Pau Hana Years.

A new day for older Americans.

A time for living your host, Bob Barker.

Bob Barker: Hi, and welcome to the program for and   by the senior citizens of Hawaiʻi.

Today, on Pau  Hana Years, we're saluting a long-time friend of   the program who has just retired.

Eleanor Heavey.

(Singing) On the shores of Maui isle there’s a   place called Keʻanae.

It was there we stayed a  while.

We enjoyed Hawaiian life.

In the quietness,   the peacefulness of Keʻanae.

Mai ka mauna a ke  kai, ku a pua ka ʻawapuhi.

kai wili ʻia e ka ua e   kani mai nā leo mele.

I ka maluhia ka ʻoluʻolu ʻo  Keʻanae.

Mai kuahiwi wehiwehi ka he mai ke kahakai   o ke ao i ka ʻo mai.

E like me ke kamaʻaina  i ka maluhia ka ʻoluʻolu ʻo Keʻanae.

In   this land where taro grows, like the days of long  ago.

The kupa o kaʻaina know that this life will   all soon go with the quietness, the peacefulness  of Keʻanae.

A hāʻina oh in the quietness,   the peacefulness, of the peacefulness of  Keʻanae a Hāʻina kuʻu mele eia mai i koʻu   manaʻo no ka poʻe o Keʻanae e ola mau ʻōukou  piha me ka hauʻoli ka ʻolu ʻolu o Keʻanae.

And before my mele ends let me add another line  to all the folks in Keʻane that your life will   always be filled with happiness,  the peacefulness of Keʻanae.

Aloha   ka no hoʻana ma Keʻanae.

BB: Keʻanae.

Eleanor, come and have a chair.

Eleanor Heavey: Thank you, Barker.

BB: You've helped us on so many   programs featuring retired folks, and  now you've gone and done it yourself.

EH: Yeah, about time.

BB: Would you introduce your friends for us?

EH: It's a pleasure.

Here, our only male  is Charlie Chu.

And next to Charlie is Aina   Keawe.

Next to Aina Keawe is Mealiʻi Kalama.

And your royal highness that is standing   right there is Adeline Lee, wonderful booklet.

BB: Eleanor, you've been working with senior   citizen clubs now for how many years?

EH: I put in five years of part-time,   altogether, adding it all up, gave me 23 years.

BB: But before that, you worked with the Park   Department in other capacities, did  you, I mean, or with other groups?

EH: Oh, yes, we started off.

I started over at  Mother Waldrens, with boys and girls of that area,  BB: Oh, youngsters, hmm?

EH: Yes, and senior citizens was just   brought into the islands about 10 years ago.

Time  is flying so fast.

And about 10 years and then   we had senior citizens popping all over the, at  first, the island people didn't quite grasp this   senior citizen movement, but now it is a thing.

BB: Now, you were working with the youngsters,   and then suddenly you changed to the elderly.

What  was, was there something in this decision?

Was it   your own decision?

EH: No.

BB: Or did they ask you to?

EH: No, I didn't expect it.

I was in Kailua,   and of course, there's a small group of 125 to 150  and I was the advisor of that group.

And even at   that, I didn't quite grasp senior citizen,  then.

They played cards, so that was fine,   and if they wanted any advice, I gave it to them.

But it was when I came over to Makuali'i, when the   whole impact of senior citizen dawned on me.

BB: Well now, Eleanor, we have so much to   talk about, and yet I want to hear as many of  your songs that you've written as possible.

The first one, Ke'anae, what was that about?

EH: Aina Keawe there and her brother and and   few other that I've forgotten about, uh, five of  us; We took a vacation on Maui.

And she had a very   good friend, Mr. Mānoa, that lived in Keʻanae.

And  there's no hotels there.

There's little shacks and   homestead places there.

And we arrived there  in the evening, and the ginger blossoms were   in bloom.

From the mountain to the sea.

They  looked like little angels all over the place,   from the mountain to the sea, and we stayed in  this little, it was an ex-Army shack, and it was   joy.

And I loved everything about it.

Loved the  host, Mr. Mānoa, and in a short while I sat there,   I felt the whole thing.

And the thing is Barker  that the people of Keʻanae, whenever they see me,   they think I'm from how from Maui from Keʻanae.

And no, that was my first visit, and says, Well,   how come you, a malihini, can express our feeling?

BB: In that song.

EH: You know?

Well, I felt it.

I enjoyed it and I felt it.

BB: Well, now let's have another of  your compositions.

What will it be?

EH: How would you like to hear, Nani Waimanalo?

BB: Very good, Nani Waimanalo.

(Singing in Hawaiian) BB:   Nani Waimanalo.

Eleanor, you were  born, or rather you live in Waimanalo,   don't you?

EH: For 28 years.

BB: But, where were you born?

EH: I was born in Kakaʻako.

That   is gradually fading away.

BB: There really is not   much of Kakaʻako left is there?

EH: No, no, all industrial district now,  BB: Yeah, yeah.

EH: And there were quite a lot of   people living there.

Oh, for long, long time.

BB: What was your childhood like?

Was it a fun time?

EH: To me, it was fun,   although mama had a bad time with me.

BB: You mean, you were a rascal?

EH: I think I always was, well, rascal, BB: You're still a rascal.

EH: Still rascal.

She said, don't go swimming,  don't go surfing and I was down there.

So that was   my life.

I lived right close to the ocean.

BB: So you did a lot of that?

EH: I did a lot of that.

Fishing,  which is one of my favorites pastime,   catching opae, catching limu.

BB: What was Kakaʻako and Honolulu   like then?

Certainly far different than now.

EH: Oh, yes, definitely.

We had all homes there   and we had uh, Japanese lived in Japanese  camps.

The Chinese were the merchants.

They owned the bakeries and the butchers and the  Portuguese were landowners actually in Kakaʻako.

And the Hawaiians, well, took it for granted  that they could live anywhere.

It was really   under the Bishop Estate.

Most of that place up  there in Kakaʻako was under the Bishop Estate,   and so we lived there.

Oh, it was, it's such  a long story, and it's a beautiful story,   and we mixed.

It was rough.

They said it was  rough district, but I didn't see too much of that.

BB: Did you have brothers and sisters?

EH: I have two brothers and eight sisters,  BB: Eight sisters!

EH: We lost two   brothers.

Otherwise we would have  had four brothers and eight sisters.

BB: You didn't lonely then, did you?

EH: It's impossible to be lonely.

You don't even have your own privacy.

BB: What were the schools like then?

EH: We had Pohukaina School there, and long after  that, we had, they started an opportunity school   for kids who didn't was not able to read and  write that came long after.

I finished Pohukaina   I went over to Royal I spent three months in  McKinley and dropped out, and from there on,   I just picked up whatever I could learn.

With  plenty kids you just can't continue school.

You just, it was either you eat or you don't.

So  we dropped school.

I dropped out of school.

The   rest of my family continued, finished high  school and but I never stopped learning.

BB: Were you the oldest?

EH: I'm the number one.

BB: You're the number one.

EH: And my Hawaiian name is Nahiapo,   which means number one.

BB: Oh it does, Oh, I see.

EH: Named after my grandmother.

BB: Well, now how about another   number for us?

I see you have the auto  harp.

You play the piano, the autoharp...  EH: ...autoharp, ʻukulele, anything I can.

Oh, I  love all kinds of instruments, and I try to play   them, not perfectly, but I'm able to manage it.

Now with the autoharp, this next number that's   coming up is called Puanani.

Most of the songs  that I have composed were made for children,   and this one is also for children.

BB: Child songs.

EH: And Aina Keawe here, who was in charge  of the junior nature science department, we,   every now and then she'd say, hey come  on, help me out with this, with this,   with us, with a number that connects with  this project, then I would whip it up.

BB:I see.

So now we're going to  have Puanani on the autoharp.

(Singing) Puanani, puanani blooming  in my garden in the morning and in   the evening puanani pleases me.

They're always lovely to see.

(Puanani,   puanani).... BB: Oh,   that's a beautiful song.

Beautiful.

Eleanor,  you mentioned dropping out of school early.

What kind of I presume you went to work.

You  dropped out of school to go to work.

Was that it?

EH: Yes, yes.

BB: To earn money.

What kind of jobs did you get into then?

EH: Oh, Barker, Hawaiian Pine was looking   for night workers.

I was only 13 years old, and  they were sending out recruiters.

So I lied about   my age.

I was only 13, and I got the job.

Well, 13  is still growing up.

I thought I was a big girl.

BB: Oh, sure.

EH: And the second night,   I couldn't open my eyes, but I stayed on for a  whole month, and got a whole month wages.

That,   this recruiter got a bonus for it, whoever  she picks up and will stick out for a month   gets a bonus.

Well, I didn't know this, and the  land lady—foreladies those days were very kind,   and they would send us upstairs to the dressing  room to rest for about 10/15 minutes and lots   of 13 year old kids were working.

Then,  by the time they found out that I was 13,   I had earned one month of wages, which was  pretty good.

And Mama was always happy when we   brought in money and to look after all the kids.

BB: So did they have to let you go?

Then when they   found out you were 13?

EH: Oh yeah.

BB: After one month?

EH: Oh yeah.

But half of the time I was   going upstairs to sleep, and I didn't feel like  I was cheating, (laughs) and they paid us off,   all in silver dollars.

BB: Oh, silver dollars.

EH: Silver dollars.

You don't see that anymore.

BB: That feels like more than a   paper dollar, doesn't it, EH: Right.

And then I worked there for off   and on.

When I was 19, I got married and raised  my kids, and then we, I had to earn some money and   went back to the Hawaiian Pine, got my job back,  got to be a forelady, and enjoyed every bit of it.

BB: How many children did you have?

EH: Two girls and a boy.

BB: Two girls and a boy.

EH: And I have six grandchildren,   two boys and four girls.

For a while we  thought we weren't going to have boys?

Then   two boys arrived, and they're the rascals.

BB: Well, now you've done quite a bit of   entertaining.

You entertained  professionally too, didn't you?

EH: At one time, I was doing comic hula,  almost the same time with Hilo Hattie.

BB: Oh, you were?

EH: Yes, and they   always called me the poor man's Hilo Hattie.

BB: When, when World War Two came along, then you   went into a different kind of work, didn't you?

EH: Yes I took a vacation from the Hawaiian   Pineapple Company, and then all of a sudden they  start bombing on the island.

I said I wasn't   going back to Hawaiian Pine, because all the gas  companies were right around the Hawaiian Pine,   you know, all kind of imagination that the whole  thing was going to go up.

And about three months   when things began to cool down, they were calling  in workers, and I went in and I took aviation   mechanic, they were paying us 79 cents an hour  just to learn.

And that was good money those days,   because even as a forelady, I was only earning  34/35 cents an hour at a Hawaiian Pine so when   the war came on and things cooled down.

Everything  kind of came back to normal, not exactly.

It was a   horrible time.

Hawaiʻi was just a new country, a  new island.

Everything was new.

I don't think the   people in the mainland realized this.

Oh, and by  the way, I went to Japan and I met this fellow,   very, very nice Christian fellow.

And he was  surprised to know that we were going through   this rationing and and blackouts and all that,  because they were going through the same thing.

And I said, Oh yes, we went through all of these  things.

And so I took a job as as a apprentice,   an apprentice at the this was right over, right  close where this college is going on now, right?

BB: Well, as a mechanic, as an aviation mechanic?

EH: Aviation.

and when I say...  BB: What did you do?

EH: Yeah, when I say aviation   mechanic, everybody has the idea I'm going  to fix the whole engine, but no such thing.

BB: Yes, build a plane.

EH: Right, that you have   that picture, but it isn't, it's little parts  of the engine.

It's celluloids, fuel pumps,   carburetors and the spark plug girls  were considered the lowest in our outfit.

BB: Oh the spark plugs, the spark plug girls.

EH: We were the fuel pump.

Yeah, um, lots of the,   Mr. Wright, who was one of my foemen at Ford  Island.

He is still here.

He lives, in fact,   I see him at the Elks club every now and then, and  we always laugh about it.

We had about 15 kids.

Each island sent in about three, three boys  and another Korean girl and I were the only,   no three, another Hawaiian girl, were the only  girls that were learning to be aviation and uh...  BB: Now this was a pretty... EH: A mechanic.

BB: ...scary time in Hawai'i, wasn't it?

EH: Very frightening.

BB: Did you have any personal  experiences at this time?

EH: No, all we did.

Every one of us stayed in  our homes at sundown.

Everything was blacked out,   and everybody was suspicious of everybody else  in the neighborhood.

You didn't dare walk out.

And it was always funny how you never noticed  it before that it was just pitch black.

Just   pitch black.

You couldn't see five feet ahead  of you, so any moving object would be clubbed,   clubbed to death.

So we stayed indoors, and  then about three months, four months after that,   was let a little easier for us.

We used blue  lights on our headlights that we were permitted   to travel on the road with blue lights, and you  can hardly see with blue lights.

Then later on,   they changed it to a little lighter one.

And then  I worked on Ford Island for two years going back   and forth on the ferry.

And later I loafed,  I bought bonds, about $5,000 worth of bonds.

BB: While you were doing war work?

EH: While I was doing war work.

And then   I loafed for a whole year.

Entertaining here and  there, and loafed on my 5000.

And then after that,   I saw an ad in a paper where it says recreation  leader wanted part time.

I said, Well, this is it,   probably so I went to get it, and I didn't take  it seriously at the time, but when I saw the   children in Kakaʻako coming in and needing  a leader, immediately I made up my mind,   which took about six months before I realized  that really a leader was needed in Kakaʻako,   and from that time on, I turned  I'd either be a leader or get   out of it and had a joyful time.

BB: That's when you joined the   City Parks Department, Recreation Program.

EH: Right, from that time on, I stayed on   and was never sorry from one job to another.

BB: Well, Eleanor, there's much more to talk   about, and I want to hear more songs, but our  time is running out.

Would you come back in a   month for another session?

EH: Beautiful.

BB: Wonderful.

Okay, now, before we close  today, we want to see you do a hula.

EH: Yes!

BB: What will you do?

EH: My favorite is Ānuenue or The Rainbow.

BB: That's your composition, also?

EH: That's my composition.

Every one of the songs  we're singing this morning are my compositions.

BB: All right.

EH: And I hope everybody loves...listen to them.

BB: Eleanor Heavey dancing, Ānuenue.

EH: All right.

(Singing) Ānuenue kau maʻi i luna way way  up high.

I see the colors of many pretty   flowers just like the lei I will weave just  for you.

I see the rainbow behind the rain   touching the tassles of sugar cane.

I see the  archway that leads to somewhere.

I see the beauty   that was made just for me.

I see the rainbow  over Koʻolau range painting the ridges with   purple and green.

I see the mystery that I've  been seeking.

I found it here on Hawaiʻi's golden   shore.

Ānuenue kau maʻi i luna a he nani a he nani  ke i keʻaku Ānuenue kau maʻi i luna a he nani a no   kuʻu ʻāina, a he nani a no kuʻu ʻāina.

BB:   Lovely, lovely.

Eleanor, thanks so much, and  we'll see you in a month.

This is Bob Barker   leaving you with this thought: To be of service is  a solid foundation for contentment in this world.

Deep in December, it's nice to remember, although  you know the Snow will follow.

Deep in December,   it's nice to remember without a hurt, the heart  is hollow.

Deep in December, It's nice to remember   the fire of September that made us mellow.

Deep  in December, it's nice to remember and follow.