Puamana’s Mihana Aluli Souza likened the trio’s performance at Halekulani’s House Without a Key May 17 to some of the Sundays at her grandparents’ large Lahaina home — also called Puamana — when family, friends and other guests would drop by to sing, dance, talk story and eat and drink. That’s exactly what occurred at Halekulani during the Mele Mei Sunday luncheon. 

And what a story guest Bobbe Wong had to tell.

She was with Claire Lewis and said Irmgard Farden Aluli, and she were soulmates who prayed together. They went to the Feast of the Guardian Angels in the Vatican and to see Pope John Paul II in October 1985.

Colleen Alameida, Bobbe’s cousin, was with them. Bobbe had written the pope asking permission to wash his feet. Not possible, came the reply.  Then came a miracle, Bobbe said.

At the fest they had three seats on the front rail of the pope’s festival route. His jeep stopped and he got out and started walking near them. 

Irmgard screamed, “Aloha! Aloha!” and he approached them. He spent enough time with them for the paparazzi to take 14 photos of them with the pope, Bobbe said.

She added that after that miracle they went to see the Franciscan Sisters and they were allowed to wash their feet. After the Italian miracles they drove to Darmstadt, Germany, where Irmgard had made plans to visit with my wife, Brita, also known as “The Frau,” who was there on vacation. The other two gals headed for Paris …

Back to Puamana at the Halekulani: Puamana, who won a Hoku Lifetime Award May 3, is made up of Irmgard’s daughters Mihana and Aima McManus and niece Luanna McKenney.

Mihana’s daughter Mahina Souza nowadays often fills in as a member. At the group’s May 17 performance, Luanna’s husband, Peter McKenney, sang and played bass.

Seven young men and one woman from Japan got up to take a group hula lesson to “The Hukilau Song.” They were pretty good. The visitors were here to compete in the Honolulu Triathlon.

Guest Lei Morgan danced hula. She was in attendance with family members including her grandma, Bertha Chong, who was celebrating her 88th birthday, and her parents, Leimomi and Charles Morgan, and her sisters Loea and Momi Morgan.

Ann Patterson McGovern was also in the crowd. When she was a Maui girl of 20 she took hula lessons from one of the Farden girls, Emma Farden Sharpe, Irmgard’s sister. Irmgard had 12 brothers and sisters …

ONWARD: The late ship captain David “Kawika” Lyman, a beloved Honolulu waterfront pilot and character, would be happy to know that the May 21 memorial scholarship fundraiser that carries his name and drew 210 people, raised more than $52,000, a record, at a block party outside Murphy’s.

Funds raised make it possible for Hawaii’s youth to enter the maritime industry. As a pilot Kawika took some of the world’s largest ships in and out of Honolulu Harbor.

Ed Enos said Kawika was his mentor, a fellow harbor pilot he worked with for many years. Kawika, with his handlebar mustache and easy-going demeanor, was well known as “the voice of the Honolulu waterfront,” Ed said. “He was considered the local expert in all maritime affairs.”

Kawika, a Punahou grad, died in January 2006 at the age of 62 in an accident as he disembarked from a ship off Nawiliwili, Kauai, during a routine ship departure. Two weeks after his death, his ashes were scattered at sea at the Honolulu Pilot Station.

“Never before had anyone seen the size of the fleet that assembled in Honolulu Harbor in remembrance of one man,” Ed said. “The vessels paraded out, all sounding their horns simultaneously as his ashes were spread across the water. After all the boats encircled Kawika three times, they paraded back into the harbor.

Ed said Kawika was generous to a fault. “It was often said that not only would he give his shirt off his back to somebody in need, he would offer a needy person your shirt off your back, too!”

The Dave Lyman Memorial Scholarship provides approximately $2,500 to each recipient for each year they attend the California Maritime Academy, for a max of four years. The fund is run by family and friends. Donation information can be found at davelyman.com…

Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.