On several trips to Oahu my husband and I have spent a few hours along Waikiki Beach. While there you can’t help but the see the huge statue in honor of Duke Kahanamoku. He was a famous local Hawaiian competitive swimmer who helped popularize the sport of surfing. He eventually went to the Olympics where he won five medals in 1912, 1920, and 1924.
He lived until the age of 77 and was laid to rest at sea. For his burial, a long motorcade of mourners, accompanied by a 30-man police escort, traveled in procession across town to Waikiki Beach. A group of beach boys sang Hawaiian songs, including “Aloha Oe”, and Kahanamoku’s ashes were then scattered into the ocean. In 1990 this statue was created by Jan Gordon Fisher and depicts Duke’s arms in a “welcome to Hawaii’ pose. It was really cool to see and I hope to see it again on a future visit.
