Category Archives: Obituaries

Many families find themselves unable or unwilling to pay the very high fees to publish obituaries of loved ones in Honolulu’s daily newspaper. They can be published here for free. Just email your text, along with any photos you would like to include to ian(at)iLind.net.

On another November 11

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John Montgomery Lind, b. December 7, 1913 – d. October 23, 2010.

We scattered my dad’s ashes in the ocean off of Waikiki seven years ago today, November 11, 2010. It was a Thursday, as I recall. And it was a struggle to maintain composure while trying to keep simmering family conflicts, personal emotions, and basic logistics under control and at the same time maintain a calm demeanor greeting those who had came to honor his long life.

The members of the Waikiki Surf Club were there to respect and honor the club’s co-founder and longtime president. And their canoes escorted his ashes to their final spot outside the Ala Moana break.

He was a veteran in many respects, but never served in the armed services. His job as a restaurant supply salesman was considered essential for national defense during the WWII military buildup in Hawaii. As they say, “an army marches on its stomach,” and at that time there was no excess of those who could design, equip, and install all the kitchens that were needed to fuel the new island bases.

Seven years. It seems like yesterday. It seems like a time long ago. I guess that’s how memory, and life, works.

If you would like to view more photos of the event, you can find them here.

The best obituary and telling of his life appeared in a newspaper back in his home town of Long Beach, California, although he moved to Hawaii in mid-1939.

Aloha

Celebration of Life planned for Oliver Lee

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This word on the memorial event planned for Oliver Lee was circulated by his daughter, Vivien. It is scheduled for June 17.

As you may have seen in Wednesday’s Star-Advertiser obituary about Oliver, we are all gathering together for a Celebration of Life on Saturday, June 17, 4:00pm at the Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu. We welcome you to join us in remembering his unique life and the great times we shared. A reception will follow–we’ll raise a glass with cheer. Please no flowers, gifts, or monetary contributions–just come share memories and enjoy each other!

“Feel free to spread the word,” she added.

Two assessments of issues behind the housing crisis

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A couple of interesting articles looking at the issues in our current housing markets.

From Mother Jones: “Is Your City Being Sold Off to Global Elites?”

That’s certainly a question that goes directly to our situation in Hawaii. The article digs into the situation in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a history of urban diversity.

It’s midmorning on a Saturday in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, and this is maybe the 20th example we’ve seen of what locals call the “empty-house syndrome”—homes purchased by foreign nationals, many of them wealthy Chinese, and left to sit vacant. Some will eventually have occupants; Vancouver is a top destination for well-heeled emigrants. But often, the new owners treat the houses as little more than vehicles for spiriting capital out of China. By one recent estimate, 67,000 homes, condos, and apartments in the Vancouver metro area, or about 6.5 percent of the total, are either empty or “underused”—an appalling statistic, given a housing market so tight that rental vacancy rates are below 1 percent.

We certainly see those empty houses in Kahala when we walk on the beach in the mornings. Just in the stretch of houses we walk past daily, there are probably two dozen large empty luxury homes. And I’m sure there are many more empty units hidden in high-rise condominiums.

Anyway, Vancouver is experimenting with how to respond. We should be watching.

And the New York Times looked at another aspect of housing: “How Homeownership Became the Engine of American Inequality.”

The culprit here is the mortgage interest deduction, which lets home owners deduct the portion of their mortgage payments that go to interest on their loans. It’s a financial benefit that renters don’t enjoy.

A friend has proposed a homeowner’s surcharge dedicated to funding affordable homes, and calls existing homeowners perhaps the largest impediment to expanding the housing base.

Complicated issues here.

You die, but life goes on…

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The first telephone call I made on Thursday morning after getting the news of my sister’s death was to her son, Kimo, in California.

He had already been at work for at least a couple of hours, and I had to leave a message. He left work for the day after getting the news and called back a little later.

“She did this to me,” he said with sort of a low chuckle.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s our anniversary,” Kimo said.

I wasn’t sure what he was saying.

He went on.

“October 13. Sabrina and I were married last year on Maui. It was October 13. It’s our first anniversary.”

“Oh, no!”

“Oh, yes!” Kimo replied. “She did it! I think she waited,” laughing now. “She wanted to make sure that I would always remember her every year! And you don’t forget your anniversary.”

***

Friday noon.

We’re in a barren little meeting room at the Nuuanu Memorial Park and Mortuary. We’re waiting to sign the papers necessary for my sister’s cremation to move forward.

My mother’s parents–my grandparents–along with several friends and other relatives are buried next to each other in a corner of the old cemetery just across from the mortuary office.

Then a surprise.

We hadn’t gotten very far before discovering that I’m not authorized to approve the cremation. Her executor or personal representative must do that. Although I’ve been the trustee since her personal trust was created in July, she appointed her son and an old friend as her “personal representatives.” They live in different parts of California, requiring a long-distance approval process with emailed forms that need to be notarized and returned. Until that’s accomplished, what’s left of Bonnie remains on hold. It’s the first legal/bureaucratic hurdle we have to scramble over. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

***

The second surprise wasn’t long in coming. As we were filling out paperwork, the mortuary rep mention a change in policy by the Star-Advertiser.

The state’s largest newspaper and only daily newspaper on Oahu no longer lists surviving family members in its free obituaries. Now if you want the obit to include surviving spouse and children/grandchildren, the family has to buy a “family placed obituary.”

I don’t know what this costs, but I’m confident it’s not inexpensive.

I immediately thought of how this dramatically undermines the newspaper’s value as a source of the information found in traditional obituaries. As an investigative reporter, I’ve probably compiled backgrounds on hundreds of politicians, business people, and others that have been involved in matters I’ve dug into. Obituaries are a standard source which, for example, can help you identify an elected officials siblings and cousins, always sources of potential conflicts to keep track of. And what about future family genealogists? Their explorations just got harder as well.

And, for the record: Bonnie Pauahi Stevens is survived by a brother, Ian Lind, and a sister, Jacqueline Chappel, both of Honolulu; son, James P. Lamont of Manteca, California; daughter, Christina Kemp of Seattle, and seven grandchildren.