JONETTE "JONI" FABRAO / 1939-2005

Kalihi activist founded
Kamaiki Anuenue

Jonette "Joni" Fabrao started Kamaiki Anuenue preschool in Kalihi Valley in the 1960s. It was her response to learning that the family income just barely disqualified her children from attending an existing preschool for low-income housing residents.

"That was the beginning of her community service," said daughter Chandra Lee Satele. It reflected the lifelong service orientation of her mother, who was a Kalihi-Palama activist for years and continued in that role when the Fabraos moved to Waianae.

She was an advocate for people in her job, too. She was employed since 1989 by ARC in Hawaii, most recently as caregiver and manager at Pearl City apartments for the disabled.

Fabrao, of Hawaii Kai, died June 13 in Straub Hospital. She was 65.

"She wanted betterment for her family and other people," said Satele. "Our home was a community center." Besides her own four children, the family listed 17 people as Fabrao's hanai children.

Fabrao held positions on the Kalihi Palama Community Council and the Kalihi-Palama Model Cities Program and on planning and recreation advisory boards for the area. She was a co-founder of the milk co-operative serving families in Kuhio Park Terrace and other Kalihi housing projects, and founder of the Kalihi Palama Hawaiian Civic Club. She was active in the Aloha Pono Lions Club.

She was president of Waianae Uluwehi Community Association, which successfully challenged state housing authorities to repair apartments there after walls buckled and leaked in heavy rains. "My mom got her facts together, fought Hawaii Housing Authority, made them responsible," said Satele. "It went on for years and the homes finally got fixed with aluminum siding."

Her survivors include husband Raymond C.; son Raymond; daughters Chandra Lee Satele, Raechelle Fabrao and Kimberly Fabrao-Iverson; brother Hamilton McCubbin; sister Carol Makahanaloa; and nine grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday at Mililani Mortuary in Waipio. Friends may call from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in Mililani Memorial Park.