I do appreciate that...of all the people in the world, I'd never think he would be one to die of this...he was never sick a day in his life, but was in his 70's, and Hawaiian...a group of people known for heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer.
I still remember the day I met him, sometime in the early 80's. I was visiting Oahu from Molokai, and borrowed a friends small skiff to spend the night on Black Rock (the Hawaiian name is over a foot long) off the coast of Waimanalo, in front of Manana Island. I was going to do some spearfishing and night diving for lobster. There were three huge Hawaiians (all brothers) on the island...and thought that a wahine was coming to the island in a boat, which got them all excited (back then, my hair was shoulder length and dyed blonde from the sun and salt water)...imagine their disappointment when they realized I was a guy. The good news was that I had brought a lot of cold beer and ice, and then later dove and caught a crap load of lobsters and speared uhu (parrotfish) which I put in their coolers. That night, the youngest brother (and shortest at 6'5") and I became lifelong friends. My friend Haywood, who had died, swam out from shore two days later. He was a big, thick Hawaiian (I called him No Neck)...he took one look at me, then asked my new friends "who's the fucking haole?"...after spending a couple days diving with him, we also became lifelong friends. His dad was traveling musician playing Hawaiian music on the mainland; when Haywood was born, his dad was in Hayward, CA...his mom thought he said Haywood, so named him after the city...
I originally was only going to spend the night on the island...I ended spending two weeks with these guys.
We can't even scatter his ashes yet...but they will go in the water near the island where I first met him.
