HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0731.002 2012-2014 PIANPRO i
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LL MM. 731
March 17,2014
To:The Honorable Hawaii County Council,Committee on Public Works, Parks& Recreation a
From: Dr. Marlene(Andrade-DeSilva) Nachbar Hapai ==C:)
Regarding:Support for Naming of the Rose Andrade Correia Stadium, Honoka'a Rodeo Arena ,
It is timely that the Honoka'a Rodeo Arena Stadium be named the Rose Andrade Correia Stadium this''
year as we commemorate the 90th anniversary of The Andrade Building that she and her late husband
built in 1924 helping to create the town of Honoka'a,for many years, Hawaii's second largest town. w =, a
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The book"Portuguese Hawaiian Memories"written by J.F. Freitas in 1930 describes my grandparents-
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John Jose and Rose Andrade as progressing from plantation worker to ranch owner, butcher shop
business and proprietor of Honokaa Cafd. Two years after this publication, my grandfather of 42 died in
a horse accident and left my grandmother with 7 children ages 2-14,a ranch and butcher shop, bus and
restaurant businesses. With a 3`d grade education,great native intelligence, boundless resilience,
creativity,love for her family and community and a sense of responsibility to the town she and her
husband helped to establish, my grandmother forged on.
I had the opportunity to grow up in the restaurant. My mother was a classroom teacher by day and my
grandmother's right hand at night and during the weekends. To be with mom I helped out, but also got j
to be the "fly on the wall"that soaked things up and later in life came to fully understand the
phenomenal woman my grandmother had become.
During the 40 years that Grandma ran the show, I witnessed her resilience as businesses suffered with
the bypassing of the small towns with the new road. Her creativity immediately jumped into play as she
brought new things to town to attract the local people,the foundation of the town. She also raised her V
prices on delicacies she knew they could not do without, like Mary Ramos's delicious pies. The
townspeople groaned when she raised the price from 10-15 cents a piece, but the people continued to
come. To survive,everyone needed to do their share.
My grandmother had an outstanding work ethic. From Sunday through Thursday she was up at 5:30 7
a.m.to open the restaurant and closed at 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday moved her closing times to
2:30 a.m. She would leave daily to take "40 Winks", a twenty minute nap to keep her going.
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I got to attend the first and other Hawaii Saddle Club meetings in the Ohia Lanai,which we will bless
with its re-opening once again this 2014 Western Week. Rodeos then and now are to Honoka'a like
Christmas is elsewhere. Begun to share our cowboy culture and boost Honoka'a's economy, in slow
years, it carried businesses through. I remember the early years when people came from all over.
Cowboys roped and rode by day and shared their stories,drank and danced by night. Andrade's Cafe,
Bar, and Hotel were jumping. Honoka'a was alive!
According to our last living uncle, Bill Andrade, Grandma and her siblings were given the arena property
by her mother. Grandma then bought her siblings out, becoming the sole owner and later gave the
property to the County to continue the cowboy tradition of the town in perpetuity as she knew, no
matter what challenges the town encountered,the rodeo would continue to be the economic,social
and cultural "shot in the arm"to insure Honoka'a's survival through the tough and good times ahead.
It is most appropriate that we name the new stadium the Rose Andrade Correia Stadium.
Comm. No. 3
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Ref.To: W
Ref. Date MAR 18 2014
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