By Valerie Monson
Special to the Herald
Kalaupapa lost one of its brightest personalities recently with the death of Meli Watanuki, a pillar of St. Francis Church and a tireless worker who became a businesswoman last year, just before her 91st birthday.
Meli died at the Kalaupapa Care Home May 17 following a short illness. She lived every aspect of life to its fullest.
“Aunty had that drive, that drive that nothing is impossible in this life,” said Rosa Key, Meli’s niece and a longtime staffer for Kalaupapa National Historical Park who was always close by for her aunt’s needs. “She had that ‘never give up’ personality … you never give up; if you want something, go after it and you can get it.”
Meli’s radiant smile and joyful nature belied her younger days of struggle and pain.
Meli Tulieata was born in a small village in American Samoa in 1934. When the family fell on hard times, she had to quit school and, at age 18, was diagnosed with Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Because medicine had become available in recent years, Meli was allowed to go home a short time later.
In 1960, she got the chance to come to Hawaii. She married, gave birth to a son and was enjoying motherhood when the disease reactivated and she was admitted to Hale Mohalu in Pearl City for treatment.
Her stay was expected to be a short one and she would not need to move to Kalaupapa, but Meli’s husband was so fearful of the disease that he suddenly abandoned her, taking their son with him.
After that, Meli felt she never had a chance at a good life anywhere else but Kalaupapa.
“I would never get a job outside if they find out you used to be a patient,” she said, reflecting on the prejudice that many at Kalaupapa knew all too well.
Meli’s misfortune would have a happy ending: At Hale Mohalu, she was greeted by a friend from American Samoa, Teetai Pili, whose vibrant persona matched hers. They fell in love and were given permission to relocate to Kalaupapa in the summer of 1969 just as the old isolation laws were being abolished and new admissions to the settlement were ending.
Following their wedding at Kalaupapa, Pili became the settlement’s policeman. When he learned there was an opening for a clerk at the Kalaupapa Store, Pili encouraged Meli to apply. She was initially reluctant; she was still only learning to speak English and couldn’t read. If she got the job, how would she keep it?
“So I look at the labels and write down the names: p-e-a-s, peas. T-o-m-a-t-o, tomato, s-a-u-c-e, sauce,” she remembered during an interview. ‘‘And all the people would come in and I would listen to them talk.”
Slowly she learned. In fact, she learned so well that she earned her retirement from the Kalaupapa Store — only to return years later simply because she wanted the work.
During her time at Kalaupapa, Meli took on as many jobs as she could. In addition to her years at the store, she also doled out meat at the Kalaupapa Meathouse, greeted visitors at the Kalaupapa Bookstore and cleaned the church and yard of St. Philomena Church. Work, she said, gave her purpose, gave her energy. She never complained about heading to her job.
“If I didn’t work, I’d be bored. I wouldn’t know what to do,” she said last year from her desk at the Kalaupapa Store.
Pili died in 1981, but Meli found love again with Randall Watanuki, a worker at Kalaupapa. They married April 15, 1995, in Meli’s hometown of Ili‘ili in American Samoa. The date was chosen by Meli because it was the day of Father Damien’s death when he ascended into heaven.
One of Meli’s closest friends at Kalaupapa, Pauline Ahulau Chow, traveled with the couple to American Samoa and served as Meli’s maid of honor. Fe‘a Tauamo II, Key’s father, walked Meli down the aisle.
Barely three months later, Meli would experience one of the most momentous days of her life when she was chosen to present a scroll of prayers to Pope John Paul II during the beatification ceremonies for Father Damien de Veuster in Brussels. Typical Meli, she added a personal touch, including a package of Hawaiian salt and a $100 bill for the pope.
She and Randall were also selected to help receive the holy relic of Father Damien, the bones of his right hand wrapped in black kapa, to be returned to Kalaupapa. Years after, Meli and Randall traveled to Rome with many others for the canonizations of both St. Damien and St. Marianne (Mother Marianne Cope).
Meli’s faith and her love of community remained her bedrocks.
“I used to introduce her as Bishop Meli and I think she enjoyed that,” said Sacred Hearts Father Pat Killilea, the priest at Kalaupapa who had anointed Meli at the care home as part of his Sunday rounds after she fell ill, not realizing she was hours from death.
Until her final days, Meli attended daily Mass at Kalaupapa, worked when she could and was a leader of the Kalaupapa Lions Club, even dancing hula at the most recent annual Christmas party. She was the longtime “tail twister” of the Lions, known for her persistence in urging others to donate more cash by poking them with a long-handled kettle.
“One of these days someone’s going to konk me over the head,” she said.
Still not busy enough, Meli joined the world of business last fall when she launched the Saints Tour at Kalaupapa, working closely with Seawind Tours. It was the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak that the public was able to tour Kalaupapa again. Almost every tour sells out.
After services at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa May 29, Meli’s ashes will be returned to Kalaupapa and buried next to Pili and their dog, Oakland.
Father Killilea summed up the feelings of everyone who knew this spirited, indefatigable woman.
“What a life!”
Above: Meli Watanuki, seated with ukulele, valued friendship and fellowship as well as hard work. (Courtesy Valerie Monson)