There are nearly 50 words in the English language that mean "generous." At least according to Roget’s Thesaurus.

Those only begin to describe the giving spirit of Rose Kalama Lum. "Aunty Rosie" has touched generations of water sports athletes, by doing, by coaching, by sharing her love of the ocean and all its gifts.

Lum will be honored at Sunday’s 28th Duke Kahanamoku Challenge as a water sports legend, along with Ralph Goto, City & County Administrator of the Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services, and Edie Van Geison, matriarch of the Leeward paddling community for more than five decades. The recognition is bestowed annually by the Waikiki Community Center on those who perpetuate the legacy of Native Hawaiian canoe paddling and water safety.

It’s an honor that humbles Lum, one she has turned down a number of times. Jeff Apaka, WCC’s director of community relations and event founder, finally wore her down with his persistence and insistence.

Lum has coached the Kamehameha Schools’ paddling and kayaking crews for years. She and the late Kala Kukea — Lum’s date for their senior prom at Kamehameha — were hired in 1981 as the first coaches, he for the boys program, she for the girls.

"We were excited just to be interviewed by (athletic director) Cal Chai," said Lum, who retired last year. "Then he said we were going to get $300 for the season. We said, ‘Wow, how lucky are we?’ Because we didn’t know it was a paid position.

"We all grow up learning from different people and hopefully we put together all the good things we’ve learned to pass on. Either people liked how you coached or they didn’t. You never know until one day when someone comes up and tells you they loved paddling for you. That is the reward."

Lum said it was a gift to coach her three children — Mike, Michelle and Mahealani — as well as the oldest of her seven grandchildren while at Kamehameha. They are just four of the hundreds of paddlers she has helped coach, not only at Kamehameha but at canoe clubs such as Healani, Anuenue and Hui Lanakila.

She also was part of the first women’s crossing of the Ka‘iwi Channel in 1975, which provided inspiration for the inaugural Na Wahine O Ke Kai in 1979.

"That was an experience," she said. "When you think back on that, we didn’t have all the advancements they have now. The paddles didn’t have T-tops, they were long and very heavy. I don’t know if the women now could do it with what we had. But I don’t know if we would have gone with the conditions they had last year.

"Everything has its own time."

Lum said she would have enjoyed the opportunities that female paddlers and surfers now have but not at the expense of what she had growing up in a simpler Hawaii. She was — and still is — a water baby.

"My parents used to take us to the beach all the time," Lum said. "We literally lived at the Natatorium and Sans Souci Beach.

"We had a wonderful time growing up. My brother and sister and I all ended up doing different things but we all shared our love for the ocean and love of our culture. It’s who we are."

Brother George "Boogie" Kalama, who died in 2011, was a crew member on Hokulei‘a’s first voyage to Tahiti in 1976. Sister Leina‘ala Kalama Heine is a renowned kumu hula and dancer.

"If you don’t share your knowledge, what you’ve learned, it goes nowhere," Lum said. "It’s the gift you’re supposed to give to the next generations.

"What I’ve enjoyed with the growth of paddling is how the entire family, the kids through grandma and grandpa, can share that together, even on the same day (at regattas). We’re surrounded by this wonderful ocean. We have to play in it. It’s a gift to us, one to be shared."

One word for "generous" in Hawaiian is "pu‘uwai aloha" (loving heart). That has been the definition for Lum’s life.