Auntie Agnes “Aggie” Kalaniho‘okaha Cope saw that some Hawaiians in Waianae were becoming sick and couldn’t afford to go to the hospital, said son Kamaki Kanahele.
That prompted Cope to help found the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center more than 40 years ago. It now has satellite clinics in Kapolei and Waipahu, Kanahele said.
Cope died Nov. 16 at the Ka Punawai Ola rehabilitation center in Kapolei. She was 91.
Cope’s contributions to the community were many: becoming a founder of the Waianae Coast Culture and Arts Society as well as the Council of Elders, and having a traditional Native Hawaiian healing center named in her honor.
“She was an extremely grounded person … always thought about the community first,” said former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who grew up on the Waianae Coast.
Hanabusa said many people who otherwise would have been unable to afford medical care have benefited from services at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.
Kanahele said that what crystallized the need for a health center occurred in the 1950s when a large group of seniors in Hawaiian communities became sick.
He said his mother, who assisted the group in seeking medical attention, looked everywhere for affordable services but was unable to find a hospital or clinic to help them. She decided that Waianae needed its own clinic and persuaded the Hawaiian Homes Commission to provide land for it, Kanahele said.
She then proceeded to raise money for it, including donations from bake sales.
“She had all kinds of fundraisers,” Kanahele said.
Hanabusa said the Waianae Coast Culture and Arts Society helped schoolteachers develop their arts programs.
Cope was born on Oahu. She was a graduate of Farrington High School, Honolulu Business College and the University of Hawaii.
She taught at Waianae and Nanaikapono elementary schools. She also was a hula dancer for her grandmother, grand hula master Lokalia Montgomery, and a traditional Native healer.
She worked with the late author John Dominis Holt to develop a collection of oral histories passed from one generation to the next about the Waianae Coast titled “Ka Poe Kahiko o Waianae: Oral Histories of the Waianae Coast of Hawaii.”
In 2009 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She was also named a “Living Treasure” by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission and honored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for her role as a grand kumu hula and Native Hawaiian traditional healer.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie proclaimed April 8, 2011, as Agnes Kalaniho‘okaha Cope Day in the state.
She is also survived by daughters Annie Kuuleilani Au Hoon and Georgiana Kekuialono Kahele, and sons Danny Haawi Kanahele and David Kalani Kanahele.
A celebration of her life will be held at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 16 at Hawaiian Memorial Park. Burial to follow services. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Dr. Agnes K. Cope Traditional Hawaiian Healing Center, 86-260 Farrington Highway, Waianae, HI 96792.
