Lydia Ka‘onohiponiponiokalani Aholo, namesake and only hanai daughter of Queen Liliuokalani, was adopted as a baby from Lahaina, Maui, and raised in the royal court of Hawaii’s last reigning monarch.
Lydia Ka‘onohiponiponiokalani Aholo, namesake and only hanai daughter of Queen Liliuokalani, was adopted as a baby from Lahaina, Maui, and raised in the royal court of Hawaii’s last reigning monarch.
Lydia Aholo lived from 1878 to 1979, her lifespan encompassing 101 years of tumultuous change in the Islands. She was recorded on audiotape in 1969 at the age of 92.
Sought for decades, the long-inaccessible reel-to-reel taped recollections of Aholo finally were found in 2011 by Southern California educator and writer Dr. Sandra Bonura, who returned them to the state as a permanent contribution to Hawaiian history.
At 7 p.m. June 1 at the Lyman Museum, Bonura will share a unique audiovisual presentation that includes selections of the 1969 audio interview, photographs of 19th-century royal Hawaiian children in missionary schools, and the very first (1904) recording of “Aloha ‘Oe,” sung by Hawaiian girls under the tutelage of the queen herself.
Aholo’s voice rings out strong and clear, offering rare insights into the personal life of the queen — a living link to an era once the province of history books.
Lyman Museum showcases the natural and cultural history of Hawaii. The museum, 276 Haili St. in Hilo, is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
For information, call 935-5021 or visit www.lymanmuseum.org.