Entertainer helped promote Hawaiian language, culture

Napua Stevens was known for her singing, dancing, writing and Hawaiian-language expertise. She also was a fixture on island television for several decades. This month we look back on Stevens.

Harriet Daisy Kawaiala Kao‘ionapuapi‘ilani Stevens was born Aug. 31, 1918, in Hawi on the Big Island. The name she became known by, Napua, was a shortened version of Kao‘ionapuapi‘ilani.

Stevens came from Scottish and Hawaiian ancestry and became acquainted with Hawaiian language through her grandmother, who did not allow English to be spoken in the house. “She demanded that we use the native tongue and that we put into practice the island customs,” said Stevens in a 1971 Honolulu Advertiser interview.

She began entertaining and dancing hula when she was just 11 years old and performed at the Volcano House on the Big Island. “I was trained in ancient Hawaiian dances and rituals. Mother insisted that it be done. My father said I must learn modern dance, ballet, tap,” said Stevens in the 1971 interview.

After graduating from Hilo High School in 1936, Stevens moved to Honolulu and became a headline vocalist with the Gigi Royce Orchestra at the Alexander Young Hotel roof garden for several years.

In 1940 she married Honolulu police officer Gordon Poire, and they settled in Kaneohe, where Stevens worked as a substitute teacher in pubic schools. They would have two sons and a daughter together.

In 1948 Stevens began her long association with the Aloha Week festivities as one of the original members of the planning committee. She produced the first Aloha Week hula pageant at Kapiolani Park.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, she recorded several songs for Bell Records: “Beyond the Reef,” “Hawaiian Hospitality” and “I Want to Speak Hawaiian.” “Beyond the Reef” would be covered by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Marty Robbins and Andy Williams during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1950 Stevens ran unsuccessfully for the constitutional convention and was appointed in 1951 as a Lunalilo Home trustee, a role in which she would serve for nearly 40 years until her death.

In 1957 Stevens’ husband died while she was in Canada touring with other Hawaiian entertainers.

Stevens in June 1957 took over for Milli Riba as host of a cooking show that aired on KGMB on weekday afternoons. The popular show would later be called “Napua’s Kitchen,” and it ran for eight seasons on the station. She also had her own radio show on KTRG at this time.

Stevens wrote an etiquette, food and fashion column for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin during the early 1960s. In 1964 she became director of guest activities at the new Ilikai Hotel and held the post until 1970. She served as a member of the state’s crime commission, and in the late 1960s she served on the committee that selected the site for the state Capitol.

Over the years, Stevens became a well-respected expert on all things Hawaiian and lectured on Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii. She authored a how-to book, “The Hawaiian Quilt,” in 1971.

During the 1970s Stevens took positions as director of guest activities and social director at the Ala Moana and Prince Kuhio hotels. She also appeared on two episodes of “Hawaii Five-O.”

Throughout the 1970s and into the ’80s, Stevens co-hosted the King Kamehameha parade on KITV. She was also a former pa‘u queen and grand marshal of the King Kamehameha parade.

Stevens suffered a stroke during the first week of 1990 and died Jan. 7, 1990, at the age of 71.

Rain poured down on the crowd of more than 1,000 mourners at Stevens’ memorial services at Diamond Head Mortuary on Jan. 19. At the time, Stevens’ daughter, the late R.M. Keahi Allen, noted the legend that when an alii dies the heavens weep and cover the land with rain.

For Stevens’ contributions to Hawaiian music, she was inducted along with Don Ho into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

A.J. McWhorter, a collector of film and videotape cataloging Hawaii’s TV history, has worked as a producer, writer and researcher for both local and national media. Email him at flashback@hawaii.rr.com.