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His
Beachboy Funeral
Moe
Keale's life was celebrated with song and
prayer beginning at 4:30 p.m. Monday at
Kawai'ahao Church, where friends called
until 6 p.m. The service was held from
6 to 7 p.m., which was followed by another
visitation from 7 to 9 p.m.
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Honolulu
Star-Bulletin: Uncle
Moe Keale, a favored son of Hawaii
Hundreds gather to pay their last respects
to the Waikiki legend who touched them
On
May 4, 2002, there was then a musical
celebration of Keale's life that started at
noon at the Hula Mound at Kuhio Beach. A
brief ceremony took place on the beach at 6
p.m., followed by a scattering of the ashes
at sea at sunset.
"A
hundred or so feet away is the new
Hula Mound, the pâ. Ceremonies and
hula performed here are not limited to
those designed for visitors. In May,
for example, an afternoon-long musical
memorial for one of Hawai'i's
best-loved entertainers took place at
the pa.
I was there for the event. The man it
celebrated was my dear friend and
hânai (adoptive) brother, Moe Keale.
His childhood, adolescence and young
adulthood centered on Waikîkî.
Before he was famous as an
entertainer, he was a Waikîkî
beachboy. He always said he wanted a
beachboy funeral. He got what he
wanted.
The music ended before sunset. After a
brief ceremony, family and friends in
outrigger canoes and catamarans
accompanied Moe's ashes out to sea.
Near the reef, we were met by the
great voyaging canoe Hawai'i Loa.
Moe's wife and son gave his ashes to
the sea.
We returned to the beach just as the
sun prepared to set. Clouds had masked
the sun all day, but as we left the
canoes, the clouds in the northwest
sky slipped away and the sun sat on
the edge of the sea by Moe's beloved
island of Ni'ihau.
It was a perfect day, a perfect
beachboy memorial, in the perfect
place."
Source:
Martha
Noyes: Freelance writer, Moe's
hânai sister, and co-composer of
Lei of Aloha
Martha Noyes
Photo, courtesy of Bess Press
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