Memorial Service

Wednesday, 18 April 2007

We spent the day receiving and returning phone calls. In the afternoon, we went to Nuuanu Mortuary to take care of arranging services.

Services for our beloved father, John Mau, will be held on the afternoon of Sunday, April 29th at Nuuanu Mortuary. Casual attire.

Dad wanted to be cremated (as humble as he was, he never wanted to take up space in the ground). There will be a visitation period from 2:30 - 4:00 pm. Dad always told us he wanted to spread around the ocean and golf courses, and then for us to each keep some for ourselves.

The service and program will take place from 4:00 - 5:00 pm.

Hawaiian food will be served following the program.

An obituary will be printed next week. He wanted a personal one done, so we expect to have that along with the regular one they print.

We are asking that all monetary gifts be in the form of donations to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) of Hawai'i, to honor our courageous father, John Mau.

Thank you to Garry Loo for connecting us with Derwin and helping us arrange things at the mortuary. It's neat to know that the mortuary director knew Dad from his basketball/Parks days at McCully. Thanks also to Keora and Garry and the other Parks & Rec staff for recognizing Dad this morning in a memorial. He would have appreciated seeing all the sports memorabilia around his pictures and being mentioned as the "epitome of a Recreation Director" for his 30 years of service to the City and County of Honolulu. Thanks also to Keora for spreading the word and alerting everyone in the department about the memorial services, even before I had time to write this. (And perhaps we may take you up on the offer to fix our railings again one day!) Thank you to Uncle Gary for washing my truck (Dad would be happy that you are helping me take care of his car.), and Emily and Michelle, my Kahala coworkers, who brought over Costco groceries this afternoon. Thanks to Chris Otake for bringing over Chinese dinner to enjoy with us. Dad shared many years and memories with you. Thanks also to Dave Au and Al Chang who were supposed to visit Dad tonight, and still came over to pay their respects. Thanks Uncle Dave for taking care of the picture of Dad for his memorial, and thanks to Al for making all those DVDs and cds for Dad. We'll enjoy them for him.

The calls and emails and support have been overwhelming. Mahalo Nui Loa. I know Dad is smiling knowing that there are so many friends and family coming together. He would not want this to be a somber event, but rather a celebration of his life.