Obituary

Charlotte M. Gandall was born on September 29, 1911 she attended Sacred Hearts Academy in Honolulu, Hawaii and graduated in 1929. She married Albert K. Gandall Jr. She passed away on Oct 8, 2010 and is survived by her children: Charlotte Posten, Joan Schmidt, Albert K. Gandall III, Thelma Han, twelve Grandchildren, eight Great-Grandchildren, and one Great-Great-Grandchild.

Our mom was a piano player besides being an employee of the Federal government. Besides being a mom who cooked, cleaned, washed and all of the hundreds of things that mothers do. She never drove; she said her mom stopped her from learning to. Her family was her main priority. All she ever needed was her family. She didn’t need material things, only to have the family around her.

I describe Mom as a piano player for I remember her so vividly playing that piano at Ewa Beach. Mom worked hard at whatever she was doing but when she sat down at the piano, that was her time. She concentrated only on ‘tickling those ivory.’ It was usually on a Sunday when the neighbors were treated to the piano sounds resonating from our house. When she was rendering an especially pulsating, energetic tune, she would pound those keys and stamp her right foot to keep the beat. The rest of the world waited outside the front door, as she was swept away by the music she was making. She would play ‘Akaka Falls’ and she and I would sing it together. I’d look into her eyes as we sang and her eyes shone with happiness. The joy came from the wonderful music; the joy came from the fact that she was singing it with her daughter; and the joy came because it was the music of the Hawaiian culture, something that I came to realize, as Mom ascended in age, she was extremely proud of.

Mom was many things to all her children; I’ve just been the lucky one to put it down on paper. She is with our father now, happy and secure as she always was with him in life. But before you go Mom, a lei of love from all of us. Words of the song ‘A lei of Love’ by Henry Kaimimoku.

I give a lei
To you my dear
Aloha wau ia ‘oe I really love you
One lei, one kiss
One love I miss
Aloha wau ia ‘oe
Lei of love
I give to you
I miss you so
I give a lei
To you my dear
Aloha wau ia ‘oe

A private burial ceremony will be held at Diamondhead Memorial Park on December 18, 2010.