John Arruda, 95, accepted and overcame the heavy price of Hansen’s disease to live a long, fulfilling life
John Arruda is surrounded at an annual meeting in Kalaupapa of Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, an organization of Kalaupapa residents, families and friends. (Photo by Anwei Law courtesy Valerie Monson)
By Valerie Monson
Special to the Hawaii Catholic Herald
From a bench on the old sampan idling in the bay, John Arruda stared at what was about to become his new home: the Kalaupapa peninsula. It was the summer of 1945. He was 21 years old and alone.
“You look at the cliff, the ocean — and you have no one,” Arruda recalled nearly 75 years later. “I remember thinking ‘You’ve got to take care of yourself because no one else is going to take care of you.’ Even back then, even though I was afraid and I knew what they said about Kalaupapa, I thought I was going to live a long time.”
His crystal ball turned out to be crystal clear. A few months ago, Arruda celebrated his 95th birthday and, thanks to all that taking care of himself, he looks 25 years younger. (A favorite game of his is to ask new workers or visitors how old they think he is — no one ever comes close.) Robust and good-humored, Arruda continues to live independently in his Kalaupapa home, drives his pickup anywhere he wants, lifts a visitor’s luggage with ease and still has an eye for the ladies.
“He’s more than just young at heart, it’s like his philosophy of life,” says longtime friend Twila Smith, part of a choir that has been visiting Kalaupapa since 1983. “He’s always abreast of things, he always knows who’s doing what, he stays involved in things. He’s so much fun, we all love John Arruda.”
John Arruda kneels by the restored grave of his father, John Arruda Sr., in Kalaupapa. The elder Arruda died in Kalaupapa two years before his son arrived. (Photo by Wayne Levin courtesy Valerie Monson)
After being diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, on his home island of Kauai and resisting authorities, Arruda was sent to Kalaupapa with nothing but “the cloth on my back and a small suitcase.” It was during a time “when we were told we were coming here to die,” he said.
“But I didn’t believe them.”
Arruda would go on to find love, happiness and success. He would supervise work on the Suez Canal in Egypt, sit in St. Peter’s Basilica as Father Damien de Veuster was canonized in Rome and, most importantly, get back the daughter that he and his wife had to give up at birth because of government policies that applied to people affected by leprosy.
His journey has not been easy. When he was just a boy, Arruda saw his father taken from the family home, eventually bound for Kalaupapa, for reasons he didn’t fully understand.
“When you’re young, it doesn’t stick what leprosy is and why your father is leaving,” he said. “My Dad had eight kids, he had to leave my Mom with all of us. He was broken-hearted. I remember seeing him off. They put him in a small skiff and then on a cattle boat. That’s the last I saw of my Dad.”
As the oldest boy, young John felt a need to stay strong for the sake of his mother and siblings. He grew up, trained as a welder and fell in love with a woman he planned to marry. Things were good again until he, too, began showing signs of leprosy. Like his father, he was sent to Kalihi Hospital on Oahu where the defiant spirit that would add years to his life landed him in trouble.
“I ran away,” said Arruda. “I was at Kalihi for two or three months, then I ran away. I didn’t like it there. I was sleeping on the street for a while, I went back to Kalihi and then ran away again. I took a plane to Kauai and found an abandoned house near my girlfriend. I was doing my own cooking when the police showed up. My girlfriend’s sister had reported me.”
He was arrested and jailed. His mother came to his defense.
“She went to the mayor and said, ‘My son didn’t do anything, why is he in jail? If he’s sick, help him. Don’t put him in jail.’”
Arruda was returned to Kalihi. After one night, he was ordered to Kalaupapa, the only passenger on the sampan. His girlfriend — pregnant with their son — wanted to come with him, but she had to remain behind on Kauai as did Arruda’s mother, sisters and brothers.
‘You have to accept it’
So how did John Arruda overcome losing the love of his life and his entire family? How did he not let the anger and loneliness eat him up? How did he make it to 95?
“You just have to accept what’s happened to you,” he said. “You have to accept it and move forward. That’s what I did because you have to. You do other things. You play sports, you go to church, you have your friends.”
When Arruda stepped off the sampan at the Kalaupapa pier, he went looking for the one acquaintance he remembered from Kalihi Hospital: Paul Harada, another Kauai boy. The two became roommates and, later, best friends until Paul’s death in 2008. He remains close with Paul’s wife, Winnie, and the entire Harada clan who consider him family, too.
“If you talk to any of my siblings, we would say Johnny is like family to us,” said Taka Harada, one of Paul’s brothers who lives on Maui. “He had a family relationship with Paul and Winnie. Even when he and Paul would have arguments, they were still family.”
Arruda arrived just two years after his father died at Kalaupapa. The grave was marked by a simple wooden cross that was washed out months later by the 1946 tsunami. Arruda would later remake the grave with concrete blocks and a headstone embossed with his father’s photograph. Since then, caring for the cemeteries — and thinking of all of those who came before him — has been at the forefront of his mind. When the graveyards get overgrown, it’s Arruda who sounds the alarm.
“Remembrance is what Kalaupapa is all about,” he said. “Every morning, as soon as I get out of bed, I pray for all those who were sent here, all 8,000. I hope Kalaupapa will always be this special place. The graveyards are so important to me; they need to keep up the graveyards.”
Arruda tested negative for the disease in 1957 and was allowed to leave Kalaupapa. With his skills as a welder, he was hired by Hawaiian Dredging and took jobs around the world: Egypt where he worked on the Suez Canal, Kwajalein and Midway. He came home and bought a house on Kauai. He was able to take custody of his beloved daughter, Pua, (“The happiest day of my life”) and his mother helped him raise her. Life was good again.
Just as quickly, things unraveled in 1968 when he was told he had reactivated — the disease again tested positive. Because the medicine that cured leprosy had been in use for more than 20 years, Arruda still hoped he could continue his life on Kauai. Then a state social worker told his boss he had the disease and everything fell apart.
“I loved my job, I had my friends, I couldn’t wait to go to work every day,” he said. “And then this social worker tells my boss I have leprosy. I couldn’t go back to work. Can you imagine this? How could this social worker do this to me? I was so angry.”
So, once more, John Arruda had to accept reality and try to move forward again.
Today, Arruda lives life as he pleases. He remains close to Pua and her family; he stays in contact with his son whose mother he had to leave behind in 1945. His voice continues to be clear and strong: keep up the cemeteries, remember all the people who were sent here and preserve Kalaupapa for future generations.
Sitting above the sparkling bay that was his daunting introduction to Kalaupapa so many years ago, his still-sharp eyes spot an uhu and then a small school of manini.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” he said softly. “I thank God for my life, I thank my family, my friends. I give thanks for Kalaupapa.”
Those who know him give thanks for John Arruda.
Valerie Monson is a Maui-based freelance writer who writes often about the people of Kalaupapa.
