Founder of volunteer home repair group dies

For 15 years the Fabulous Seven fixed Waialua neighbors' homes for fun and tips

The Fabulous Seven, a group of retired Waialua friends who have helped relatives and neighbors with free home repairs for 15 years, have lost their founding member.

Samuel Aricayos, a longtime supervisor at the former Waialua Sugar Co., died Nov. 20 at Kaiser Medical Center of complications from liver cancer, said his daughter Edeline Abregano. He was 78, and the third member of the group who has died.

In 1991, Aricayos, an electrician, formed the Fabulous Seven club, bringing together two welders, two plumbers, a mechanic and a carpenter to go around Waialua fixing and renovating homes of family members and close friends, said Frank Galbiso, an 80-year-old mechanic and painter with the group.

He said while the retirees performed free labor, asking only for materials and parts, they would sometimes receive tips.

"The seven of us retired and we all had different trades," he said about the club, which was named after the Society of Seven performing arts group. "We'd make side money cleaning yards and fixing friends' houses. They paid us a little bit, we saved that money and we once went to Las Vegas."

Aricayos' death was the third within the group. The first Fabulous Seven member to die was plumber David Repollo in 1995, followed by Ponciano Lavarias, a welder who died in 2004.

Salvador Gemeno, a 79-year-old carpenter, recalled Aricayos as a "very, very nice man."

"He was a very active man. He'd always help us out," said Gemeno, who pulled out of the group in 2001 for health reasons despite being urged to stay. "He was a wonderful man. He did a lot of things for us."

Aricayos was born in Puukolii, Maui, and moved to Oahu at the age of 14, said his daughter Cynthia Datanagan. While attending Waialua High School, he met his wife, Mercedes, with whom he had five daughters and three sons. He worked as a supervisor at Waialua Sugar Co. for about 40 years before retiring, Datanagan said.

Last year, just days after celebrating their 57th wedding anniversary, Mercedes Aricayos died of complications from a brain aneurysm during the Thanksgiving holiday, Abregano said.

Datanagan said her father "would light up the fire for the heaters in Puukolii camp so when the plantation workers came home, they were able to have hot water for their baths."

Patricio Erroc, an 80-year-old former mechanic at Schofield Barracks, said he joined the Fabulous Seven after being referred by a friend to repair water pipes at Aricayos' home.

"He and I were like brothers," said Erroc, who migrated to Hawaii from the Philippines in the late 1940s. "He took care of me and I took care of him."

Besides their work, the group spent time playing cards and competing in fishing tournaments that awarded cash "for the people who caught the big fish and also the smallest fish," Erroc said with a chuckle. Now, with only three active Fabulous Seven members, the group is "taking it easy," but they continue to meet every Thursday morning at the McDonald's restaurant in Haleiwa. Membership is still $5 a month, Erroc said, with the money paying for activities or even a future trip to Las Vegas.

"We still maintain our club," he said. "But if it's too big of a job, I say get it from outsiders. Before, when I was young, I could tackle it."

Kanji Nakamura, 80, a welder with the group, said he and Aricayos repaired bathrooms, floors and "houses, a lot of them."

"Samuel was a very popular man," he said, "a very good man."

Aricayos is survived by sons Samuel, Stanley and Stuart; daughters Diane Kalama, Datanagan, Abregano, Beverly Aricayos and Colleen Sabarre; 23 grandchildren; and 25 great-grandchildren.

Services are from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday at St. Michael's Church. Visitation and burial services are from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Mililani Mortuary mauka chapel. Casual attire. Flowers are welcome.