Amazing Mabel
reigns on Oahu’s trails

The forest enthusiast has proved
invaluable in finding lost hikers

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

Veteran hiker Mabel Kekina rushed and yelled to rescuers that Albert Lowe was alive after falling about 250 feet down a mountain slope.

"My heart was racing," said Kekina when Lowe answered his cellular phone after two rings.

With Kekina's assistance, rescuers spotted Lowe, 58, about 3,000 feet up Kamaileunu Ridge in Waianae and airlifted him to safety. That was last week.

Mabel Kekina

The week before, she was helping in the search for 78-year-old George Morishima, of Aiea, who went missing Dec. 29 while looking for bamboo shoots in Nuuanu Valley. His body was found six days later in a dry stream bed.

Since 1990, Kekina, who is in charge of trail maintenance for the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, has volunteered in several searches for missing hikers. Some ended successfully. Others ended tragically.

Over the years, she has kept a log of all the searches.

"I have all the pictures of everybody missing," Kekina said.

"I love to do tracking," she added. "If I do another search, I check to see what we did, what we could've done better."

Compassion for the families of missing hikers drives Kekina to actively participate in the searches, she said, recalling a search for 33-year-old Timothy Pantaleoni. He was last seen on June 28, 1995, riding his bike toward Maunawili Valley.

"When I went to search for Pantaleoni, just to see the look on his mother's face, I said I've got to try my best," Kekina said. "Being a mother myself, if one of my children were missing, I can't eat, I can't function." Pantaleoni was never found.

Fire-rescue and police officials commended Kekina for her assistance and vast knowledge of hiking trails.

"She is a valuable information resource," said Battalion Chief Craig Matthew, adding Kekina has been instrumental in organizing and keeping track of volunteers who assist in searches.

Investigator Phil Camero, of the Honolulu Police Department's Missing Persons Detail, said, "She is an amazing person."

Camero first met Kekina in August 1999 during the search for two Danish women who were lost in Kahana Valley.

"At first, I thought she was unusually curious," Camero said.

Nevertheless, Camero said, from the beginning, Kekina wanted to offer her services as well as the assistance of other hikers from the club.

Kekina said three volunteers, whom she stayed in contact with via a two-way radio, spotted Marianne Konnerup and Anitta Winther coming down a 2,265-foot mountain ridge after they responded to their calls.

"We know that Mabel and her group have already proved themselves. We welcome any information that they can provide, as well as their assistance," Camero said.

Kekina said she has learned never to assume that a missing hiker is not in an area that has already been searched.

"What somebody didn't see, maybe you will see. So go again and check," Kekina advised.

In the recent search for Morishima, Kekina was upset after she learned that his body was found in a ravine that had been searched by three of her volunteers two days earlier, on Jan. 2.

"They could've kicked themselves," she said. Kekina believed Morishima was wandering through the forest while a team searched the area.

The search for Morishima reminded her of the first search she volunteered for 13 years ago.

On Feb. 7, 1990, Adam Ravelo was last seen leaving his parents' home in Aiea. His pickup truck was found in a parking lot at the base of the Moanalua Valley trail. About two months later, Ravelo's remains were spotted in the valley.

Kekina recalled Ravelo was found in an area that was previously searched by hikers.

"He was found -- where we already searched -- months later," she said.

Kekina also recommends that those willing to help in a search who may be unfamiliar with an area yield to those who do know the area. Those not familiar with certain trails can end up getting lost themselves, she said.

Born and raised in Palolo, the 4-foot-11 Kekina, who now calls Aiea home, turns 75 on March 21. She considered herself a tomboy when she was a child. Her interests included hiking, football and swimming -- "all the rough things boys like to do."

She started hiking with the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club in August 1981. In June 1995 she retired from the Bank of Hawaii as a notary and customer services official after 36 years. Kekina has four children between ages 41 and 57.

And every Sunday, Kekina and members of the club's trail maintenance team head out to their assigned trail for upkeep duties.