DESCANZA EN PAZ UNCLE GEORGE NAOPE.........
George Lanakilakekiahiailli Naope, co-founder of the Merrie Monarch hula festival, died Monday, Oct. 26 in Hilo after a long illness. He was 81 and last year had lung surgery. Tributes already are pouring in from across the state and around the world, hailing the pint-sized man with the giant heart and unwavering passion for Hawaii’s performing arts. ‘Uncle George’ was internationally famed and renowned as a hula master, chanter and performer, as well as co-founder of the world’s premier hula festival. Naope, with Dottie Thompson and Agnes “Aunty Agney” Kalanihookaha Cope, founded the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo in 1963 after a trip to a Whaling Festival on Maui. He and Thompson were in attendance at the 2009 Merrie Monarch Festival. He was born Feb 25, 1928, in Hilo and was already beginning his hula career at age 3. He began teaching hula by the time he was 13. Over his lifetime, the kumu hula taught the kahiko hula, or ancient hula, in Europe, Japan, Australia the mainland and S...