“The loss is immeasurable but so is the love left behind.” ✨

On Dec. 14,2022, our angel on Earth gained her wings in heaven. Our GRAMMA, Henrietta Heneli Yon Yee (Kan Hai) Mahuna, at an outstanding 102 years old left us to walk with the Lord… I’m still at a loss for the right words to describe this mighty woman but here we go.

Gramma is-and always will be for a matter of fact- the matriarch of our family. She was the glue that held us all together and a pillar of strength for us all. She worked from sun up to sun down up until her late 90’s & always had a hot meal on the table to feed whoever was running in & out of her home in Honokowai. Every Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years was spent at her home with a huge feast to feed our huge family! These get togethers always ended with my dad & his cousins playing kani kapila and Gramma humming along with her ipu in hand.

She brought her kids from Kipahulu to Honolua on the back of a watermelon truck to work in the Plantation field w/ our Tutu man. She was the first female Luna “boss” to work in the fields and eventually went on to run Honolua Store. Gramma fed all the construction workers there when the Ritz was being built and she wouldn’t serve them if they didn’t say “Please & Thank you!” She was a force to be reckoned with. In retirement, up until she was 95, she was in charge (and lead vocalist, of course) of the Sacred Hearts Church choir. One of my fondest Christmas memories was attending a rehearsal while my Dad helped her with the choir & Gramma hearing me in the pews singing along and asking me to sing “Nuoli” with her, my dad, and the rest of the choir in front of the entire church. I was terrified but there was no telling Gramma “No.”

I remember us turning to Grandma for many things while I was growing up. I’ll never forget her lomi on my ankle when it was aching one day after playing too hard or asking her how to cure my nightmares as a young child or even reciting the Lord’s Prayer to her in Hawaiian (she was fluent in ʻŌlelo) & getting scolded for rushing through. When I needed a place to get off the bus because my parents were working, Gramma was there. We would sit and snack together on her deck while watching MASH. So simple, but I look back & am grateful for those days spent with her.

I’ll forever be honored to have been raised with my great-grandmother in my life. To know her was to love her. She welcomed anyone in to her heart & home but also wasn’t afraid to put someone in their place if need be! I wish I had heard more stories or asked more questions or wrote down more recipes, but our family in heaven is rejoicing with her arrival. She is reuniting with her husband after almost 20 years apart, plus many more ʻohana & 5 of her kids, including her son (my Papa)

To my little half-Hawaiian, half-Korean lady, go rest now. We are all good down here because we were raised by YOU & oh, what a wonderful blessing that is because of the life you have lived. You are the epitome of what it means to be HAWAIIAN. I’ll miss your laugh, your voice, your hugs, your soft skin & your soft hair, all of you. But as you wrote in my birthday card for my 18th birthday, “We are all okay here. Just pule. Always pule.” 🤍

I Can't Fly Home To Make It But I Pray For Comfort And Healing For All. My Condolences, Love, Prayers To My Entire Kan- Hai And Mahuna Ohana GrandAuntie Heneli Was Loved Beyond Words By All She Will Be Forever With Us All. I Love You All My Ohana❤️ #FlyHighSweetAngel 

Nani D.

Grandma opened her home to me when I moved to Maui in 1980. A firm handed woman with a huge heart. She could cook up a dish with anything in the fridge and make it look like she spent hours preparing this wikiwiki dish.

Please share your stories and any pictures.

Roger Lee Yarborough Jr, born in New Orleans and raised in Bayou Blue Louisiana.