Dear Madison,I met your Mommy, Andree Pu'u Rice, on a bright sunny day. What I remember about her was her smile, as big and bright as the Hawaiian sunshine. Her bubbly personality and never ending positive attitude made her loved by everyone.
There was something that drew us together - two insecure Freshman, not sure how to navigate the new waters of High School. She approached me first, saying 'Hello' and talking about her dog Mickey, and that was it (I had pictures of my dog Oni on my folder) . . . Andree Pu'u and I were destined to be the best of friends.
She was always talking about the cutest boy in homeroom or her teacher who used to ride his 10-speed bike to school (back then it wasn't the craze it is now). I'm embarrassed to admit that we made a pact that in Junior and Senior year, that we would meet as many boys as possible and get to as many proms as we could.
Needless to say, Andree was in first place. She taught me how to approach boys with a sense of confidence, yet quiet shyness. If Andree liked boys, well she loved dogs more. I pitied the boy who treated Mickey like he wasn't the king of her life.
We coordinated our schedules and shared lunch period. We didn't realize that all the Senior boys seemed to hold lunch during that same time and we had to walk past the Senior table every day. I squirmed and fretted about the walk past this table. Not Andree, "Come on, Noe, it's no big deal". So I got over it and sat down to eat.
Did I say Eat?!
Boy, could that girl eat!
At our cafeteria, you had unlimited plate lunch, hamburgers, fries, pizza.
She ate them all.
Everday.
Going back for seconds.
and thirds.
Then we walked out past the Senior boys again.
After I passed my driving test and received my license, I started driving Andree to school. I had a little blue volkswagon beettle and I would drive up to her house and honk the horn. She would wave from her bedroom window, run out of her house slamming the screen door, and slide into the front seat. She always, always, had to stop to pick a plumeria flower for her hair on the way to school. If we were late, if we were early, she always needed a flower. I guess this was her way of matching God's sunshine and her sunny smile - - with a beautiful flower in her hair. It is a Hawaiian tradition to wear a flower over your left ear if you are "spoken for" and over the right ear if you are available. She always wore it over her right ear. Yet as I recall, she almost always had a boyfriend.
Andree and I always had a camera and we always were in front of it. We were "camera happy" as our other friends would say. As I open my year book and look at the index, there are a couple of page numbers next to class mates' names here and there. But next to Andree and I, well, let's just say we had listings: at lunch (next to the Senior boys), in front of the School store, in English class, next to the gym, doing hula, in French Class, in the bathroom next to French class . . . Go ahead Mads, open up one of your Mommy's year books and you will be surprised. And of course, there was always the flower.
At The Kamehameha Schools, music is in our DNA. Princess Liliuokalani wrote many Hawaiian songs that we learned in our culture classes. Every fall we went down to the mausoleum to pay our respects to our founder, Princess Pauahi Bishop and we sang compositions by many other great Hawaiian song writers. Every year the school held an annual Song Contest. Andree loved to sing the songs, she sang every song, belting out every note and accentuating every syllable. During our Senior year we won the annual Song Contest. There was a reporter from the Honolulu Star Bulletin. He caught us front and center as we celebrated the win, and posted us on the front page of the news paper. We couldn't have been happier - we had achieved picture nirvana.
Andree worked as a hula dancer/lei greeter at the pier meeting the tourists and military. I went up there several times to see her dance. She was beautiful, graceful, of course the sailors loved her, and the elder tourists all wanted to adopt her. Yes that is Aunti NeNe - this was a family affair.
My family took a trip to Banff Canada during Christmas of our Senior year and Andree's family agreed to let her spend the holiday with us. I'm sure it was a tough decision because Andree's spirit was a star that shone throughout our Holiday event. We skied, skated, and cut down our own live Christmas tree - all for the first time.
The awe and wonder we experienced was overwhelming, our first Christmas away from Hawaii. On Christmas Eve, we bundled up and went to St. Stephen's chapel for candle light mass. The church was old with massive bricks - and very cold. The choir members walked in on the balcony of the chapel dressed in Medieval Gowns with their hoods up and their hands held in prayer. They were singing a song in French and
Éveille-toi, bergère
L'Enfant Jésus est né
Il descend sur la terre
En ce jour fortuné!
Jéesus, Jésus
L'Enfant Jésus est né
Jésus, Jésus
L'Enfant Jésus est né.
Wake up Shepherdess
Jesus the child is born.
He decends to this earth
On this fortunate day!
Jesus, Jesus
The Child Jesus is born.
Jesus, Jesus,
The Child Jesus is born.
If you want to listen to it - here is the link online:
Years went by and I heard about this "new guy" and I realized that she had met her soul mate. The letters, emails, visits were always about this man who was transforming her life. This man was your Papa. He was an inspiration to her. She loved him with all her heart and this love permeated her entire soul.
Many people don't know that Andree's middle name "Manu" means bird in English and her maiden name "Pu'u" means hilltop.
So my dear Miss Madison Noelani, I look up to the hill near my house every day and I see a bird soaring above the hilltop. This is Andree Manu Pu'u Rice belting out the songs that inspired her life with a smile like the sunshine and a flower in her ear, up in the Heavens with her Angels. I will always be there for you to remember your Mommy and share with you all that she meant to me and to others.
Your Friend for the Rest of My Life,
Noelani
8 comments:
Noe,
Thanks for sharing that post; you two were indeed, the best of friends. I was surprised to see the pictures you posted of her, because I recently viewed most of them in my own photo album! I was also fortunate to have Andree as a friend. She was always smiling, positive thinking, and filled with so much fun and laughter. I should have kept in better contact through the years. However, I was lucky enough to see her and Bob at a get together with KS classmates this past July. I am a better person for knowing her. I'm sure that you, and countless others feel the same.
God bless and take care.
Vance
Aloha Noe,
Julie Murakami (Jones) here.... Wow! That was beautiful. Thanks for sharing that. I'm sure Madison will love reading that about her Mom....especially as time passes and the horrible sadness of this great loss starts to become a little more bearable. It will never go away, like our LOVE and ALOHA for Andree, but I wish peace for Madison and Bob. That their hearts can start to mend, but not forget. I too have some of the same photos of Andree. She is such a bright light in the lives of others. Like Vance, I too feel like a better person for knowing her. Again, thanks for sharing.
Aloha,
Julie
Noelani,
Thank you for sharing your memories of Andree. I still have some of these pictures. Her beautiful soul is alive in your thoughts and the photographs. I feel so fortunate to have had her as my friend. I wish you all the best. God bless.
Joe Costello
Noelani,
I have only known An for 4 years and feel like it's been a lifetime. She is an amazing woman that is truly and greatly missed. Thank you for sharing her with Mads and us!
Jeannette
Noelani,
Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us. I know it will be a treasure for Madison one day. I have often wondered how Andree "became" Andree, and reading this shows me that she was truly born with an Aloha spirit. I associate Andree with everything Hawaiian, and everything sunny, happy, determined, brave, optimistic, faithful, and hopeful.
She was my 1st grade teacher. I was in her last class. She was a good teacher and she was really nice and fun. She taught us some things in Hawaiian. She still wore a flower every single day. She gave me a hug every morning when I came in the door and every afternoon at the end of the day when I left. She sang all the time in my class. And she used to bring her dog, Kaimana, when we were good in class. She was the best teacher I ever had.
Ian T.P.
This is Madison. I don't know if you are still using this website and will see this, but I just discovered this for the first time and it brought tears to my eyes. I loved every part of it, thank you so much for this.
Hi Madison, I am so glad you posted this. I haven't been back to this page for some time. I re-read it with new eyes and I also teared up. She was an angel - she still is. I hope that we can see each and look at the binder that I've kept all these years. Please email me at noelani.mcgadden@gmail.com and we'll try to connect.
I love you.
- Noelani
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