My mother died this morning at about 7 a.m. in a hospice house in the back of Palolo Valley.
The first photo was taken on Kahala Beach in late 1941. The second taken on Easter Sunday, 2012, during a visit to our home in Kaaawa.
Before her recent decline, she wrote her own obituary.
Here’s what she wrote, more or less. The original was written in her own hand.
Born Honolulu. Graduate Kamehameha School for Girls (before coed), and UH Manoa. Former instructor in Food Science, UH-Manoa. Also former secretary, Hawaiian Historical Society.
Survived by son, Ian Yonge Lind and wife, Meda, of Kaaawa; daughter, Bonnie (Lind) Stevens of California and Honolulu; granddaughter Christine (Lamont) Kemp and son, Kimo Lamont of Manteca, CA, and several great granddaughters.
Memorials to the Helen Yonge Lind Scholarship Fund
University of Hawaii Foundation
2444 Dole Street
Honolulu, HI 96822
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My condolences and best wishes to you all. So sorry she’s gone but glad that she seems to have gone very comfortably. I too feel honored to have been a part of the vigil, and to have known a bit of her through you.
Very sorry. But happy she seemed to have had such a wonderful life. Something we all can aspire to.
Lots of aloha to you, Ian, and to Meda. Thank you for sharing this difficult and personal period with your readers. As you can see, it’s meant a lot to so many and I hope that it provided a kind of balm for you to write over the last couple weeks, too. I will always think of your mom and her commitment to making that great mango chutney every year. And, even though we haven’t met, I really send along to Bonnie, who was there practically 24-7 and will feel, no doubt, a mixture of many feelings in this new void.
Love, Nancy
What a beautiful lady she was!
I wish I could have documented my mom’s recent passing as well as you have done.
Mahalo for the memories.
I thought about your Mom today and wondered how it was going for her. I am sad to hear that she is gone. Even tho I never met her I feel like know her. Thank you for sharing her life with us.
In my classes at UHH, I’ve actually shown the interview you recorded with her about her time at Kamehameha. (I hope I haven’t infringed on you!) She shed such clear light on that time of her own life as well as that era in Hawai’i. So she has reached even more folks, on a neighboring isle, than she might have imagined. Mahalo, Helen Lind, for a wise and illuminating perspective. We admired you from afar. Mahalo, too, and deep condolences, Ian and Meda, for keeping the light burning.
Thanks for sharing her observations on that period in Hawaii history with your students.
What wonderful tributes to your mother you have posted. As the mother of a grown son, I can assure you that your mother felt honored by your devotion…and that it made all the difference in her acceptance of having to leave you.
I’m so sorry I left out Bonnie in my first comment – it wasn’t intentional at all. 🙁
Thank you, dear Bonnie, for caring so wonderfully for your Mom. It was a blessing for her to have you there, for sure.
The night before my Mom stopped communicating with us, she said one thing to me that I’ll never forget. I had the 10 pm. to – 7 am. shift so my Dad could sleep. Around 3 am, as I adjusted her bed sheet that had bunched up under her, she said to me, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
When your in that helpless position, as she was, you appreciate all that is done for you. I don’t know if your Mother ever mentioned it – but trust me, she felt the same way as my Mom did.
My deepest condolences to you, Meda and your family.
I don’t think I’m contradicting what Denby said by saying your mother certainly did live a very full and rich life that should be celebrated and applauded. You’ve documented that so well here.
And yes, thank you for chronicling the journeys of both your parents. It’s made me think twice about how I deal with my own parents, as well as contemplate my own mortality.
Sorry to hear the news. Sincerest condolences to you and your family.
Aloha to all of you.
Jim & Shannon
Best wishes to you and Bonnie in this time of sorrow. Like others of your readers, I am grateful for the opportunity to to take part in the vigil. I treasury your wonderful photograph of her hands.
How fortunate but perhaps painful, too, to have had both your parents live such a long life!
Ian,
Thank you for sharing your mother’s life. Sincerest condolences to you and your family.
I felt I knew her from what you wrote over the years. I am very sorry for our loss.