Contributing to the community: Kupuans' service to Laie

Oftentimes students see their community as being BYU-Hawaii and not the entire Laie community. But people in the community are part of the legacy of the university and the town Here are some community members that have contributed to the Laie and its rich history.  

From a pioneer to a professional pareu maker 

Ura Behling, known as Auntie Ura to community members, has lived in Laie for more than 45 years. Her son, Tom Mariteragi, is a BYU-Hawaii electrician and her daughter-in-law, Katai, works in the cafeteria.

According to Behling, she moved from Tahiti in 1969, following a call from the LDS Church to serve as a labor missionary in the Polynesian Cultural Center. She worked as a dancer in the Tahitian village with two of her daughters. Se has worked as a nurse, a groundskeeper at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and now she is a professional pareu maker.

Pareu means to “wrap you around” in Tahitian. Her pareus are made of 35 percent cotton and 65 percent polyester cloth similar to a lava lava, which Tahitians use when they go to beach. She started her business back in 1989. Her main customers, besides BYUH students and Laie community members, included tourists from Waikiki and the PCC. She said “sometimes I just hang the product in my yard and people are attracted by the color. They are happy with the product, so they come back and order more. I love my job.” Charles Goo was born and raised in Laie. His father, who passed away in 2008, was the owner of the Old Plantation Store, nicknamed the “Goo’s Store”.

 

Goo’s Old Plantation Store

The Goo’s Store opened in 1913 and closed in 1946 for a short period of time. It was reopened in 1955 and remained the business until 1986. One half of the store was a snack bar and the half was a general store. It was located right across the street from the old Church College of Hawaii.

Goo recalled “I was helping in the store since I was 9. Our main customers were students and community members. High school students liked to buy pake cake – a Chinese pie cake - for breakfast. There was no Foodland but only us and the Sam’s Store. I watched the store and sometimes people stole candy, but back then Laie was pretty small and I knew the kids who stole. Usually I told them to put the candy back. If not, I called the parents.”

Goo’s father was praised by the community members as the “one man Relief society” for he provided and took care of the whole community. Goo said “my dad used to extend credit to community family, which means they could buy things in credit. He had a card to record the names, dates and the amount of money people owned. Some never paid, but I would say most people were honest.” Charles Goo also worked for years at BYUH before retiring.

 

Johnny Lingo’s Father-in-Law

Joe Ah Quin is best known as the actor in the 1969 LDS Church movie “The Legend of Johnny Lingo.” He played the role of Mahana’s father. Ah Quin was born in 1935 in Hawaii and has lived in Laie for years. He was a singer for 30 years at the Moana Surfrider Hotel in Waikiki and used to teach music in Kahuku High School.

“The actor of Johnny Lingo was actually older then me,” said Ah Quin. He recalled parts of the movie were filmed in Laie. “Johnny Lingo’s honeymoon hut was located in Hukilau Beach.” When the film director saw him, he asked Ah Quin to read the script. “While I was reading he said ‘You will be Mahana’s father!’ I was surprised I was chosen over the Waikiki professional actors.”

Ah Quin went to BYU Provo with the actor of Johnny Lingo in 1954. “I went to college for one year, but then I ran out of money. So I served in the Navy in Japan for four years and came back to Laie for school. It was the Church College of Hawaii. I returned home on Dec. 17, 1958, the same date President McKay dedicated the campus. So there was no one who came and picked me up at the airport,” he said.

Talking about his childhood life in Laie, he said, “When I was a child, men in the community would go down to the water and fish for four to five hours at Hukilau Beach. It was fun and exciting to see the fishes jump in the net. When the fishermen landed, they called everyone for help. They sent the rest of the fish to Honolulu, but first they would yell and get everybody lined up and share fish. We have nine kids in my family, and we could have 65 fishes per time. Sometimes we dried the fish on beach. I worked six to eight hours to dry the fish and prevented flies to lay eggs in the fish. We could eat the fish like candy. This was life.”

See this article on Ke Alaka'i