Robert Lopaka Keakealani
Year Inducted: 2003
Pu`u Wa`Awa`A Ranch | Hawai'i
Robert was born at Ka`ulupulehu, Hawai`i. At the age of 14, he started work at Pu`uwa`awa`a Ranch for the Hind family as a dairy boy. He was to devote 51 years of his life to that ranch.
The cowboy life at Pu`uanahulu was especially hard in the dry season when it became a desolate area. Over the years Robert saw the different lessees come and go and the many ideas that prospered and failed. But Robert endured because, in the words of his grand daughter, he was a “true hard-core cowboy”.
He was also her biggest idol. A man who provided for his family by hard work and gathering from the mountains and the sea, Robert and his wife raised their family of three children on meager resources yet managed to send all three to college.
A providing husband, a nurturing father, Loving grandfather and great-grandfather, Robert was happiest around the animals and continuing working on the ranch even after retiring. He is remembered as a gentle giant, a man of few words, with lots of humility, patience and aloha for all.
“E ho`i na keiki o ki uaua o na pali”
“Home go the very tough lads of the hills”
These lads of the hills were the cowboys of Pu`uwa`awa`a and Pu`uanahulu who were known for their endurance.