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Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
 Posted - 04/05/2012 : 03:56:10 AM
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Uncle Kulani was a central figure in the Hawaiʻi community in New York. I attended the '02 event where he was honored for his commitment to the NY/HI community and his lifelong contributions to promoting Hawaiʻi. I also had the honor of playing music at his "moving home to Molokai" party in '06. His "Polynesian Registry" was the pre-Internet way of helping people connect and keep in touch. His efforts were the predecessor to websites like Taropatch.net. Aloha ʻoe e ʻAnakala.
From http://www.halawai.org/news/UncleKulaniPurdy
The Hālāwai community mourns the passing of its beloved kupuna, Uncle Newton Kulani Purdy on 2/11/12.
Affectionately known as Uncle Ku, he was born in Hawai’i on October 15, 1928 and raised on Molokaʻi until the age of 9 when his mother passed away. His Grandma Lindsey and Aunty Elaine bought Ku back to Oʻahu where he was raised by Grandma until her passing in 1938. On Grandma’s passing, his Uncle Clarence & Aunty Florence Kinney welcomed Ku into their large ʻohana.
Ku joined the army in 1947 and served in such faraway places as Alaska where he met his good friend Lani Pereira and in France where he discovered Hawaiian musician expats who had been living in Paris since the 1920s. After his discharge, Ku returned to New York to be close to his family & the Hawaiian expat community. He worked for many years as a leather cutter in the garment center and subsequently with the Hawai’i Visitor Bureau’s local office.
Uncle Ku’s good-natured personality was infectious and people readily embraced him. So as the local expat population grew, Uncle Ku began collecting contact information as a way to keep everyone connected. His passion for "connecting and keeping in touch" led to his creation of the "Polynesian Registry" (way before Facebook and email). Over time, the Registry grew to include expats all along the East Coast.
We also owe Uncle a debt of gratitude for planting the seed in the late 1950s that eventually grew into the annual Hawaiian Potluck Picnic in Central Park, a tradition which continues to this day on the first Sunday of June. At each and every picnic, you would find Uncle signing folks up for his registry. Whether you were Hawaiian or just someone with an interest in Hawai’i, Ku would count you as one of his NYC ʻohana.
In 2002, the Hawai’i Cultural Foundation (HCF) honored Uncle Ku, along with Aunty Betty Makia, for his commitment to the NY/HI community and their lifelong contributions to promoting Hawai’i, its people and culture. The recognition brought Uncle to tears.
Ku was an avid photographer and collector of memorabilia. His collection of news articles, programs, and menus was the main source for HCF’s 2003 event honoring the Hotel Lexington’s Hawaiian Room Hula Maidens.
In 2006, Ku returned home to Molokaʻi but before he did, he gifted photo albums to the old-timers who had kept aloha alive in NY throughout the years.
A kind and generous man, he will be sorely missed.
Aloha ʻoe, Uncle. Mai poina ʻole.
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hwnmusiclives
`Olu`olu
USA
580 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2012 : 07:09:10 AM
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Kulani Purdy... He was one of the first people to visit me in the hospital when I was born, and he is one of the primary reasons I was accepted into the local community of Hawaiians and Hawaiians-at-hearts.
I was cleaning out the basement last weekend and found several of my old copies of the "Polynesian Registry." Only after this - somewhat ironically, but apropos - did Claudia inform me that he had passed away. (Was I meant to find these? Spirtually speaking, that is certainly the Hawaiian way, isn't it?) Uncle published these semi-regularly - whenever there were updates worthy of sharing - and through it tried to foster not just personal relationships, but also promote business relationships among the local Polynesians. (Need a lawyer? Why not our friend and local UH grad?...) Because it was canonical and not real time like taropatch.net, some editions of the Registry could span 100 pages or more. Uncle Ku personally typed the entries (this was before computers and word processing) and arranged/laid out the business sections of this publication, did the photocopying, the stuffing, and the mailing - all on donations, which were usually insufficient, and the rest naturally out of his own pocket.
He was our (and this analogy is not intended to offend, truly) George Naope - a spritual figurehead for local Hawaiians and a reminder of old ways and all that it meant to be truly Hawaiian. Even in his advanced years, Kulani would travel as far as Washington, D.C. for any and every special event to be with those who loved Hawaiian culture. And, like Uncle George, Uncle Ku was one kolohe buggah to boot.
As you can probably tell by the name, he is related to the famous Purdy clan. He would regale us with stories of Auntie Harriet Purdy, famous as a jockey on the diving horses at historic Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ. And this made him second cousin to our beloved Sonny Chillingworth.
I loved him, and I will always love him. He gave me the first opportunities that led to even greater opportunities the likes of which I could never have imagined. If you had Kulani's stamp of approval, that was better than gold.
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Uncle Newton Kulani Purdy
