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Pāmai was a cherished kūpuna, kumu hula, cultural practitioner, civic leader, mentor and friend whose life was devoted to the perpetuation of Hawaiian culture and to service to his lāhui. He was widely respected for his knowledge of hula, Hawaiian music, protocol,history and cultural traditions, and was recognized by the Hula Preservation Society as a Hula Master.

Pāmai considered it part of his life’s work to carry forward the legacy of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku and his wife, Nadine Alexander Kahanamoku. Since 1991, Pāmai led the annual lei draping of the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikīkī ensuring that Duke’s birthday and legacy were remembered with proper cultural observance. He served as an official liaison to the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation, teaching board members and scholarship recipients alike about the aloha spirit. Among his many legislative accomplishments, he was instrumental in passing laws making surfing Hawaiʻi's official individual sport and hula its official dance,as well as officially assigning each island a specific color and flower or lei. He championed the movement to create a Duke Kahanamoku stamp, which debuted in 2002, inspiring the creation of Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest, a water sports festival that continues to this day. He also served in support of the Nadine Alexander Kahanamoku Scholarship Program at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, helping perpetuate Nadine’s commitment to educational opportunities for Native Hawaiian students pursuing careers in medicine.

Among the respected kūpuna and teachers who guided and influenced him were Henry Moikehaokahiki Pa, Maddy Kaululehuaohaili Lam, Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona, Pat Namaka Bacon, Nathan Napoka, and Nadine Alexander Kahanamoku. As a kumu hula, Pāmai taught and led the hālau at Windward Community College for 17 years, sharing with his haumāna not simply the movements of hula, but its language, kaona,history, values, and meaning.

His commitment to hula reached far beyond Hawaiʻi.Beginning in 1990, Pāmai became closely associated with Ka Leo O Nā Hula, A.C. in Mexico, serving as a co-founder and longtime cultural adviser and becoming an important bridge between the hula community in Mexico and Hawaiʻi.

Pāmai was deeply committed to the Hawaiian Civic Club movement and belonged to three Hawaiian Civic Clubs: the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, Kalihi Pālama Hawaiian Civic Club, and Koʻolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club. Within Kalihi Pālama, he was a treasured member of our ʻohana, serving in leadership, including as an Alakaʻi/Director and Kahu, and generously sharing his cultural knowledge and guidance. In 2019, Ke One O Kakuhihewa honored him with its Kukui Lama Kū recognition for his extraordinary cultural and community service.

In 2025, Pāmai was further honored by the ʻAha Hīpuʻu as a Kalani Aliʻi Award nominee, recognizing a lifetime of cultural leadership, community service and dedication to the perpetuation of Hawaiian traditions and values.

Pāmai served on Hawaiʻi’s Tourism Training Council for many years and, according to Lisa Sato (Star-Bulletin, 2001) he also” ran a one-man tour company for 3 1/2 years, preaching world peace as he shuttled visitors to Punchbowl's National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and Pearl Harbor… In the early 1980s, Tenn accompanied Morrnah Simeona… to the United Nations, where she gave hoʻoponopono workshops to delegates and their staff…And years ago when the state Capitol was erected,it was Tenn, who as traffic manager of Honolulu Iron Works arranged the transport of the Capitol's large, circular state seals, one of which is visible from Beretania Street.”

Pāmai lived his life with a simple saying:

“Moment to moment.”

Those words now seem especially meaningful. They remind us to treasure the people we love and the moments we are given together.

Pāmai leaves a remarkable legacy—in the hula he taught, the ʻike he shared, the organizations he served, the cultural bridges he built, and most importantly, in the many lives he touched. His teachings and aloha will continue through his haumāna, friends, family and the generations who follow.

We extend our deepest aloha and condolences to Pāmai’s ʻohana, his haumāna, his fellow cultural practitioners, his Hawaiian Civic Clubs and aliʻi ʻohana, and the many friends throughout Hawaiʻi and beyond whose lives were blessed by knowing him.

Mahalo to Leimomi Khan for penning the original obituarythis post is based from.

Information regarding services will be shared here as soon as it becomes available.

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More articles about Pāmai:

https://archives.starbulletin.com/2001/05/06/news/story8.html

https://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Aug/21/ln/ln01a.html

https://www.honolulumagazine.com/keepers-of-the-kaona-how-these-6-kumu-preserve-hawaiis-hula-traditions/

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