filed August 24, 2005:
Aloha to Our Imua69 Ohana,

We were able to read Walt’s very touching message before we left home this morning for a FUN DAY with our Grandson Chaice who will be going back to Arizona tomorrow. Faithy, Chaice and I will be leaving for Honolulu early tomorrow morning as they leave for Phoenix tomorrow evening and I on to Kauai on Wednesday morning, returning on Friday.

I too have come away from the Maui Ho’omau 2005 so “rejuvenated” and “so touched” by the reuniting of those of you who were present. I am grateful for the love and aloha of the Maui Ohana (Guy and Mikahala, Robbie and Ed, Michele and Raphael, and George & Nancy) who did a wonderful job in providing every detail to make us feel so important and special. I hope we can all remember Wilma, the Manager of the Mauian who broke some rules in reimbursing those last minute cancellations, allowing us to put up the large easy ups, bringing in the chairs, and allowing us to do what we needed to do to fulfill our measure.

The beautiful Napili bay of clean clear water with the soft sand and no strong currents. What a setting. Faithy and I and several others are determined to return to the Mauian in Napili with our families. Those of you who were present brought with you a gift of love from your heart that transferred to ours and we have come away “richer” and “focused” on doing all we can to join you again to edify one another in love and harmony, enjoy one another’s spirit, to have fun with tears of joy, and to remember each year, those who have gone beyond the veil. I knew that Guy Helm and Robbie St. Sure would be “awed” when they heard the names that would be read out loud on Sunday.

THE FOOD: The selection of foods were the just awesome. We appreciated all those who so willingly donated extra monetary and generous contribution donations to our event. We never ran out of poi…….we never even came close to running out of poi, and the poi was available from morning till evening the whole time we were there. Each time we ate, we invited the employees to come and eat with us. Some of the guests were thrilled with our music each evening……Grandma up there in the room was concerned about the noise after 10pm but it worked out.

THE SETTING: The Mauian in Napili…no television or phones in the room. Simple rooms, hard wooden floors….refrigerator, stove, microwave oven, a washer and dryer next to the House Keeping Room. A wonderful Manager in Wilma. George Kahumoku holds his Annual George Kahumoku Slack Key Workshop at this location for a week in the month of June. The beach is “top of the line.” Awesome!

THE MUSIC: Thursday evening: The beautiful music of Kahala Greig coming from a family of wonderful musicians including his Uncle Tau Greig who graduated from Kamehameha in the mid 50’s. Friday Evening: Leo Cullen, Albert “Sonny” Kaai, Peter Medeiros and Yours Truly. Saturday….Six Hours of non-stop music starting at 4pm from Jamie Lawrence, Raiatea Helm, Leo and Albert, and the Group Lawaia.

THE DANCING: Wow! Mustang Sally each year is something to “behold.” I loved Guy Helm’s dance to the “Gigolo”... Simeon was “on” and L.T. can teach all of us boys some of those moves. What a job L.T.!!

THE “NIELE” CORNER: The only way to get to know what happened during the event is to ask those who went and did the various other events. By having our “Niele Corner” we learned what the Bikers did coming down from Haleakala, the Lavendar Farm & Tedeschi Windery Tour did, the Molokini Snorkel tour did (Faithy and I), and others. By golly, what a wonderful way to know what is happening. Mahalo Bobby Lu for being such a good sport in sharing the 40-36 Experience. I received a small kind lecture but Bobby Lu assured me that it worked out okay. Mahalo!

Well, some of you are wondering what we are going to do for our 55th Birthday???? That will be in 2006 for most of us except the “Magnificent Three” who are celebrating their 55th birthday this year. The Big Island Group has been prospecting the likes of Las Vegas with Glenda, Kirkland, and Yvonne, but after this weekend, we would like to announce that our 55th Birthday will be held on the Big Island -Hawaii.

We are going to start assisting our classmates in working on their genealogy and start doing their research. Although we are “starting this year” it is our goal to bring our minimum of FOUR GENERATION Sheets to the 2007 Event BUT……we will be starting this year and will touch basis next year in 2006.

Our 2006 Imua69 Class Event will have us return to the same island that we celebrated our 50th Birthday. It will be on the BIG ISLAND and will be held between Waikaloa & Kohala……the dates we are looking at is August 17th – 18th – 19th – 20th. We will let you know whether we will “Headquarter” ourselves on a Large Estate in Kohala or somewhere near by. We promise that it will be educational, cultural, fun and there will always be time for reflections. How can we do our special “Kukui Nut” Ceremony if we are located away from the Ocean?? It will be simple…..we have so many options. AUGUST 17-18-19-20TH. Faithy and Caydie….hope we can make these adjustments. Faithy and Caydie had the same idea….to bring our families to the Mauian next August on the same weekend. We can make those adjustments.

In closing….may I say that I can’t do this past weekend justice with my words. Faithy and I were blessed to ride the Maui Magic...the fastest catamaran on Maui. We passed at least a half dozen boats who started for Molokini well ahead of us. The Captain took us all the way to La Perouse Bay which is two bays after Big Beach Makena…..we then went to Molokini where we snorkeled for about a half hour. We pulled up anchor and left for the Lahaina Pali just west of the Lahaina Pali Tunnel. We were blessed by a Captain who has done this tour for 25 years. They served continental breakfast when we first arrived and they had a hearty lunch after our second dive.

While going back to Maalaea, he stated that we would probably see the largest turtles we have ever seen in our lives and within minutes we were alongside three of the hugest turtles we have ever seen. We were given a DVD with a history of Maui and a summation of the tour that we took. The narrator’s voice on the DVD was recognized as Pali Ahue, Keith Ahue’s brother from the KS Class of ’73. He had just given us a wonderful lecture on Sat. morning and taught us an “oli” of the “moku” of “Kaanapali” which in the early days went from Black Rock (Sheration Maui) to Kahakuloa and Waihee. Pali looked like Keith, had very similar mannerisms and smiles and the voice quality was near perfect.

We say mahalo to you all, especially to the Maui Planning and Action Group, your companions, the musicians, the people at the Mauian, and those who gave over and beyond what was asked of them. We thank you so much. Faithy and I thank you for the gifts and recognition that we have received. To my lifelong friend Ran...”Green Light, Green Light”………Mahalo for bringing up the extra poi and the shoyu Ahi….wow!!! Poi is “Hawaiian Gold” now days eh! To my best friend and companion Faithy...you are the greatest partner!! Hope to see you dance the “Mustang Sally” by next year….of course, if you want to dear. To our Class Leader Nancy, we missed you too. To those who could not make it, we may missed you and hope that you may come at a future event. Big Island, Hawaii August 17-18-19-20, 2006. In 2007, we are looking at Moloka’i, August 16-17-18-19, 2007. (Genealogy Four Generations Sheets should be completed….we will see who’s line connects with who’s line.

Aloha to all and God Bless.    - Bruddah Roy

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Please send your photos to Wayne Wong and he will post as many of the photos as possible on our Imua69 Website. For those who took videos, Faithy and I will purchase a DVD Copy.

TOWELS: Some of you have asked how you can get more Maui Ho’omaui 2005 Blue Beach Towels…... taking orders now -email me.