In Memoriam: Sam L. No'eau Warner, July 24, 1954–July 19, 2016

Abstract

Figure 1. Dr. Sam L. No`eau Warner. Photo­ graph courtesy of Moku Kaaloa. J O U R N A L O F A M E R I C A N I N D I A N E D U C A T I O N — 5 5 , I S S U E 3 7 In Memoriam Sam L. No`eau Warner July 24, 1954–­ July 19, 2016 ALOHA NŌ KA LAMA KŪ O KA NO`EAU. Ua hala. `A`ohe nàe he wā e pio ai ke kukui. Ua ola iā kākou haumāna. Dr. No`eau Warner, renowned researcher and teacher, taught countless students the value of speaking Hawaiian through his innovative approaches to language teaching. His work represents a tremendous contribution to the preservation and revitalization of the Hawaiian language. No`eau was a founder of thèAha Pūnana Leo, the Hawaiian “language nest” preschool and beginning of the Hawaiian-­ language immersion movement—­ a precursor and model for Indigenous-­ language education programs throughout the world. His Ke A`a Mākālei program, established with funds from a federal grant, was designed to introduce Hawaiian language to the arena of sports, thus increasing the number of ­ viable domains of use available to a growing community of speakers. This effort required an expansion of vocabulary and ways of speaking to accommodate the expression of novel thoughts. A new vocabulary was developed based on existing concepts in order to support this expansion. He even served as the public address announcer for Nā Koa Ānuenue’s Interscholastic League of Honolulu ’s football games. ­ Later, he researched and developed a set of 31­ children’s books that ­ were designed to strengthen appropriate Hawaiian-­ language use across a variety of topics. Again, ­ these ­ were produced with funds from a federal grant that afforded wide distribution of current literary materials, ­ free of charge, to all families of Hawaiian-­ language immersion school ­ children. He also worked with immersion teachers to develop a pedagogy that could accompany his books. Moreover, No`eau had begun to revolutionize the Hawaiian language pedagogy at the university by creating a grammatical schematic that is culturally relevant and simplifies the acquisition of abstract grammatical concepts. 8 J O U R N A L O F A M E R I C A N I N D I A N E D U C A T I O N — 5 5 , I S S U E 3 Although ­ these endeavors ­ were all part of his job, ­ whether on or off the clock, he was clearly driven to increase the number of participants in the Hawaiian-­ language revitalization movement. He would talk to students, colleagues, legislators, or anyone ­ else at any time in an effort to support their involvement in Hawaiian-­ language development. No`eau was first employed at the University of Hawai‘i (UH)-­ Mānoa in 1978 as a lecturer teaching Hawaiian 101 in the Indo-­ Pacific Language Department (IPLD). He continued to teach through spring 1984, ­ after which he left for a semester to take up an instructor position in Hawaiian at UH-­ Hilo. In spring 1985, he returned to IPLD as an instructor of Hawaiian. He continued in this position ­ until he was appointed assistant professor in 1994 with the Department of Hawaiian and Indo-­ Pacific Languages and Lit­ er­ a­ tures. In 2003, No`eau was promoted to associate professor, a position in which he held several leadership positions, including director of Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language. No`eau is survived by his ­ brother, Herbert, his ­ sister, Claudia, and his brother-­ in-­ law, Roy. He is also remembered with ­ great admiration and aloha by his colleagues and students: • Dr. J. Keawèaimoku Kaholokula: Although I did not have the good fortune of having No`eau as a Kumu, I have been taught and mentored by many excellent Hawaiian language instructors and Figure 2. Sam No`eau Warner. Photo­ graph by Alicia Perez. J O U R N A L O F A M E R I C A N I N D I A N E D U C A T I O N — 5 5 , I S S U E 3 9 professors...