Robert Keli‘iho‘omalu, patriarch of a proud Hawaiian family that thrived on land encircled by lava in 1990 and championed Hawaiian sovereignty, died Sunday at his home in Kalapana, surrounded by friends and family.
Keli‘iho‘omalu was 75.
"He wanted to come home (from Hilo Medical Center)," said Keli‘iho‘omalu’s son, Sam. "We put him in his bed, and he took a nice deep breath and left us. He was ready to go. It was his heart."
The name Keli‘iho‘omalu means "Prince of Peace," and "Uncle Robert" — everyone called him that — welcomed an unending stream of strangers, tourists, friends and family to his compound of homes long before lava from Kilauea Volcano surrounded his Hawaii island property and led anyone driving down Kalapana-Kapoho Road to end up right in front of his driveway.
"Everyone called him ‘Uncle Robert’ but to me he’s ‘Mr. Aloha,’" said Charles Keli‘iho‘omalu Jr., one of Keli‘iho‘omalu’s grandnephews. "It didn’t matter if someone was white, African-American, Hawaiian. In his eyes everybody was one color. To him everyone was family on the Big Island. He was so humble."
Keli‘iho‘omalu was the 13th of 14 brothers and sisters who were descended from pure Hawaiian blood. He and his late wife, Philmen — who was called "Auntie G. Girl" — raised eight sons and three daughters.
"When I was young, every weekend we had people to the house, and we’d have a good time with the beach in the front," Sam said. "All us kids would go surf while the parents were making food and playing music and drinking up a storm. It’s now gone from a small thing to a much bigger thing."
In November, 26 family members and friends were living in the compound, which now includes a weekly Uncle Robert’s Farmers Market and a permanent Uncle Robert’s Awa Bar. A couple dozen outside vendors also sell smoothies, breakfast, barbecue, jewelry and clothes and provide tours of the neighboring lava field for visitors.
Three times a week, as many as 1,200 people converge for evenings of music and hula.
"Daddy was about aloha," said his hanai daughter, Gwen Keli‘iho‘omalu. "He was about love and sharing our culture and sharing our home. Everybody was welcomed. You just come with aloha and respect the aina."
Keli‘iho‘omalu grew up in Kalapana a devout Christian but could not avoid having a relationship with Madame Pele. He said God answered his prayers when the fire goddess wiped out Kalapana but spared the Keli‘iho‘omalu compound in 1990.
"God is in control," he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in November in an interview. "He created everything, including Madame Pele, the fire goddess. I respect her."
Keli‘iho‘omalu said God "turned to Madame Pele and asked her to go back to Halemaumau where she belongs. It made me realize there is a god."
But Keli‘iho‘omalu never questioned the inevitable.
"There is a meaning for everything," he said. "You just accept what it is."
Charles Keli‘iho‘omalu said he believes Uncle Robert’s compound of six homes and several buildings was spared because of his "aloha spirit. I truly believe that’s the reason Tutu Pele passed their home. It’s because of who he is."
Keli‘iho‘omalu grew up in a family that embraced the concept of sustainability long before the term become a buzzword. He later shared the family tradition of inviting outsiders to his home, where they would share captured water, fish harvested from the sea as well as crops and livestock grown on fields of hardened lava.
"That’s how it was when Uncle Robert was raised," Charles Keli‘iho‘omalu said. "They didn’t have their own refrigerator, so they had salted fish and salted meat. Everything’s on water catchment. So, we had to shower before the sun went down if you wanted your water hot. There was no electricity. If the lava was flowing, that was the light you had, along with kerosene lanterns. Uncle carried that lifestyle on, and the kids were raised with that."
During Charles Keli‘iho‘omalu’s summer visits to Kalapana from Oahu, Auntie G. Girl would take him aside and "she would say, ‘What’s your last name? Do you know what it means?’"
"I would say, ‘Prince of Peace’ and she would say, ‘Polo lei,’ which means correct.’ Every boy who carries the Keli‘iho‘omalu name knows what it means."
Outsiders who continue to visit the Keli‘iho‘omalu home every day quickly learn the true meaning of the aloha spirit, said Clarence "Aku" Hauanio, whose mother was Uncle Robert’s oldest sister.
"He wanted to keep Kalapana Kalapana," Hauanio said. "So people who come down here see the real aloha. That’s why we’re different than any other place in the world."
Sam Keli‘iho‘omalu said he will carry on his father’s tradition of working the land and welcoming all who visit.
"It was my father’s legacy," Sam said. "I have no choice in the matter. Now it’s up to us kids to carry on that legacy he left behind."
The family is planning a three-day celebration of Uncle Robert’s life at the home, March 13 to 15. Keli‘iho‘omalu’s body will lie in repose.
"It’s going to be more like a three-day party," Sam said. "Even then we still feel like that’s not enough."
Uncle Robert will then be buried in a family plot on the lava-covered land that he loved.
