1961 - 2008

Funeral

A funeral service for Melinda Hanohano is scheduled for Sept. 6 at the Hawaiian Cultural Center, 741 W. Smelter St., in Midvale. Time to be announced next week. For details, call 801-562-5642.

On their first date in summer 1979, Neal Hanohano took Melinda to the movies in Provo, where he spilled fruit punch on his white T-shirt.

She gave him her white sweater to wear. She must have not thought too much about the mess. She married Neal two years later.

The couple spent the next 27 years side by side - raising four kids, coaching soccer and volunteering.

"We were really, really close - almost as one," Neal said.

Until now.

Melinda Hanohano - president of the foundation that oversees the Hawaiian Cultural Center - died Thursday morning in her Orem home as she was getting ready for work. She was 47.

The cause of death was unknown as of late Friday. She didn't have cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure or any major health problem. Melinda's death was a "very big surprise" for the couple's four grown children and four grandkids, Neal said.

Melinda, a Hawaii native, was one of the founding members, in 2002, of the Ka Lama Mohala Foundation in Utah. It solicited funding and led the way for the 2006 opening of the Hawaiian Cultural Center in Midvale.

A full-time office manager at a concrete company, Melinda served on the foundation board and volunteered at the center because she was passionate about her culture and making sure it was maintained even away from the islands, friends said.

She assisted in hula classes. She taught workshops on how to make leis and ipu hekes - instruments made out of gourds. And she and Neal recently went to California to pick up two donated canoes, said the center's manager, Kathleen Ku'ulei Madsen.

"She was a friend to everyone and made people feel welcomed," she said in a phone interview Friday.

Larry Leong, a center volunteer and Melinda's cousin who grew up down the street from her in Hawaii, said she was a good problem solver and "always found the best in people."

"She had the ability to rationalize and listen before making a decision," he said. "She was always worrying about someone else before herself."

Melinda moved from the island to Idaho for college in 1980. After getting married a year later, the couple moved to Hawaii to raise their family. She worked at a craft shop and later in a photography store, where she brought her kids with her to care for them, Neal said.

The family moved to the mainland in 1992, and to Utah six years later.

Melinda made uniforms for the kids, baby blankets for relatives and crafts to sell for extra cash, Neal said. Regardless of the length of a car ride, she was often knitting.

Neal's favorite treat Melinda made? A cheesecake topped with red JELL-O.

"She always had to keep her hands busy," he said, adding that Melinda was his best friend. The only time they spent apart was when they were working.

"She was just so awesome, and she was beautiful."

jsanchez@sltrib.com