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"Most people go to their
graves with their songs still unsung."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Memorials to friends who have passed
away...
Alan Palder 1975...
When Alan died in the summer of 1975, i was in northern California, staying at a yoga commune called Ananda. So i went up to the top of
the meadow, no trees to block the endless expanse of night-time
stars. I started to say a silent prayer, addressed to my recently
deceased friend (we were both 24 years old). I was looking up, just
a little above the horizon, about 10 or 15 degrees above the horizon, when i
uttered these words in silence: "Alan, Alan... If there's
life after death, send me a sign." Then,
just as i said
the word "sign," i saw a HUGE glowing object coming at me, directly
from where i was looking... Like a HUGE shooting star, it traversed the entire
180-degrees of the starry sky (no moon, but no clouds either, just a sky full of
of stars). This object appeared to my eye be about the size of the
sun!!! and it was entirely red-colored, and left a long
flaming trail behind it, all of which which reminded me of a meteor, or shooting
star, but none like i've ever seen! This object was huge, and
like a bullet, it traversed the entire 180-degree horizon of
sky, right over my head, in
about 2 or 3 seconds, and was gone... So, was that a sign or
what?!?!
Abbey (murdered, mid 1970's).
Very healthy, beautiful woman, married with children, was stabbed to death on
Kauai (mid 1970's), while hitch-hiking, body dumped in cane field.
Ron Graybeal 1987. Ron
was an environmental activist who lived in San Francisco, and owned the "Kona
Light Center" in Honalo, South Kona, and helped us start "Save
Hawaii" newspaper "a voice for the
environment." He was also a health-enthusiast who
suggested drinking a glass of wine with dinner, to control cholesterol, although
he died from a sudden heart attack, in his 40's, while on a hike with his own
father... In my obituary to Ron, published in "Save Hawaii"
newspaper, i wrote that i will never forget his high-pitched sing-song
voice...
Just Natural 1998
Hy Silverstein 1997
Leonard Light 1999
Darren Singer (murdered, around
2000-2001). I had a romantic
infatuation with Darren back in the early 1980's when i first met her, soon
after i met Jackie. She suffered from chloracne, a skin reaction to
pesticide exposure, and would take baths in wheatgrass juice. She
was stabbed to death on Kauai (like my friend Abbey about 25 years earlier),
thought to be the victim of a recent serial killer on Kauai.
Bob Silverstein ____ 
****My own obituary, pre-written:
Ulrich "Sonny" Kamahele (died
November 2002) -
I
recently learned that my one and only neighbor (for many years 1990-1999), an
old Hawaiian man, died in late 2002... My oldest daughter (of five) accidentally
saw the obituary notice in the local newspaper.
He was born on his parents’ remote coastal property in 1923, and raised
there, where he lived there his whole life.
Even in the year 2000, the road was still a narrow dirt road, covered
with a shady canopy of mango trees. Sonny
was the youngest child, and the only son, of six children... His nickname was
Sonny because he was the youngest child and the only son... I used to tell him
that if i ever had a son, [now that i had 5 daughters, and because he had five
older sisters], that i would name the boy Sonny, after him...
When Sonny’s mother died in 1973, he finally inherited the 13-acre
oceanfront estate, with a 200-year-old, thick rock-wall boundary on 3 sides, and
600 huge old coconut trees, with an old, decrepit, hand-built shack, at the top
of a picturesque grassy hill. Until
i bought my property, just a few hundred yards down the road, in 1990, for his
whole life he had NO other neighbors for miles in every direction.
In
1975, about 105 relatives challenged his ownership of what appeared to be a very
valuable oceanfront estate. That
led to a 5-year court battle with the relatives, and he eventually won title to
the property by reason of "Adverse Possession," which is also known as
“Squatter’s Rights.” No one
in his family had ever recorded their ownership to the property, after it had
been handed down to his ancestors in the Great Mahele of 1843, by the King of
Hawaii... His family had owned the property for generations, but until 1978, no
one had recorded their ownership...
But
apparently, ever since 1967, he had been trying to sell the place...
When i met him in 1989, he was asking $3.9 million.
I was a real estate agent, and i quickly produced a Japanese buyer for $3
million cash -- an offer he rejected... I
also came up with an offer of $1.5 million from a new client, Mr. Hy Hunter.
After exploring the property for about an hour, he asked me to write up a
purchase contract, right there on the spot.
The offer was for only $1.5 million, but included a $100,000 cash
deposit, immediately that same day upon signing the offer (in real $100 bills,
which were counted out in front of Sonny, on the hood of the rented Jeep
Wrangler). Hunter
subsequently made offers of $1.5 million at least once every year during
each of the next 7 years, but Sonny rejected them all....
In 1991, the real estate market began it's downturn, and Sonny lowered
his asking price to $3.6 mil... then $3.5 mil... then $3 mil... then $2.5 mil...
then $2 mil... Finally, about 7
years later, he lowered it to $1.5 mil... so i called Hy Hunter, who had been
making offers of $1.5 million all these years, and he decided to offer only
$750,000... No luck...
Meanwhile,
all these years, this old Hawaiian man, Sonny, had been living there all alone
-- with no running water, no electricity, no television, and no phone... He had
only an old transistor radio for entertainment...
We bought his food for him, since he didn't drive... He spent only about
$20 a week on his food, only 4 items: instant coffee, white sugar, white bread,
and saltine crackers…
But
he was very proud and arrogant. He
used to say: "God-damit!!
This property is all mine!! ALL
MINE!!" He
said that line so many times, i can still hear him boasting about it now...
So i used to ask him: "So
what are you going to do when you sell the place? what are you going to do with all the money?"
He
looked at me, and told me: "I'm
going to Las Vegas, and I’m going to gamble, and I’m going to drink, and
I’m going to have prostitutes, all I want..."
So
another year or so went by, and he finally lowered his asking price to
$700,000... and a big sign stood outside his rock wall advertising the real
estate company to contact... This
time, i called Mr. Hunter again, and this time Hunter offered only $400,000...
Again, it was rejected...
So
about 1998, i was talking to another associate, the president of a bank in
southern california, and i mentioned Sonny’s property for sale, and since this
bank president had seen the property himself years earlier, he told me that he
personally would loan me $300,000 to buy the property at 12% interest-only for 3
years... so i wrote up an
offer for $300,000 cash, which Sonny quickly rejected...
The old man said the price was $700,000 and he said he was firm, and that
he would not go down... But
he told me he would take terms... So
i went home, and came back 2 weeks later with an offer for $700,000 with $10,000
down, with no interest, with payments of $1,000 a month for 7 years, and then a
balloon... He rejected it
again... but he suggested that i shorten the time period to only 3 years,
instead of 7 years, and then a balloon...
So i decided to offer $700,000 -- this time with only $1,000 down – but the
same monthly payment of $1,000 a month, and again no interest, with a balloon in
only 3 years... He considered the
offer for 2 weeks, and finally he accepted it!!!!! Then we brought a notary out to see him, to verify that
he really understood the offer and wanted to sell it on those terms... The offer
was written in plain, simple english, in large type, on one page, in about 8
sentences, each sentence numbered. He
could also live on the property until he was totally paid in full...
(Hunter’s offers, that he kept rejecting for $1.5 million, would have
allowed him to stay on the property for the remainder of his life).
Anyhow,
I was the FIRST ONE in the HISTORY of HAWAII to ever buy this property... and the very next day, i sold it, on paper, to Hy
Hunter for a nice small profit. We
opened escrow, and after 30 days, escrow closed, and it was recorded in my name,
with a mortgage to the old Hawaiian man... But unbeknownst to me, he had never
cashed the original $1,000 check for
the deposit, and started bragging about it to others, and showing off my
uncashed $1,000 check. Eventually, his niece found out that he had sold it, and
she soon took me to court, to overturn the sale... In court, the old man testified that he had been trying
to sell it since 1967, and that he still wanted to sell it... But the niece claimed that he was "demented,"
although the notary claimed that he seemed very happy with the offer and that he
definitely wanted to sell it... The notary had asked him so many times if he
REALLY wanted to sell it on these terms, and she asked him so many times that he
got angered with her... "God-damn
it!! i've been trying to sell this
place since 1967!!"
Finally,
rather than try to battle it out in court, with long-drawn out legal fees, etc.,
i decided to sell it back to the family.
The
old man finally died this month, i just found out today, and sadly, he never saw
a penny from the property that he was born and raised on, and lived on and
developed for his whole life, and had been trying to sell ever since 1967...
He spent 5 years battling 105 relatives for ownership of the property,
and finally won title by reason of "adverse possession."
To me alone, he boasted hundreds of times:
"It's all mine, god-damit... it's ALL MINE!!!!!" (nearly
screaming it out loud)... but sadly, he never got the chance to enjoy his life's
dream of the fun times he was gonna have in Las Vegas...
When
i heard he died (Hawaii Tribune Herald obituaries, November 19th), tears ran
down my eyes...
Hy
Hunter
I decided to compose 2 vignettes of my memories of Hy
Hunter… They both happen to be
from my first introduction to Hy, and both took place on the same day, about
12-13 years ago, around 1989 or 1990…
After hearing of his passing, I have heard his voice in my mind on a number of
occasions recently, telling me things, urging me on…
What did the eulogy say about the Earthworm King? I will surely miss him…
I was in LA on the day of his funeral when I was re-routed on my way back from
Florida to Hawaii. A week
later, I was watching The History Channel, and they had a show about the history
of cemeteries, including a tour and the history of Forest Lawn… a
nice place…
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy these 2 short vignettes. As you may know, my own father was also named Hy, and
I’m also from New England…
Vignette #1
I met Hy in person only one time,
when he came to look at 300 acres raw land I had listed on the Big Island, as
well as a few other properties.
When he arrived at the Hilo airport, accompanied by Giese, he reminded me
of a flamboyant Santa Claus – a big jolly guy, with reddish rosey-colored
cheeks, thick white hair, wearing an over-sized aloha shirt, and with rings on
every finger… When he went to the
auto rental counter, the lady there wanted to know where he got the largest ring
he was wearing, with a huge green stone of jade or emerald.
“Oh, this ring was a gift from the Sultan of Brunei” Hy chimed humbly in response.
At the airport, Hy pulled out a thick wad of paper money… it looked
like all hundred-dollar bills. He
said to me: “Oh this is
nothing... Look what I’ve got in my briefcase.”
He then proceeded to open his briefcase, and to my astonishment, it was
packed full with $100 bills, all neatly arranged in little bundles. He
told me he had exactly $1 million in that briefcase, and also told me he usually
carried 2 or 3 times that amount with him in cash.
So we took off in a convertible Wrangler Jeep, with the top down, and drove up
the Hamakua coast about 20 or 30 miles, and then turned up a cane road for
several miles, before turning left on another dirt road.
We drove down the dirt road for some distance, passing a few homes here
and there, while looking out at the spectacular ocean view.
Finally, we arrived at the edge of the property for sale.
I pointed out to him where it began and the approximate dimensions.
He stepped out of the Wrangler Jeep to take a better look.
A stream crossed the roadway there.
I decided this was far enough to drive, on account of the stream, but Hy
wanted to have a closer look. So
the three of us got out of the Jeep, and walking on high-ground (on slippery
rocks), we managed to get across the stream.
After about another 100 yards, we came to the front gate of the property,
where there was a driveway up into the interior.
We set off hiking uphill. After
about 15 minutes of strenuous hiking uphill, Giese decided to take a rest… Hy
told Giese to wait there, and that he and I would continue hiking uphill...
After another 15 minutes of walking, we didn’t see anybody, and
weren’t sure we here we were, but off in the distance across the gully or
ravine (where a river went through), we could see another residence or two. Hy asked me to hike down the ravine, cross the river,
and hike up again, and get some sense of direction from the neighbors…
So like an obedient soldier, I took off, down the ravine, across the
river, and back up again… When I got to the nearest home, there was no one
there, so I set off to the next residence, some distance away.
At both places I yelled out loudly:
“Hello!! Is anybody
home?? Hello!! Hello?? Is anybody home??” But no one was there, so about 45 minutes later, I
finally returned to where I left Hy, who was sitting there under a tree in the
shade.… Then he and I continued to hike up the main driveway, for about
another half-mile, until we came to a dead-end narrow isthmus, surrounded by
deep canyons on 3 sides, actually a scary place, especially if you have
vertigo… So we turned around and
headed back, downhill. About
15 minutes later, we came up Giese, who had been there by herself for over
an hour, and about 15 minutes later, we were back at the Wrangler Jeep.
Altogether, we were gone from the Jeep about 2 hours!!
So what was the first thing I noticed?
Hy’s briefcase (with the million dollars in cash) was sitting on the
back seat of the open convertible (for about 2 hours!!)
At this point, Hy wanted to eat lunch.
So we drove 30 miles back to Hilo, and Hy was the first one to get out of
the car, and with Giese proceeded to enter the restaurant, but again left his
briefcase in the open Jeep. So
I decided to put the top on the Jeep, roll up the windows and lock the doors. As I was doing this, Hy yelled to ask me what was
taking me so long. I said, “Your
briefcase…” He yelled
back: “Don’t worry about
it!! No one’s gonna steal it.”
Vignette #2 (two pages)
I remember Hy kept trying to buy another property I had listed for sale.
He made the exact same offer to buy it, several times every year, for
about 7 years in a row… It was a 13-acre oceanfront property on Beach Road, with a
decrepit old shack at the top of the hill, owned by an old Hawaiian man whose
family had inherited the property back in the 1800’s in the Great Mahele,
through a land grant from the King of Hawaii.
The property had NEVER been sold in the history of Hawaii, and Hy liked
it as much as anything he found anywhere in Hawaii.
(He saw it in 1989 or 1990, before he lost his eyesight). The property had about 500 coconut palms around the
perimeter, about 50-75 feet tall, and the whole perimeter of the property was
bordered by a thick rock wall that was about 200 years old. It had a lawn like a golf course, and the approach to the
property was along a dirt road, through a picturesque canopy of trees, for about
a mile. There was a pasture
on the ocean next to it, another pasture next to that, and another pasture
across the road. Altogether,
on the 5-mile long coastal dirt road, there were no other homes!! The owner (70 yrs old) was the youngest child in
a family of 6 children, with 5 older sisters.
He inherited the property, but in the 1970’s, more than 100 relatives
challenged his ownership in court. The
family had never received a deed to the property, and the old Hawaiian man had
no legal documents that could prove he was the owner.
Anyhow, after a 5-year trial, he was awarded ownership through “adverse
possession.” (i.e., like
squatter’s rights). But now
it was for sale. The old
Hawaiian man would boast proudly: “It’s
ALL MINE!!! … ALL MINE!!!” Although
he had never seen more than about $10,000 dollars in his life, and although he
was born and raised there, and had lived there all his life (with no
electricity, no running water, no phone, and no TV), and in a decrepit house
that was literally caving in on him (it had been built with hand tools in the
1930’s), he was asking $3.9 million…
When we drove up, in the same Wrangler Jeep, the old man was so impressed with
the Jeep, he could hardly stop talking about what a nice vehicle it was, and
that he wished he owned one too, and where we got it, etc...
So I introduced the 2 of them, and Hy spent about an hour walking the premises,
all over the very scenic property. Hy
told him he wanted to buy it, and said he would pay him exactly $1.5 million in
cash, in 90-days. The old man
agreed. Hy asked me to write
up a 1-page contract right there on the spot, which I did. Hy told the old man that if he signed the agreement
that day, Hy would give him $100,000 cash deposit, and the next day (as a
bonus) the old man could go to any auto dealer in Hawaii, and buy himself any
brand-new 4-wheeel drive he wanted, the price didn’t matter!!!
Hy began to count out the $100,000 in $100 bills, on the hood of the
Jeep, in front of the old man… Suddenly, the old man told Hy to put the money
away. He said he wanted to
show it to his lawyer before he signed anything.
Several days later, he decided the offer was too low, and since he wanted
to net $2 million, that’s why the price was over $3 million.
Later, the price was lowered to $3.6 million… Hy still offered
$1.5 million… Later it was lowered to $3 million. Hy still offered $1.5
million. Then it was lowered
to $2.5 million. But Hy wouldn’t
budge from his offer price of $1.5 million.
Finally, years later, the price was lowered to $1.5 million, but now Hy
offered only $750,000. Finally,
several years later, the asking price was lowered to $700,000 but Hy now offered
only $400,000. Meanwhile,
that same year, I bought 84 acres kitty-corner to the old man, where I lived for
about 10 years… I also purchased
another 365 acres [with a mile of oceanfront] just down the road, but in 1998 I
ended up in bankruptcy and foreclosure.
So in 1998, after 2 bankruptcies and 2 foreclosures, I was facing eviction, as
well as auto repossession. I had no
money, no savings, no inheritance, and a wife and 5 children.
I thought what Hy Hunter would do in this situation.
So I decided to make an offer to purchase the same property, for $300,000
cash (I had been offered a loan of this amount).
The old Hawaiian man wouldn’t take $300,000 cash, but after several
weeks of negotiation, he finally agreed to sell it to me for $700,000 with only
$1,000 down and $1,000 a month for 3 years, and with no interest, then a
balloon.
Within a month, using no money of my own, I bought and sold 2 properties, more
than $1 million combined, with no money spent on either property, and
resold both of them, for about $100,000 profit, which saved my ass!!!
All this thanks to Hy’s inspiration…
I was the first one in the history of Hawaii ever to purchase this property, and
I bought and sold it without spending a penny from my own pocket!!!
Again, thanks to Hy’s inspiration…
(Hy was also my father’s name, by the way)…
I later learned that the old Hawaiian man had been trying to sell his property
for 31 years, since 1967 (until I bought it in 1998), and all he ever wanted was
to sell the property and realize the cash, and spend it.
What was he going to do with all that money?
He told me he planned to take the money to Las Vegas and gamble with
it!!!
The end of the story is this: in
the end, the old guy got nothing, because after I bought the property, his
relatives went to court, and declared him legally incompetent to control his own assets, and now they are
the legal guardian over all his possessions.
For him, the dream of Las Vegas is over… (and the poor old guy has no
children either!!!)
He should have sold it to Hy in 1990!!!
Rachel
and her mom (murdered by shotgun, about 1997, from one
or two feet away)... Mom and daughter murdered by mom's
ex-husband, or by ex-husbands' new wife who later died, while her husband was
serving time in prison, after he confessed to both murders... After his wife
died, he then told authorities that the reason he confessed to the murders was
to protect his own new wife (who had actually committed the crimes)... and there
was some evidence, or lack of evidence, to link him to the murders... so after
he served 7 years in prison, and his wife died, he was set
free).
Jerry and Judy Rothstein (killed in head-on car
accident on Queen Kaahumanu Highway, December 2004)...
Jim Miller (died 1991... i found out in 2005)... One
of the nicest guys i ever met, healthy, handsome, hardworking, generous,
religious, athletic, musically-talented, green-thumb gardener and organic
farmer, had everything going for him... Also, a devout Christian... and a
genius... He surprised me and other friends, when he left Hawaii to go back to
college at Stanford... Got a degree in electrical engineering!! He was
also a long-distance runner, and ran many miles every day... One day at his
annual physical check with his doctor, which he passed, the doctor asked him if
he didn't have any little pains anywhere, and Jim told him of a pain in his
ankle, which he thought was from running... so they had it X-rayed, and from
there more tests were done, and the doctor discovered he had a rare form of bone
cancer!!! Jim later told me that he went to multiple doctors and
specialists to have a second and third and fourth and fifth opinions, and
apparently he did have this rare form of cancer... I didn't see him at all for
several years, then i saw him down at Kealakekua Bay, boogie boarding, with just
one leg... All the doctors could do to save his life, was to amputate his leg,
at his knee!!! When i moved to other side of island in 1989, i lost
contact with him, but had been meaning to re-connect... At beach yesterday, i
met woman who said she used to live in Honaunau 30 years ago. I said i did
too, and then she introduced me as his wife... and that's how i learned he
passed away 14 years ago.
