Melveen Leed has sung for millions of people — at the Grand Ole Opry and Carnegie Hall and, for many years, in showrooms in Waikiki. Over the last year, every day and sometimes twice, she sang for her mother.

Hazel Marie “Didi” Place Kaakimaka, known by most as “Aunty Didi,” struggled with dementia and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Kaakimaka, 91, died Wednesday night.

As her illness progressed, Leed and her two sisters found round-the-clock help for their mother in a care home in Waipahu, but Leed went every day to see her mom, to hold her hand and sing to her.

She sang her mother’s old favorites, like “Lei Nani” and “Palisa” — songs Kaakimaka had performed in the late ’90s and early 2000s at the Hotel Molokai as a member of Na Kupuna, the hotel’s beloved ukulele performers.

“I had her sing. I put an ukulele in her hands and had her play until she got to a point where she couldn’t play anymore,” Leed said.

Leed started recording videos of these visits, posting them on Facebook, sometimes using Facebook Live, so that her mother’s friends and relatives could feel like they were visiting, too. It wasn’t intentional, but the videos were, of course, viewed by hundreds of people who may not have even known the two but knew what it was like to be with a parent in their last days.

The video clips are beautiful, intimate, heartbreaking — Leed’s signature belting voice is tender, her impeccable stage presence sometimes pulling away like a curtain to reveal the heartbreak of watching her mom slip away. And then there are moments when Kaakimaka was present — just little glimpses — when she remembered the lyric to a song or a chord on the ukulele.

“She has so many friends. People all over the world would see her and write in,” Leed said. She would read all the Facebook comments to her mother, relaying messages, believing that, somehow, her mother would know how much she was loved.

“People that my mom knew, people she had taken care of, family and family friends, the kids’ kids, they were so happy they got to connect with her. They shared their memories of her. … She took care of a lot of people. And they got a chance to thank her.”

This week, when it became clear that Kaakimaka was slipping away, Leed Facetimed with all of her mother’s siblings so they could say goodbye. Kaakimaka came from a family of 11, though three predeceased her.

“I suggest to everyone going through something like this that they share their mother. Keep everybody in the loop. Be honest. Tell them how it is,” Leed said. “Alzheimer’s is a really sad thing. The person comes in and out. Sometimes they have moments when they remember. I would try talk to her about the old times.”

Kaakimaka was just 17 when Leed was born. Leed was sent to Molokai to be raised by her grandmother. As a child, Leed would come to Oahu to visit her mother during school breaks, and stayed with her for a time at Halawa Housing, but she and her mother didn’t have a close bond. The intensity of the last year changed that. “I cooked for her all the things she liked, all her old recipes. She made the best creamed tuna and the old-fashioned tomato sauce cake.” Leed prayed with her mother, Facetimed with relatives, posted updates on social media, and sang.

“My mother always felt guilty that she didn’t raise me. But how could she? She needed time to grow into a woman herself,” Leed said. In the end, they let that go.

“Last week, she grabbed both my hands and pulled me towards her and she said, ‘I’m sorry.’”

It was an apology accepted but not needed. The two had traveled this last long road together, a team.

In these confusing days after loss, Leed is having to get ready for a performance on May 7 that has suddenly taken on new significance. It’s a free noon show at the Pikake Room at the Blaisdell Center, at an event celebrating Mother’s Day. Everyone performing is supposed to bring a photograph of their mother with them on stage and sing to their mother’s picture.

Over the years, Leed has been asked more times than she can remember to sing at people’s memorial services, even for people she didn’t know. Most often, the family asks if she will sing her signature song, “Kanaka Wai Wai,” the Hawaiian-language gospel song about Jesus and the rich man. Leed never asked for money to sing at a funeral. “I just go,” she said. “I just sing.”

Her mother’s services are being planned for June 10 at St. Damien Church on Molokai. Leed isn’t sure what she’ll sing at the funeral. She just knows that she will sing.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.