Louis and Leifi Ha‘o: A life well lived. A life of purpose. Legacies of aloha.

By Marcia Timboy

Renowned Hilo couple and revered kūpuna, Louis and Leifi Ha‘o have contributed much to our Hilo and Hawai‘i Island communities. After decades of community service, they continue an active lifestyle filled with projects, ceremonial blessings, and tending to their mala (garden). Both are past retirement age; however, “Uncle Louie” has recently returned to work as the executive director of Hui Mālama Ola Nā ‘Ōiwi, a native Hawaiian health services agency.

What creates a selfless nature, with an intent on helping others? Perhaps it starts with a childhood grounded in humility, healthy curiosity, hard work, and aloha.

Aunty Leifi

Leifi Leiolani Ha‘o (née Johansen) was born in Kapa‘ahu, Kalapana on July 4, 1939 to Bernard Johansen, a Norwegian national from Oslo, who joined the US Army to serve in World War I, and Elizabeth Waiau Waipa, a Kalapana native. Her mother descended from a lineage of la‘au lapa‘au practitioners, and was a well-regarded Kahuna La‘au Lapa‘au, or expert in Hawaiian herbal medicine. The servicemen wounded in the Pacific battles were sent to Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu. A shortage of medical supplies and staff prompted the hospital to reach out to community health practitioners. Elizabeth Waiau Waipa was requested to administer la‘au lapa‘au to these servicemen, and one of the wounded she helped heal was Bernard Johansen. Bernard and Elizabeth fell in love, married, and settled in Kalapana, raising six children.

Aunty Leifi describes her childhood on the Kalapana homestead as a simple yet abundant and sustainable lifestyle. “We raised chickens, goats, and cows; went fishing, and grew our own food. The whole family would go to Queen’s Bath to ‘au‘au [bathe].” She grew up speaking fluent Hawaiian, as did the other villagers in Kalapana. Upon graduating from Pāhoa High School in 1957 as the Lei Day Queen, Leifi entered the Miss Aloha Hawai‘i pageant. She was aware that pageants provided finishing coaches “to learn how to speak proper English, to know what to do and how to act, and to see how those other girls and ladies dressed.”

Leifi moved to Honolulu soon after her pageant experience, and was hosted by the esteemed Hiram Fong family. She danced hula in Waikīkī during the early 1960s at Sterling Mossman’s Barefoot Bar, and entertained throughout O‘ahu as a solo hula dancer and musician. As customary with many Hawaiian and kama‘aina young women, Leifi studied hula from an early age, and her Hawai‘i Island lineage included the revered Kumu Hula Rose Kuamo‘o. As a teenager, she performed with Kau‘i Brandt at Hilo’s Ocean View Lounge.

Eventually, Leifi worked at the City and County of Honolulu Parks and Recreation for more than 15 years, teaching hula, ‘ukulele, and Hawaiian language. She was also a resource instructor in the Department of Education’s Kūpuna program at Koko Head Elementary and Kaiser High School. She married her first husband and raised her family in the Hawai‘i Kai area of O‘ahu, establishing Hula Halau o Leiolani, a recreational and cultural hula school. For more than 20 years, Aunty Leifi would fly back to Hilo every weekend to minister at Kahoku Ao Malamalama, a church her mother and father (a military chaplain) founded in Keaukaha.

An ordained Kahu (minister), Aunty Leifi is often requested to perform blessings at public and private cultural events. She still loves to entertain, playing her ‘ukulele and singing, and sometimes can be coaxed to dance hula.

Uncle Louie

Louis Ha‘o was born in Kona in 1935 to Kanoa Louis Ha‘o and Mona Kaholo. His great-great-grandfather relocated to the Ka‘u/South Kona area after a big tidal wave devastated Kaimū, Kalapana. His father’s family came from a long lineage of fishermen, and his mother was from a ranching family who worked at Hine Ranch, in the uplands of Pu‘u Honuhonu. At the onset of World War II in 1942, the Ha‘o family moved to Waiākea Town, a fishing village in the Hilo area. Waiākea Town was destroyed in the tsunami of 1960.

Uncle Louis fondly recalls a happy childhood in Waiākea Town “growing up with all these trains.” He played basketball for Hilo High School and led the team to the Territorial Championship in 1953. The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa offered an athletic scholarship to Louis, from 1954–58. After receiving his sociology degree from UH at Mānoa, he worked as a recreation director for the City and County of Honolulu from 1959–65, at the Pu‘unui-Kalakaua Gym and in Waimānalo.

He wanted to attain a master’s degree, and was given the opportunity with a swim scholarship to Indiana University. Uncle Louie moved to Bloomington to attend the university, but needed to support his wife and young family. He put his schooling on hold, and took a job at the Chrysler Transmission Plant for almost three years, as well as coached basketball at the Carver Community Center, in the African American community of Kokomo. “Imagine a Hawaiian coaching basketball to black kids and adults,” quips Louie. When a series of 19 tornadoes destroyed many of the buildings in the area, he was recruited to help in the rebuilding project.

In 1971, Louis Ha‘o finally acquired not one, but two master’s degrees from Ball State University (BSU) in Muncie, Indiana. The health-focused programs at BSU encouraged his interest in human and community services—he graduated with master’s degrees in both sociology and counseling. While he had attended graduate school, he worked as the minority group counselor at the Indiana State Employment Agency. The Employment Agency reimbursed his tuition, because his education complemented his work as a counselor. Uncle Louie says of his many opportunities, that “God has blessed me in my life.”

With two master’s degrees and practical experience, he returned to Hawai‘i and “wanted to work anywhere but O‘ahu.” He saw a job posting for a human services coordinator located on Moloka‘i, and although “a day late and one of 83 applicants,” he was offered the job as coordinator of the Progressive Neighborhood Program in Kaunakakai. Louis Ha‘o went on to become parks director for the County of Maui, serving under three administrations for a total of 25 years. During his tenure with Maui County, Uncle Louie was also chairman of the board of trustees of Moloka‘i Hospital, and chair of the Moloka‘i Task Force, providing training through the State Comprehensive Employment Act and the federally-funded CETA program. He retired from the County of Maui in 1999, and was an Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) trustee for 10 years. Upon his return to Hilo, he was appointed as district manager for the Department of Hawaiian Homes, resigning in 2017.

Uncle Louie was on the Board of Directors for Hui Mālama Ola Nā ‘Ōiwi for six years before the agency asked him on as their executive director a year ago. He continues serving his East Hawai‘i and Hawai‘i Island communities by being deeply involved and committed with seven community associations. He recently spoke of his concerns about the economic and societal challenges of living in East Hawai‘i. He believes in diversified farming as a possible solution for economic stability as well as sustainability, but says, “Farming is a hard industry. Along with environmental factors, there are more incidents of agricultural theft.”

With his innate intelligence and always caring resolve, Uncle Louie states, “I’m looking at aquaculture as the next step for our agricultural industry. I think vertical farming versus horizontal farming could be the way to go.”

The Happy, Productive Couple

Leifi and Louis were aware of each other growing up, as kama‘aina and Hawaiian families were well acquainted. “Back in those days, everyone knew of each other,” remembers Uncle Louie. It wasn’t until years later, when Aunty Leifi invited Uncle Louie to the 50th anniversary of Kahoku Ao Malamalama, that they rekindled their friendship and married in 2004, second marriages for both.

The couple still lead productive and fulfilling lives by giving back to their communites, because Uncle Louie believes he was and is “blessed and connected” to those very communities they serve with aloha. These kūpuna leave incredible legacies to their ‘ohana, communities, and Hawai‘i. We, and the global community, can all benefit and learn by their examples. ❖

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For more information: HMONO.org