L ongtime Laie resident and one of the original staff members of the Polynesian Cultural Center, “Aunty Tino,” Fuatino Su’apaia Koahou was remembered at her funeral services on Nov. 21 by family and friends as a talented and gracious woman who spread aloha in all she did. “Of all my aunties,” said her nephew Al Harrington while giving her eulogy at her services at the Laie North Stake Center, “I loved her the most. Why? Because I came with her to Hawaii on the old Mariposa boat.” They arrived in Hawaii the Wednesday before Pearl Harbor was bombed during World War II, says her obituary in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Harrington, who is best known for being in the cast of the original “Hawaii 5-0” television show, said he was 3 years old when he made the voyage from Samoa to Hawaii with his then 18-year-old Aunty Tino. His mother had come to Hawaii and worked to earn the money to bring him from Samoa to the islands and Aunty Tino was his escort. “I have loved her with a great passion ever since,” he said. “My Aunty Tino had class. She was regal, and on top of that, she had the capacity to love.”Born on April 4, 1923 in Western Samoa, Aunty Tino was the eighth out of 12 children. She was 91 when she passed on Nov. 2, 2014. She received her schooling in Samoa at the LDS Church and Catholic schools before coming to Hawaii, says her obituary. When she got to Hawaii, she attended McKinley High School for a time and then “pursued trade courses at the Galusha School of Business from 1941-1943 and the Honolulu Business College from 1943-1945 where she met her first husband Antone Perreira,” it says. She married her second husband, Jacob Keliipule’ole Koahou of Hilo in 1952. Her husband was a truck driver for the government, says her obituary. They raised their family in Honolulu before moving to Laie. He passed away on Jan. 28, 1970.“I’m very happy with my life,” said Aunty Tino in a 2007 story in Kaleo Koolauloa News. “I loved the old Hawaiian people in Laie back then. They were very kind and helpful. They had great respect and love, and would do anything for you.” Her sister, Pala Palmer, jokingly said at her services even though her sister is Samoan, Palmer thinks she became more Hawaiian than Samoan over the years Tino lived in Hawaii.Harrington added Aunty Tino knew how to love and include even people who were considered outsiders. He said that in Aunty Tino’s memory, everyone should be sure to take care of each other and especially their families.Aunty Tino was a well-known performer and the first female fire-knife dancer of her generation from Western Samoa, says her obituary. “She was one of the most fantastic entertainers Hawaii has produced,” said Harrington. “She was the leading entertainer at the World’s Fair in New York. That is big time.”“Aunty Tino enjoyed dancing and was well-known throughout the entertainment world. She began her career in 1947 with The Royal Samoan Entertaining Group, dancing professionally at the International Market Place and at the Beachcomber throughout the 1950s. She was a vividly imaginative choreographer, dancer, mentor, teacher, and solo performer,” says her obituary.When PCC opened in 1963, said David Hannemann, who worked with her at the center and who also spoke at her services, she was in charge of all the tour guides and oversaw the theater productions. She told the tour guides they were “one stage at the PCC and that they were hosts and hostesses – not just employees,” Hannemann said. She trained the tour guides to treat all the guests as VIPs, he said. Later she worked at BYU-Hawaii’s Print Services.“Well into her 80s, Aunty Tino sang with the Nani La’ie Serenaders, a volunteer musical group who sang at funerals, weddings, parties, and community events,” says her obituary. Quoting Aunty Tino in her obituary, is say, “We don’t get paid. We just donate our time.” Members of the group sang at her services.“Mindful of a promise made to her parents, Aunty Tino completed several missions with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a trainer and supervisor of Temple Protocol in both American and Western Samoa,” her obituary says. She worked in the Laie Hawaii Temple for many years as well.One of her former bishops, Lance Pagador, recalled at her services he made an appointment to come by her house to see her and her hanai sister, Noa Au. “When we got there, there was a full dinner,” Pagador said. “That’s an example of what their home was like…She exemplified God’s teachings in her life.”A member of the Laie North Stake Presidency and a longtime friend of Aunty Tino, Max Purcell, said at her services, “It can truly be said of her, her life was her message. Christ was the center of it and it showed by what she did and said.”
Writer: LeeAnn Lambert
