Her life’s performance
supported culture in Hawaii

Charlotte McLean Cades / Isle arts enthusiast

SEE ALSO: OBITUARIES

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By Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.com

Charlotte McLean Cades, a ballet and modern dancer and longtime supporter of the arts in Hawaii, died at her Oahu home last Friday. She was 96.

Her death followed that of her husband of 63 years, attorney J. Russell Cades, by less than a week.

Cades' son, University of Hawaii professor Ian McLean Cooke, said they had been "a very close-knit couple all their lives," and, until a few weeks ago, enjoyed good mental and physical health.

In her autobiography, written in 1988 about her marriage to Cades, she said, "My life had found a plateau of happiness, serenity and growth based on a companionship with matched enthusiasms, especially for the various arts -- literary, visual, and musical, which has never stopped growing, which is fed by all our experiences."

She was born in San Francisco, but her family moved to Honolulu days before the great earthquake of 1906.

She graduated from Punahou School in 1924 and attended the University of Hawaii until 1926 when she married her first husband, Douglas A. Cooke, a plant physiologist.

After a short time in Europe, she returned to Honolulu in 1930 and supervised the design and building of a residence on Makiki Heights Drive that was later to become the residence of the late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, according to Cades' son.

In 1938 she married Cades -- a prominent attorney with the law firm now called Cades Schutte Fleming & Wright.

She and her husband maintained horses and rode at their Palehua mountain retreat above Makakilo until both were approaching 90, Cooke said.

She served on the Citizens Advisory Board of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

With the founding of the Contemporary Museum, she joined the core of docents in 1988 where she escorted visitors until 1997.

Cades is also survived by son Russell McLean Cades and five grandchildren.

Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Contemporary Museum, the Honolulu Academy of Arts or the Cades Foundation, P.O. Box 939, Honolulu, HI 96808. Plans for a memorial observance for Cades and her husband are pending.