I got a call a few weeks ago from John Duarte, about some wood he had for me that his brother sent over from Washington St. I finally got to call him, he surprised me by telling me he had some wood leftover from a tree that was planted in the mid 1800's in front of the Nun's building at Saint Anthony's church by none other than Americas newest Saint: Father Damien!! I'm waiting on a call from the church's historian, a retired well known Judge. The tree was cut down about 20 years ago, went down in a storm. Story goes that Saint Father Damien brought the tree or the seed from Europe. As far as we can tell with good friend Wayne Omura, the tree looks like European yew. Without knowing how much wood he had, I did not hesitate to call Wayne, I felt this was a once in a lifetime find and wanted to share the excitement with him. By golly, we both got a nice size log! Wood is super hard and fairly dense. Hoping the historian knows a little more about it. We are both making a piece to donate back to the church, pieces will be displayed for all to see, forever.
Gives me chills to think Father Damien walked beneath this tree, maybe even sat under it on a hot Valley Isle afternoon to say a prayer for his beloved leprosy patients on the Island of Molokai, where he eventually ended up, taking care of the colony. Simply amazing. Aloha
Gives me chills to think Father Damien walked beneath this tree, maybe even sat under it on a hot Valley Isle afternoon to say a prayer for his beloved leprosy patients on the Island of Molokai, where he eventually ended up, taking care of the colony. Simply amazing. Aloha
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