My Younger Brother Peter William Kamai Has Passed Away
("Kuu Pokii Peter William Kamai Ua Hala", Nupepa Kuokoa, September 20, 1918)
Dear Mr. Solomon Hanohano,1 greetings:—Please publish in available space of our revered one2 my tearful message above to notify the family and friends of my departed younger brother. What sorrow for my brother!3
My brother passed away at 2 in the morning on Monday, July 29, at Kula hospital.4
We received the sad news of William Kamai’s death surprisingly fast, in a phone call from the Kula doctor. How my heart is shattered over my departed brother.
His illness5 did not afflict him for a long time before he passed away. Alas for you, my brother who patiently endured every hardship and discomfort, my brother who never burdened me, his sister. I will no longer hear his voice on the phone saying, sister, send food for me.
He spent 17 years, 2 months and a few days more breathing the cold air of this world. My brother was born in Kaupo on Sept. 14, 1901. There were 11 of us. Death took two, leaving nine of us living. My brother has gone on the path of no return.6
My brother has wandered off. Where have you gone? My cheerful, good-natured, open-hearted brother, where are you? What ceaseless grief I feel for you!
He attended Kipahulu School with his older brother.7 When they graduated, they went to Kahului with me, their sister, and enrolled in St. Anthony School in Wailuku. The two of them graduated from there. He worked at Kahului Store until his illness became so severe that he could no longer continue. He was a clerk there. He held prayer and the priests in high regard.
O Wailuku of the famed four waters,8 you will no longer wet the cheeks of my deceased brother! O Kahului of the undulating sea, my brother will no longer pass by the capes on your shore. What affection for this foreign place where my departed brother and I stayed. O Hana of the rain of the low sky,9 my brother will no longer pass through. O Kipahulu of the storied love-snatching wind,10 you will no longer moisten the cheeks of my deceased brother. Beloved are these places my brother traveled while we toiled. These places will always be cherished by your parents, who so loved their child.
What endless reflections on my departed brother! Our mother was his foremost thought. O Kaupo, where the rain makes one hide behind rock walls, homeland of my brother, you will not see my brother Willie again. He has left on the path of no return.
His gentle eyes have vanished. The burden has been released. Gone are the moans over the pains of this world. The words of the Good Book have come to pass, that life is a vapor that appears and then vanishes away.11 Praise the Lord in heaven. He gave, and He hath taken away.12 He has taken the spirit and left the mortal remains for us to remember forever.
We would like to offer our unending gratitude to the mourners and thank them for their bouquets that adorned my brother who has departed and disappeared. To you, youths of the printing press, we send our regards. We the undersigned being the siblings with grieving hearts.
STEPHEN LAKE,13
MRS. ANNA S. LAKE.
A. A. KAMAI.
- Editor of the Nupepa Kuokoa.
- In Hawaiian, ka kakou hiwahiwa, a common nickname for the Nupepa Kuokoa.
- The author of this obituary is Kamai’s sister Anna Lake, who 2 years later also wrote the obituary for her father, John Baptize Kamoau Kamai.
- This would have been the precursor to the current Kula Hospital, which was built in 1937.
- The cause of death is identified as tuberculosis pulmonalis. Kula Hospital (originally called Kula Sanitorium) was established specifically for tuberculosis patients.
- A common poetic saying for death. See entry No. 420 in the book “ʻŌlelo Noʻeau: Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings“.
- Likely Abraham Kamai, identified at the bottom of this obituary.
- A poetic name for the region of central Maui that includes Waikapu, Wailuku, Waiehu and Waihee. See entry No. 2300 in “ʻŌlelo Noʻeau”.
- A poetic name for Hana. See entry No. 1578 in “ʻŌlelo Noʻeau”.
- A poetic name for Kipahulu. See entry No. 1463 in “ʻŌlelo Noʻeau”.
- James 4:14.
- Job 1:21.
- Brother-in-law of the deceased.