Off Track: Hawaii Aloha

From the Images of Old Hawaii website

Ordained a Congregational minister at Auburn Seminary in 1831, Lyons sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, in November 1831, arriving in the South Kohala district of the island of Hawaii in 1832. His Waimea parish eventually included the districts of Kohala and Hamakua, making it the largest mission station in Hawaii. During his tenure, he was responsible for erecting 14 churches. He also served as district postmaster from 1858 until his death.

For more than 100 years, love of the land and its natural beauty has been the poetry Hawaiian composers have used to speak of love. Hawaiian songs also speak to people’s passion for their homeland and their beliefs.”

He was a citizen of the Islands and fluent in the English and Hawaiian languages. He composed many Hawaiian poems and songs. He wrote a song that expressed feelings for the Islands; shared my many, then and now.

Next time you and others automatically stand, hold hands and sing this song together, you can thank an American Protestant missionary, Lorenzo Lyons, for writing Hawai‘i Aloha.

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