Our beloved kupuna, Winona Kapuailohia Desha Beamer, fondly known as Auntie Nona, passed away quietly in her sleep the night of April 10th, 2008 at home in Lahaina, Hawaii.  Auntie Nona was born in the Puna District of Hawai`i and raised in Hilo by her grandmother, Helen Kapuailohia Desha Beamer; who Nona called “Sweetheart Grandmother”.  Tutu Helen was one of Hawai'i's most prolific and accomplished composers as well as a skilled dancer whose grace left a lasting imprint on the hula and Nona.

Nona performed her first hula in public at the age of three and by the age of eleven was teaching hula in her mother’s Waikiki studio.  Her very first student was the actress, Mary Pickford. Entering Kamehameha School in 1935, she was actually expelled twice for being “willful”; because she was driven even then to teach the Hawaiian language, culture, chant and dance to others. 

After attending Barnard College and the University of Hawaii, where she was told that she could never earn a living in Hawaiian culture, she proceeded to carve a niche for herself and took over her mother’s hula studio in 1947.  She began teaching at Kamehameha School in 1949 and in her nearly forty years there, began their first Hawaiiana department.  Nona coined the phrase “Hawaiiana” to illustrate the teaching of “the best of Hawaiian culture”; meaning the literature, songs, dances, chants and poetry of Hawai`i.

A noted chanter, composer and singer, Nona is revered for her scholarship and accomplishments in the education of Native Hawaiian children.  She has numerous publications and recordings and has written many of Hawaii’s most beloved songs, including “Pupu Hinuhinu” which was written as a lullaby for her two boys.  Her sons, Keola and Kapono Beamer are world renown musicians/educators and continue the family’s tradition of sharing Hawaiiana through music and teaching.

In 2000, Auntie Nona inspired the establishment of the Hula Preservation Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the lives of beloved elder hula masters.  The Aloha Music Camp, L.L.C. began in 2001 and continues the tradition of teaching and sharing aloha with participants from around the world.  Auntie Nona’s last public performance was at the camp this past February, when she performed “Green Rose Hula” with all the beauty, sparkle and grace she always possessed when performing.  Her most recent inspiration is the Mohala Hou Foundation, a non-profit established last year to continue her vision of protecting and perpetuating the culture that she held so dear by sharing and educating Hawaiiana with all who are interested.  The Foundation makes it possible through scholarships for students and Kupuna to attend the Aloha Music Camp.

An extraordinary woman who dedicated her life to the education of Hawaiians and those who have a desire to learn about Hawaiian culture; Auntie Nona took inspiration from Hawaii’s last queen, Liliuokalani. As quoted in an interview in 1994, “Her life has been important and inspiring and educational to me.  Not just from the standpoint of what a wonderful woman she was but because she shared her feelings and her tenderness and her compassion.  Even after they imprisoned her she wrote “The Queen’s Prayer,” in which she asks for forgiveness for those who were unkind to her.  So much of her life involved music and teaching and children.  All my life I have taught Queen Lili’s songs and music to children.”

In her own very humble, gracious and truly remarkable way, Auntie Nona was not only a pioneer, ali`i, musician and humanitarian, she truly is the embodiment of aloha.


Her fondest wish was that we remember her with song~and so we will. We will break out our `ukulele and guitars and join our voices in song. We will dance, and laugh and talk story, and share the aloha of this remarkable woman.

And, if we listen with our hearts, we will hear her clap her hands and say, "Maika`i no, maika`i no..."