Don’t Worry, Live Long, Kamaaina Centenarian Says

Sprightly Citizen of 104 Calls at Tribune Office, Tells Longevity Secret

Do you think you have any chance of living more than a hundred years?

Follow the simple, temperate and non-worrying habits of N. K. Kiaaina, of Wahiawa, Hanapepe, Koloa, and you may go beyond the century mark. Kiaaina will be 104 years old the 21st of next month. So far as is known he is the oldest inhabitant of the Island of Hawaii.

He was born at Waimea, Kauai, in 1817, three years before the English missionaries arrived in Kailua, Kona, and two years before the death of Kamehameha I. His full name is Namaielua Kaikioewa Kiaaina, having been named after the governor, or high chief, of the Island of Kauai at the time of his birth.

He came to the Island of Hawaii in 1852 with his cousin, George Lalakea. In his early days he worked in his uncle’s blacksmith shop in Kauai and later acted as assistant to T. K. Lalakea, who sold paiai, or hard poi, over the Island of Hawaii.

Mr. Kiaaina, who lives alone on a small piece of land where he raises taro and bananas and farms on a small scale, was a caller at the Tribune office Saturday morning. Although his hair and beard are white, he is still sprightly, although bent with age. He says he has no serious ailments and from all appearances he is good for at least another decade. There are two other natives and one white man one the Island who are more than 100 years old.

(Hilo Daily Tribune, 3/6/1921, p. 1)

Hilo Daily Tribune, Volume 25, Number  54, Page 1. March 6, 1921.