David Ohumukini has a habit. When his ʻohana visits Oʻahu he takes photos of his two sons – Micah Uwekalani, 12, and Aedan Olakahonua, 10 – in front of the Board of Water Supply’s headquarters, which bears the slogan: “Uwe ka lani ola ka honua,” or “When the heavens weep, the earth lives.”
It’s a Hawaiian proverb that his grandfather, Henry Ohumukini, Sr., submitted decades ago as his entry for the agency’s slogan contest – and won.
“Every time I go by there, and I see that slogan, I know that comes from my grandfather,” Ohumukini said.
And that’s not the only legacy that his kupuna left. Henry was one of the Hui Panalāʻau (group of colonists) – a group of more than 130 young men, most of whom were Kānaka ʻŌiwi, sent to five desolate Pacific islands to “occupy” them for the U.S. government from 1935 to 1942. The mission left three dead.
Fortunately, Henry returned.
Ohumukini recalls early years spent with his grandfather, who briefly lived in their household in Salt Lake City, Utah. However, once his family moved to Washington state, Ohumukini didn’t see Henry again until a later visit to Hawaiʻi.
By then, Alzheimer’s disease had taken hold of Henry’s memory. He passed away in 2000.
But Ohumukini feels his grandfather’s impact on his life to this day; he was the man who taught music to Ohumukini’s father, William Hoapili Sr., who learned guitar, bass and ʻukulele. That passion for music was passed down to Ohumukini, and, two years ago, he bought his sons their own ʻukulele.
“The music – it’s been the biggest connection for me to Hawaiʻi,” Ohumukini said.
Ohumukini, 46, was born in Salt Lake City, but Hawaiian culture was never far away. He grew up as one of six children in a blended family, with siblings from his parents’ other marriages.
Ohumukini’s father – an Oʻahu native, with ʻŌiwi, Chinese and English ancestry – met his mother, a Utahn named Lori, when he played a Hawaiian music gig at a club in the southwestern state.
Ohumukini’s uncle, Kumu Hula Maurice Keola, taught him how to dance as a boy. William and Maurice played music at lūʻau and other shows across Utah while Ohumukini danced.
Back then, his ʻohana was part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Ohumukini connected with the strong community of Polynesian Mormons. He hasn’t practiced Mormonism since his adolescence.
“Even though there were a lot of Polynesians in Utah at that time in the 80s, there was a lot of racism,” Ohumukini said. “My parents were trying to get away from that.”
When Ohumukini was in kindergarten, his family relocated to Olympia, Wash., joining his father’s sister, Gail Mililani Kittelman. Although Ohumukini continued to dance with his aunty, he felt the loss of a larger Hawaiian community.
He also dreamed of stepping foot on the ʻāina, but his family couldn’t afford the cost of travel. At 16 years old, he worked at Dairy Queen, saving money for a three-week trip to Hawaiʻi with his aunt. The next year, he went with his father, who hadn’t returned to Hawaiʻi since 1974.
The pair stayed with family on Oʻahu first, then spent time on the Hawaiʻi Island where William had spent time working on Parker Ranch. Ohumukini’s dad showed him the fences he built to enclose the horses.
Still, back on the continent, teenage Ohumukini questioned his identity, feeling like he didn’t quite fit in Washington or Hawaiʻi.
In high school, he hoped to work as a National Geographic photographer and learned how to use a darkroom. He graduated in 1997, then took a gap year before attending South Puget Sound Community College.
His full-time job took precedence, and Ohumukini didn’t finish school. His focus shifted from photography to snowboarding. Burnt out from work and academics, the 21 year old spent a year in Bellingham in northern Washington – snowboarding during the day and working at a lumber mill in the evening.
Once he returned to Olympia, Ohumukini was drawn to the family business: the construction industry. He landed a job at a land surveying company, and “I kind of fell in love with it,” Ohumukini said.
At the age of 22, he began playing ʻukulele and bass in a band, Nā ʻOhana o Polynesia, with his aunt and his father. The band played together for years. In 2005, when he was 27, Ohumukini began dating his future wife, Meghan Marie, after she attended one of their shows.
They were married in 2009 and had their first son in 2012. Their second son followed in 2014. Ohumukini embraced videography as a hobby, following his boys with a GoPro camera at their soccer games.
He tries to plan a trip with his ʻohana to Hawaiʻi every two years.
“In the big scheme of things, there’s not a lot of us (Native Hawaiians) left,” Ohumukini said, “and we want to perpetuate that culture.”
His sons are learning. Last year, one completed a school report on his great-grandfather, Henry.
Looking forward, Ohumukini plans to earn a professional land surveyor license and, one day, move from Olympia to Oʻahu.
“That will complete a part of my life,” Ohumukini said. “My people are from there. That’s where I should be.”
To learn more about Hui Panalāʻau, read an article by Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu whose grandfather was also part of Hui Panalāʻau.
