Warren R. “Randy” Porter made one of his late wife Trudy’s last wishes come true yesterday when he presented her collection of 20 Ni’ihau shell lei and earrings to the Kaua’i Museum. Trudy, who died in May 2001 after a
Warren R. “Randy” Porter made one of his late wife Trudy’s last wishes come true yesterday when he presented her collection of 20 Ni’ihau shell lei and earrings to the Kaua’i Museum.
Trudy, who died in May 2001 after a bout with cancer, told her husband it was her wish to have the lei make their way back to Kaua’i, he said. She started her collection in 1988 on their first visit to Kaua’i.
Porter lives in Boerne, Texas, a town of about 6,000, about 30 miles north of San Antonio in central Texas.
Helping the museum to price the collection is “Aunty Lena” Mendoca.
The task is difficult, said the Ni’ihau shell lei appraiser, because one piece alone could sell for $5,000, and the value is based a combination of craftsmanship, the type and coloring of the shells and the style of the lei.
He said he had put away the lei in his wife’s koa shadowboxes until one day he looked at a photograph of her and remembered her wish. In Oct. 2001, he came to Kaua’i to scatter her ashes from a helicopter over a waterfall in Kalalau.
It was a book called “How to Get Lost and Found in Our Hawai’i” by John and Bobbie McDermott that sparked Trudy’s interest in Ni’ihau shell leis, he said. He thought the lei was probably just a memento and if she wanted it, then OK, he said.
Porter related the story behind his wife’s first find, at a vendor’s booth at Spouting Horn in 1988.
They dropped off their baggage at the Prince Kuhio hotel and drove down to Spouting Horn. “When I heard $1,600, I went ‘oh!’ and she said, ‘go stand over there while I do this transaction,'” he remembered. Little did they know the lei was probably worth about $2,500, Porter said.
Mendonca, who said she is likely the only one licensed in the state to appraise Ni’ihau shell leis, said she met the Porters at the Lihu’e McDonald’s to look over the purchase.
“After awhile it became like family,” Mendonca said of her relationship with the Porters. “Every time she came I was the first person she called.”
Trudy eventually got in touch with May Kelley, who made lei with her daughters Josephine and Luana.
“She wanted to know the people who make them,” said Liz Cope, owner of the Hawaiian Trading Post, who also has an extensive Ni’ihau shell lei collection.
A wiliwili lei, crafted with a spiral and diamond pattern, was one non-Ni’ihau shell lei highlight of the collection. Not only is the item a rare find, May said she started making it using a piece of one of her daughters’ baby blankets, adding to the history, Cope said.
“There’s just something about this island, that just about everyone is filled with the aloha spirit. It’s the kindest, most gentle place on this earth,” Randy Porter said of he and his wife’s interaction with local residents.
Museum executive director Carol Lovell and Cope talked of the “chicken skin” they got when they heard of the heartfelt donation of the shell leis, and how important it is to pass on the legacy of Ni’ihau shell leimaking and our unique culture.
The Kaua’i Museum is scheduled to open a permanent exhibit this summer, to be displayed in Trudy’s own koa boxes and others from the Hawaiian Trading Post.
Staff Writer Kendyce Manguchei can be reached at kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252).
