nalo", Nupepa Kuokoa, July 9, 1887)
With a heart darkened by sadness, I ask that you please find some space in your parlors1 so that the public may know of someone’s passing on to the everlasting side of the world. At dawn yesterday, June 22, John James Kawehena departed this life for the everlasting world. He spent 7 years, 10 months and 26 days in the forsaken land.2 It is left to us—his friends in this land with no parents except one, the Board of Health—to honor his memory.
His homeland was Kaupo, Maui. His father Maunaloa and mother Kauahine had three children. His younger brother, D. Loheau, lives in Hana, land of the Apuakea rain.3
His body wasted away and he grew short of breath for many months. On the night of June 22, the gasping grew stronger and his breath was snatched away without warning. In the morning when he was to be roused, he had already passed away and his poor body was stiff.
His pen was ever active for this colony, reporting the news of the leper settlement to the entire world. He was an agent for the newspaper. The strokes of his pen will no longer grace your columns.
With regards to the young typesetters of the printing press.
JAS.4 IMAIKALANI
Kalawao, June 23, 1887
Below is the obituary in the original Hawaiian:
Ua hala, Ua nalo
Me ka puuwai i kupouli i ke aloha, e oluolu e waiho aku ma kahi kaawale o kou mau rumi hookipa i keia, i ike mai ai na kini o ka mea i hala e aku ma ka aoao mau o ka honua. I ka wanaao o nehinei, Iune 22, ua waiho mai o John Jas. Kawehena i keia ola ana, a huli hoi aku la no ka aoao mau o ka honua. Ua piha iaia he 7 makahiki, 10 malama a me 26 la ma ka aina makamaka ole nei; a o makou hoi o kona mau hoaaloha o keia aina makua ole, hookahi makua o ka Papa Ola; nona ko makou mau hoomanao ana ae.
O Kaupo i Maui kona one hanau, na Maunaloa (k) a me Kauahine (w) ekolu lakou a ka pupuu hookahi; he pokii kona aia i ka ua Apuakea, D. Loheau.
Ua hoomailo mai ka mai nae iaia no kekahi mau mahina iho hei, a i ka po o ka la 22 iho nei o Iune, ua ano ikaika loa iho la ua nae la, kaili loa ke aho me ka ike ole ia; a i ke ao ana ae, kii ia aku e hoala, ua hala mua kela, ua la-au ke kino aloha no oia.
He eueu kakele peni oia no keia panalaau, e hoike ana i na anoai o ke kahua lepera nei, i ka ao holookoa; a he luna nupepa oia. Ua pau ke kakele ana o kana maka peni ma kou mau kolamu.
O ke aloha auanei ko na keiki kikiipi o ka papa pai.
JAS. IMAIKALANI.
Kalawao, Iune, 23rd, 1887
Footnotes