Well, the reason for my trip to Oahu was for my cousin Glenn who passed away a couple of Sundays ago and the service was today. I found out a bit late about his passing as Hawaii’s new phone company, HawaiianTel, cut my parent’s landline for about a week. So folks trying to let them know couldn’t get in touch with them and they couldn’t call me until the line was restored. My folks are also on dial-up modem so no email, no internet. My mom got the line restored by flagging down a HawaiianTel worker who actually was not in the area for her line but for a business next door. Kudos to that guy who took the time to fix it even though he didn’t even have the job order.
My cousin was the same age as my sister and here they are at 1.5 years-old. Nothing like embarrassing family members on the internet huh?
My cousin was a keyboardist for a couple of local groups in Hawaii during the 70s including Natural High. They had all the neighbors riled-up as they blasted their amps playing Proud Mary by Creedence and other standards of the day. I remember how during one Christmas get-together at my grandmother’s house he played some Billy Preston on her baby grand piano perfectly along with some Elton.
My older half-brother Wallen and me. Guess services are kind of like family reunions sometimes as we don’t get to see each other often enough. He used to referee games in Honolulu on the side so if you recognize him and he called a crucial play against you it ain’t my fault, but if it was in your favor I’ll take some credit ;-)
My nephew trying to fend off my paparazzi attempts.
My nephew did a little better being behind the camera instead of in front of it as he shot this photo of his sister and my mom.
All in all it a fairly low-key service. And surprisingly folks liked the Japanese food that was catered for it. It’s not always easy to please tastebuds of a family that runs a restaurant.