In the book “Tsunami!” by Walter C. Dudley and Min Lee, there’s a short story about a teenager and his family’s experience during the 1946 tsunami that hit Hawaii.
Wendell Leite, 17, a Hilo High School student, lived at Honolii Cove with his four sisters, brother, parents and Hawaiian grandmother, the story goes. On April 1, April Fools’ Day, they watched in astonishment as the stream water receded into the ocean.
George Myers, a truck driver, was on the bridge above and yelled to the family, warning them of an approaching tidal wave. Moments after the family fled, mountains of water thrashed their home, washing away belongings and causing severe damage. Everyone was safe, but young Leite lamented the loss of his grandmother’s heirlooms and what his parents had worked so hard for.
Also gone was his new Conn trombone, a gift from his father.
Leite, pronounced “late,” was in the school band and one of the newest musicians in the Hawaii County Band. He played in his first county band concert six months earlier, on a cool October evening in 1945 at the Mooheau Park Bandstand.
He remembers the bandstand’s dim lights, and people had parked their cars all around the pavilion. They performed well, and he’ll never forget the response after numbers.
“I remember people honking their horns in applause to the music,” Leite said.
Leite has played the tenor trombone with the band ever since, performing through 70 years of Hilo history. The former transportation manager for C. Brewer subsidiary Hilo Transportation and Terminal has seen and played through it all, from tsunamis, hurricanes, tropical storms, wars and statehood, to the fall of sugar, rise of tourism and volcanic activity.
At noon Saturday, Oct. 10, at Mooheau Park, Leite, now 87, will be honored by the band and Hawaii County for 70 years of service. He also will perform in concert for the last time as an employee and retire. Leite is the longest-serving member in the band’s 132-year history with thousands of rehearsal hours and hundreds of marching miles carrying and blowing the nearly 4-pound instrument.
“He has active continuous service since 1945,” said band director Paul Arceo, marveling at Leite’s musical achievement. Band members, with the exception of the director, are part-time employees. “Statewide, that might be the longest anyone has been employed.”
“Seventy years with the county band, that will never be duplicated,” Arceo says. “He was that committed, that good shape, 80s, marching in parades with a trombone. It’s remarkable, a testament to his physical condition.”
Leite started playing the trombone at Hilo Intermediate School. “All the band sections were filled, and no one wanted to take that ugly-looking thing,” he said.
Under teachers such as Lorna Drake and Beatrice Lau and eight county band directors, Leite became an accomplished player.
“Top notch” Arceo says. “Playing the brass instrument is physical, and at 87, he still is a really good player.”
“It’s something I would say is similar to a violin … no frets or positions,” Leite said, describing the trombone, which means “large trumpet” in Italian. With its tubular, elongated “S” shape and unique slide, the sound is “broad, wholesome, can be brassy or very smooth. It has tremendous variations with what you can do with it.”
“The trombone is really an instrument that’s vibrant and can be very melodic, versatile, used in Dixieland bands,” he said.
With his presence in the band and transportation career, Leite is one of the most recognizable figures in Hilo.
“You should have seen him in the Merrie Monarch parade,” said Susanella Noble, a flutist and band member since 2002. “Every other person along the route knew him and said hello. He’s one of those kinds of people.
“He’s always happy, has a kind word for everybody. He always takes a backseat to the rest of the band. Very modest, very gifted, so humble.”
As much as Leite loves playing trombone, his wife, Shirley, is his true love. He fell in love with the girl from Hanamaulu, Kauai, when she returned from nursing school with his sister. Shirley Leite retired as a nurse at Hilo Medical Center and the two have been married 62 years. And music always filled their Wailuku Drive home.
A month before observing Leite’s accomplishment, however, the Leite family suffered a momentous loss. Preferring not to go into detail, Leite said a few days after she took a walk, she passed away on Sept. 4. She was 83.
“She loved music,” Leite says, looking to the dining room table graced by photographs of Shirley, the frames adorned with lei, and a wood urn containing her ashes. “She enjoyed the band. The people, the instruments, performances, the good balance of sound.”
When asked what music Shirley enjoyed listening to, Leite and his daughter, Harvelee Leite-Ah Yo, went to a full rack of CDs and pulled out a few of her favorites.
“In the morning she loved to listen to four Italian singers,” Leite said, holding the CD “Il Divo, A Musical Affair.” She also liked the group, “Il Volo” and selections from “Les Misérables.”
Stepping outside into the lanai area on a warm afternoon with a light rain, Leite gestures to patio chairs where he would sit and practice playing the trombone. He would blow out into their beautifully landscaped backyard, the notes flowing over the lush green grass, bonsai plants, ponds and bridge. Shirley completed the Eden ensemble.
“She would come out and listen, make some comments, always positive. But sometimes if it didn’t sound right, she would say ‘What was that?’”
More than 70 family members and friends gathered in the couple’s garden of music for Shirley Leite’s wake.
Now, there is still great pain — and loneliness. Leite’s words, like the low notes on his trombone, come out softly. “Love … loss. That was my happiness.”
Leite took some time off from the band — relaxing, gradually healing and grieving. On Sept. 22, he returned to rehearsals at Waiakea Recreation Center for his finale. Arceo said the band is playing it low-key — just the way Leite wants it.
A few seats away from Leite on Saturday will be a talented French horn player from Keaau High School, 17-year-old Philip Palmore, the youngest band member, perhaps starting a 70-year run of his own. The music will include a selection of marches, hymns, classical pieces, pop or Hawaiian. Arceo says they’ve added a special piece to the play list, a trombone quartet called “Musical Slides.”
Leite will perform with a heavy heart, but Shirley will be listening and maybe there will be some horn honking by an appreciative audience to help raise his spirits.
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Hawaii County Band notes
• The Hawaii County Band has served Hawaii Island continuously for 132 years. (In the state, only the Honolulu City and County’s Royal Hawaiian Band is older, founded in 1836 by Kamehameha III.)
• The Hawaii County Band began as a family band in 1883 by brothers Joaquin and Jules Carvalho, immigrants from the Azores Islands, who made their living as barbers in Hilo. On concert days, they closed up the shop; Joaquin would take the baton to lead the band while Jules played the cornet. After the concert, they would re-open the barbershop and go back to cutting hair.
• During the 41 years that “Professor” Joaquin Carvalho directed the band, he established the now standard Tuesday and Thursday evening rehearsal schedule.
• The band was known as the Hilo Band during the Hawaiian Monarchy and the Republic of Hawaii. After annexation and the formation of local counties, the band officially became the Hawaii County Band in 1900. Mooheau Park Bandstand, dedicated in 1904 by Hilo businessman “Admiral” George Beckley, has been the band’s performing home for the past 100 years.
• After Joaquin Carvalho died in 1924, the band had several directors until 1943, when Urban Carvalho, son of co-founder Jules Carvalho, became bandmaster. Urban Carvalho also was the director of the Hilo High School Band, resulting in the recruitment of the best high school players for the band. His term ended in 1963 when the job of band director became a politically appointed position.
• Andres Baclig was the first appointed director and held the position for 11 years. He was succeeded by Armando Mendoza and then John Hursey who was also band teacher at Ka‘u High School. Since 1981, the band has performed under four different directors: David Lorch, Wayne Kawakami, Randy Skaggs and Paul Arceo, all outstanding musicians and high school band directors.
• Monthly performances at Mooheau Park are free to the public.
• With the exception of the director, who is full time, the musicians are part-time Hawaii County employees and receive a small stipend. Day jobs among band members include chimney sweep (yes, with the top hat), fruit farmer, astronomer and funeral director.
— Hawaii County Band Facebook page
Remaining concert schedule
Hawaii County Band, Mooheau Park
Oct. 10, noon
Nov. 7/14, noon
Dec. 5/12, noon
West Hawaii County Band, Hale Halawai, Kailua-Kona
Oct. 23, 6:30 p.m.
Nov. 13, 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 11, 6:30 p.m.
Dates subject to change
For more information, call the Hawaii County Band Office at 961-8699
