In Loving Memory of
Adelaide "Frenchy" keanuenueokalaninuiamamao De Soto
February 4, 1929 - January21, 2011
"Grandma"
By: Laura DeSoto-McCollough (Daughter)
Don't cry for me in sadness; don't weep for me in sorrow,
for I will be beside you, today and then tomorrow.
My body has gone but my spirit lives on, as does my love for you.
Just as in life, I'll watch over you, and that I know is true.
My blood lives on in my children's children,
how I've watched them grow up with pride.
I'll live on within them and holding their hands, forever by their side.
I know I felt I could never leave you, for my job was never done,
But I can rest knowing that you'll be all right and knew that we had fun.
When times are hard, reach out if you need me, for I will always be near.
Just talk to me, as if I am there, I promise I will hear.
For I will live on, within your memory, we'll never be apart.
As long as you keep my love for you deep within your hearts.
So lift up your hearts and don't be sad, my spirit is not gone.
While you're still there...so am I, through you...I will live on.
Replies
My heart is still in mourning for Aunty Frenchy, her passing brought a lot of memories home to consciousness of the 1978 Con Con. For four years before the 78' Con Con mostly women and my mother from different Hawaiian Homesteads in the Hawaiian Islands were meeting and preparing for their childrens future. But, the politics shifted that 'wanting' of revenues from the 5(f) trust to a State Of Hawaii --Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Aunty Frenchy was ahead of her time; she realized that 'all Hawaiians' was needed before we could move forward. She was the equilibrium of Na Kanaka and their ancestral lands. Most of all she believed in the 'rule of law' and as I sat their with my eyes and ears listening to her childrens childrens and their childrens little feet-- pitter patter down the aisle...I knew the principle things were our foundation..thanks to our Na Kupuna and their actions.
The out pouring love from the Desoto family brought us back together again, lips to lips, eyes to eyes, and comforting embraces-- are what I am used to. I will always miss Aunty Frenchy's warm and soft cheeks on my lips, especially when I am aruguing with the military in Waianae's community meetings-- a staple for those of us who are actively opposing their bombing in Hawaii.
Well, I got to see Steve Morse, Glenn Kila and Clarence Delude and we talked about the old and new fronts in our lives. Unlike the beginning of the 70s movements when we had high energy and toned muscles; we are older and wiser today with high spirits, but oh, it's the body aches and pain we could all do without.
If you don't mind Aunty Frenchy I am going to have a drink (?) with an umbrella sticking out of the top of my glass tomorrow after work and wish you a happy birthday with lots of butterfly kisses from the bottom of my heart.
Okole Maluna (?)
Well, its funny how our ancestors are still with us for we converged tonight at a bar just by feelings. I met band members that played for Aunty Frenchy at her party in Makaha. We 'bottoms up' several times tonight, and it was wonderful to have other people in the bar join us. Butch Detroy from Ka'ala Farms played his harmonica with deep feelings of love. It was a lips to lips, a hug of deep compassion, and the love that we seem to all have for ourselves, our Na Kupuna and their ancestral lands.
Here is a story that was told to Kawena Pukui by her grandmother that came from her grandmother too:
The Coconut Whistle
Long ago, near the Waianae Mountains, lived a boy who could not talk. Many thoughts were in his mind. They rose up in him like water in a spring. But he could not speak them.
His grandfather sent men into the forest to make flutes for him. He learned to play these nose flutes. He played well. People stopped their work to listen to his playing. Even the wind stopped to listen.
But the boy was not happy. Thoughts still rose up in him like water in a spring. The nose flutes did not speak his thoughts.
The boy's family saw his sadness. "What can we do to help him?" they asked."
His grandmother knew. "He must have the coconut whistle that is on Kawiwi Hill," she said.
"The magic whistle?" his mother asked. "That is watched. How can we get it?"
The grandmother smiled. She knew magic.
She shook her little, blossoming tree. Two blossoms floated off. They floated ont he wind till they came to Kawiwi Hill.
The two who watched the coconut whistle saw them. They saw the blossoms floating like butterflies. "Let us catch them" they cried. They ran after the blossoms.
The blossoms floated on. They were just out of reach. They were always ahead. On and on they went. They floated to Ka'ala -- that high mountain which wears cloud leis.
After the watchers had gone a bird came to Kawiwi Hill. It was the grandmother's wise bird. It took the coconut whistle and flew home with it. Soon the magic whistle was in the boy's hands.
He blew upon it. Now all his thoughts bubbled out. The clear ntoes of the whistle spoke for the boy. He could talk with his family. He was happy.
Mount Ka'ala
Ka'ala is lovely - -
A bowl filled with shning dew.
The mist comes.
The clouds gather about the palis,
Hiding the beauty of the mountain.
I smell the sweetness of ferns.
That sweet smell is my friend,
My well-loved friend.
Dearly loved is the mountain where beauty lives.
Second poem:
Ka'ala
Beautiful to my sight
The top of Ka'ala,
The creeping of the mist,
The singing waters of the upland,
The sweet smell of the fern
Filling the forest.
Happy Birthday Aunty Frenchy, we love you
I forgot to mention the band played "Wildflower"...Ohooo...it was so sweetly sung. I didn't know the name of the band until my granddaughter looked it up for me on youtube. It was a beautiful likeness of Aunty Frenchy. I don't know how to embed or share this video.
Youtube Skylark Wildflowers