QUESTION: I read your column about the old Maluhia Cemetery in Kalihi and was wondering who owns and maintains the small cemetery next to Maemae Elementary School in Nuuanu. My husband’s ancestors are buried there, but we do not know who maintains or has records of this cemetery.
ANSWER: Maemae Chapel Cemetery is under the care of Kaumakapili Church in Palama and has been since the mid-1800s.
“That graveyard historically welcomed people who were living in the Puunui area (of Liliha),” explained Zena Fernandez, whose grandparents are among the former residents buried there. Fernandez says she knows “a lot about” the history of the graveyard because she attended services at Maemae Chapel there until the fragile 62-year-old wooden structure collapsed in gusty winds in May 2000.
In a story about the chapel’s unexpected collapse, Star-Bulletin reporter Mary Adamski cited Kaumakapili Church records as showing the first Maemae Chapel was built in 1863. It was replaced by a second in 1890, then the third and last one in the late 1930s.
Kaumakapili was a “mother church” for smaller churches such as Maemae, Fernandez said. Kaumakapili originally was built at Smith and Beretania streets.
Initially, plans were to rebuild the chapel, with students at Maemae School and others involved in fundraising, Fernandez said. But those plans were scrapped, and the donations went toward the cemetery’s upkeep.
Today, orange fencing surrounds the former chapel site amidst the gravestones.
When we remarked about how well maintained the cemetery is, Buddy Maunakea, Kaumakapili’s building supervisor, said about eight to 10 inmates from the Women’s Community Correctional Facility in Kailua come out twice a month, cleaning Maemae and Pauoa cemeteries, then “we feed them lunch” at the church.
Kaumakapili also maintains Pauoa Hawaiian Cemetery adjacent to Kawaiaha‘o Church’s Hook Chu Cemetery. The Rev. Abraham Akaka, a longtime pastor of Kawaiaha‘o, is buried there.
On the Find a Grave website — is.gd/TXyRZG — the names of 64 people are listed for Maemae. But Fernandez said there are “more than that” buried there, although the exact number is not known.
Some families have said “they know there are family in the ground, but there are no headstones” to indicate who or how many, Maunakea noted. The church has a topographical map of the cemetery, but it only shows what’s above ground, such as headstones, he said.
While people can contact the church to find information about who’s buried there, there might not be anything official to give.
“Over the years, (families) have tried to give us what they know, what they remember” about the burials, Maunakea said, but “we can’t really verify it.”
Maemae is no longer a state-permitted active burial site, although family members of those buried there may be allowed to scatter ashes or add a headstone to a family plot, he said.
Mahalo
To Economy Appliance. During a recent storm we lost power in our home, which caused our refrigerator to stop working. I called around and got Economy to send a mechanic, who confirmed that a faulty electrical current caused an electronic component to fry. He couldn’t get the part that day, came back the next day and installed a new circuit board, only to have it also burn out. They weren’t able to get the refrigerator operating, but after all their efforts, I was given a bill for only $40! I didn’t think I’d see that type of old-style service again. P.S. Hawaiian Electric Co. has since informed us that the damage to our refrigerator is compensable. — Kenny Goldblatt
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