Biography of Leilehua Yuen, Hawaii Island artist, author, educator, minister, kahu, consultant, hula dancer, hula instructor, lei maker, tapa maker

Author, artist, and educator, Leilehua Yuen has been dedicated to the study and perpetuation of Hawaiian culture since childhood. Like many island children, Leilehua was reared primarily by her grandparents. She considers it a gift to have been privilaged to spend so much time with them Among the many things her grandfather taught her were how to weave rope from ti-leaves and to make baskets of coconut frond. Her grandmother taught her to make fragrant flower lei and to cook the delicious island foods. But their most important lesson was teaching her to love her cultural heritage, preserve it, and pass it on with their aloha.

Her Tutu Kane Henry (Henele) Bernard Ah-Lop Yuen was a western-trained MD, and was among the first western-trained Native Hawaiian MDs to practice in the islands. He also was extremely knowledgeable in the herblore of old Hawai`i. He was a native speaker of the Hawaiian language and had been born and reared on Kaua`i in Hanapepe where his parents farmed and fished, and harvested the famous red `alaea salt.

Leilehua learned from him about plants, philosophy, and the health of the kino (body). He taught in a gentle way, always leading and encouraging, never harsh or pushing - exemplifying the best in the Hawaiian way of life. He had an ability to be completely at rest when resting, and then be completely focused when work was at hand.

He was an excellent musician, adept at `ukulele, guitar, banjo, and mandolin, and like many other island boys used his talent to

supplement the limited funds available to a med student!
Among the groups he performed with was the Ilima Serenaders. If you know the names of the members, please e-mail Leilehua.

Tutu Henry attended St. Louis University Medical School and while there he met and married secretary and hula dancer, Thelma Floy Stephenson, a pretty Irish/English lass with sparkling blue eyes and auburn hair. She was quite the gal, very fashionable and a real "looker!" No wonder Henry fell for her! AND she was quite akamai, a "smart cookie," and very well read. She already had studied every book and movie ever made about the islands, created her own `ukulele band and

hula troupe, could make lei, cook some Hawaiian and Chinese food, and had even learned a few words in the language of the Hawaiian islands.. Now, after a journey by train and then steamship, they would be her home.

Thelma had always felt called by "those isles across the sea," and upon marrying Henry, she set out to steep herself in her adopted culture.

Leilehua amd Thelma often sewed lei together. They were given to special friends who visited, or worn "just cuz nice."

She learned to make lei, to cook Hawaiian foods, she studied the stories that went behind the hula she had learned in St. Louis. She joined the Hilo Women's Medical Auxillary, the Hilo Women's Club, continued her membership in the Eastern Star, and was active in all the "societies" expected of a young up-and-coming doctor's wife. During The War (WWII), with the Ladies Auxillary she rolled bandages. She taught `ukulele at Haili Church. She was always active in Hilo's community.
She reared two sons, Donald Namohala Yuen and Dennis Ki`inani Yuen, and, eventually, her granddaughter.

	Yuens love music. While they generally take up other vocations, music remains an important part of life. While most music is learned from the family, Leilehua's maternal grandmother, Evadne Wenker, decided that THIS child was destined to become a professional musician and that music training should begin early. But from the beginning, Leilehua showed virtually no aptitude for piano. The four years of expensive lessons did not go to waste, though, as they formed a solid foundation for the appreciation of a variety of musical forms. Music lessons - good. Forcing career - bad. But Leilehua did love her ukulele, and clung to that little instrument.

An avid reader, she was torn - how to decide whether to sneak a book into bed, or the ukulele?
The decision was made one night when she was caught reading under the covers and the flashlight confiscated. Ah hah! - ukuleles can be played in the dark! If you hold the back securely to your chest and very lightly strum so that the strings catch only on the ridges of your fingerprints, no one else can hear, but you will feel the music.

     Leilehua sees life as a buffet of the arts, whether performing or visual. Both of Leilehua's parents are professional artists, and also trained her as she grew older. Her mother is a writer with several books to her credit. Some Like it Hotter, the official cookbook of the Galvanized Gullet Society, was a best seller.
       Leilehua studied formally in Journalism and Fine Arts, and holds a Certificate in Education for Ministry from the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. She continues her studies of Hawai`iana with respected island kupuna (elders) such as Nona Beamer.
        She has been a professional writer since 1983. Her wide-ranging work has been published in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Although she primarily writes magazine articles on Hawai`iana topics, she has authored four cookbooks, several chapbooks on various topics, and several chapbooks of poetry.
       Her artwork has been shown at galleries around the Big Island of Hawai`i, and has been bought by locals and visitors alike. Some of her pieces have gone as far afield as Japan, China, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany, and Finland.
        Leilehua has performed and taught hula on the Mainland, in Europe, and in China. While in China, she performed at a banquet the Mayor of Sanya gave for a diplomatic trade mission which included dignitaries from Hawai`i, Washington DC, Hainan, and Beijing. She also was asked to craft a traditional ancient style of lei for presentation to the Mayor, and chant an oli she composed in honor of the City of Sanya and the Island of Hainan.
      Currently Leilehua teaches Hawaiian culture and arts, and has given seminars, lectures, workshops, and classes for Queen Lili`uokalani Children's Center, Kamehameha Traveling Preschool, The Bishop Museum Amy BH Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, various campuses in the University of Hawai`i system, the US National Parks Service, and many private groups such as Keola Beamer's Aloha Music Camp, Keoki Kahumoku's `ukulele and slack key guitar camp, and Elderhostel.

She also writes about various aspects of Hawaiian culture, and continues to create her art. She lives in the old family home in Hilo, where she is trying to restore her Tutu Kane's garden and plant it with traditional medicinal herbs.

Leilehua dances hula noho at Keola Beamer's 2004 Aloha Music Camp on Moloka`i

Leilehua teaching featherwork at the 2003 Aloha Music Camp in Puna

Leilehua dancing
An impromptu hula before heading home on her motorcycle

Leilehua leading a beach walk class in shoreline ecosystems at the 2004 Aloha Music Camp on Moloka`i

Leilehua Yuen's lei making class
Lecturing on feather lei at the 2002 Aloha Music Camp

Leilehua's Scrapbook
More pictures to come as I clean the attic!

		That's my Nana and a teenage me on the left. Remember when chokers were THE fashion accessory? Smartwear was selling those floral mu`us, which were a really soft doubleknit - EVERY girl I knew ran down and bought one for hula - clingy, moved beautifully, and a HUGE kick-ruffle for those deep `uwehe!
Despite the cool shades I was always a hadashi kid. This is at Kehena Beach back when. The rocks which now stick out into the ocean were in the middle of the sand back then. I'm probably picking thorns or glass out of my foot. Remember plastic goza?

Nana and Tutu Man Henry as sweethearts	The Ilima Glee Club That's Tutu Man Henry on the right leaning over with the guitar. My Nana's troupe, the Ukulele Serenaders
		Fourty Two years later - Still sweethearts! Henry and Thelma Yuen at Lihi Pali, their home at Kehena, Puna, Ka Moku Hawai`i. My Nana had great admiration for Zaza Gabor's fashion flare.