On Kauai, we are rich in people who are either formally named “Living Treasures” by our Kauai Museum, or considered so without any ceremonial giving of title by family, friends and associates. These citizens are known to give of themselves
On Kauai, we are rich in people who are either formally named “Living Treasures” by our Kauai Museum, or considered so without any ceremonial giving of title by family, friends and associates. These citizens are known to give of themselves for the good of the community in ever-widening circles, no matter their way of playing this into life. Their dedication and integrity — and passion for what they live, brings respect and admiration, gratitude, and love. And when they die, their legacy lives on.
One such person was Frances Nelson Frazier (b. July 6, 1914 to d. Oct. 19, 2015), affectionately known as “Aunt Halia” and very much relied upon and admired for her skill of translation in the Hawaiian language, particularly in the field of land and title documents, as well as important historical works. The love and respect that her cohorts, ‘ohana members, and even casual acquaintances hold for her was evident at a memorial celebration held this past Sunday.
Many gathered to honor her life at the Sun Village community room in remembrance of a one-of-a-kind woman honored with the “Living Treasure” award in 2005, and whose memoir, “Halia of Hawaii, A Legacy of Language,” brought her long and amazing life story into focus when published. Frazier was chosen by the Mayor’s Committee on the Status of Women as the subject of Women’s History Month in 2012.
As a friend and co-editor/publisher of Frazier’s memoir, I lived intimately with her story for months while readying it for publication. Though unrelated, I thought of her as my own dear aunty who willingly revealed much to flesh out the bare bones of her stories.
There were all the “regular” markers of life lit by flair and serendipity, such as coming of age from carefree youth as the horse-loving daughter of the Honolulu harbor pilot and a reticent, part-Hawaiian mother, being the equally adventurous sister of her two brothers, readying for a job during young womanhood in hapa-haole (“half foreign”) times, experiencing the amazement of first travels beyond Oahu, and thrilling with a first flash of love that bloomed into her lasting marriage to Harold Frazier, and their becoming parents.
There followed the fears for husband and baby son during the World War II bombing of Pearl Harbor, anecdotes stemming from the changes that swiftly followed, the arrival of her daughter Stephanie, and finally, peacetime events and finding “my Kumu” (source teacher), as Frazier put it, the renowned Hawaiian linguist Mary Kawena Pukui.
Then more travels, following her engineer husband around the world to a sojourn living in Dacca in East Pakistan while he worked on freeing up the silted waterways that empty into the Bay of Bengal, and their short furloughs taken to explore parts of India and Nepal. After a brief return to Hawaii, Frazier came up with her dream itinerary that took her adventuring solo on a return to Dacca.
It included attending England’s royal horse show, experiencing the full moon lighting Venetian waters, and hopping the Orient Express route that ran between Venice all the way to Asia. The train travel, while in Turkey, coincided with the Six-Day War between the Israeli army and neighboring states, and unexpected travel tension, if not danger.
Aunty Halia’s “take” on the state of poverty and deprivation of the general populace of Dacca and surrounding areas, particularly the lack of freedom of her Moslem women friends and neighbors. She was not critical of the cultural differences, just aware. “How lucky,” she often reiterated, that she could “go home to Hawaii.”
This long life story unraveled through Frazier’s fingers on the keyboard in her 80s and 90s. It was impressive that at an advanced age she’d taught herself to use a computer to create word files, to e-mail publishers, agencies and courts regarding her translations of documents, and to correspond with a wide range of people who sought her advice in a variety of ways, including Poet W. S. Merwin when researching his award-winning book, “The Folding Cliffs,” Pat Cockett and Carlos Andrade when writing songs based on history they eventually recorded, and Kumu Hula Roselle Keli‘ihonipua Bailey as she built layers of cultural knowledge into her Ka ‘Imi Na‘auao o Hawai‘i Nei Institute and works within the community deriving for same.
Interestingly, Aunty Halia told me she never really embraced her Hawaiian-ness or thought of herself as a “daughter of Hawaii” until she became fluent in the language before she was named the state translator. She had entered midlife when she took up what became the most important “Legacy of Language,” having honed her skills and realized that Hawaiian blood ran strong in her veins mixed with inherited traits from her Yankee sea captain father.
She put her language skill to work to save properties for many people, to bring history into focus through her insightful translation of papers and award-winning books: “The True story of Kaluaiko‘olau” (“the Leper”), “Kamehameha’s Warrior,” Kekuhaupio. She also occasionally taught of Koolau for visiting Elderhostel travelers to Kauai as a guest lecturer while in her late 80s.
Through this one life, and the lives of all those we treasure, we may see that it’s never too late in life to learn and work toward making a dream and personal passion into reality in our lives. This might be the most important legacy to put into our individual treasure boxes. You can count on the fact that it is well-kept in mine. In Aunty Halia’s own favorite word (learned in Dacca) to honor the departure of a friend from her presence, Inshallah. Inshallah, dear Frances.
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Dawn Fraser Kawahara, author and poet, regularly instructs on the topics of history and Hawaiian culture for visitors to Kauai through Hawaii Pacific University’s “Road Scholar” program. Co-editing with Kathy Valier, she published Frazier’s Halia of Hawaii under her TropicBird Press and the AuthorHouse imprints, March 2010. Halia and other books translated by Frazier are available at the Kauai Museum and Kokee Museum shops and through UH Press, Kamehameha School Press, Amazon and AuthorHouse. Halia is also newly available at Foodland-Waipouli. Info: www.kauaiweddingsandbooks.com, tropicbirdpress@earthlink.net.
