TALK STORY
Shirley Dela Rosa: Fond memories of PCC
Shirley Dela Rosa grew up in Laie and worked at the Center as a teenager but later moved to American Samoa where she still lives today.
Aunty Kela: ‘so much history since we first started’
Aunty Kela Miller was born in Laie, learned hula from her ‘ohana, danced at the Hukilau, then became an original Hawaiian Villager and dancer at the PCC.
‘Aunty Val’: A PCC ‘living treasure’
Aunty Valetta Nepia Jeremiah from New Zealand devoted 50 years of her life to the Polynesian Cultural Center and was revered as a “living treasure.”
Tivakno Ieli Sievinen: “Truly grateful”
Tivakno Ieli Sievinen was originally from the small, remote island of Rotuma, a political dependency of Fiji with its own language and culture. (She passed away in July 2020.)
Ottley Wright: ‘PCC, like a family’
Ottley Wright — came to Laie in 1984 and worked at the PCC as a canoe tour and Laie Tour guide — at the Center’s 50th-anniversary reunion.
Beth McKinnon Hunt: ‘Kiwi & Kangaroo’ days
Before marrying George Hunt of Samoa, Beth McKinnon Hunt left Australia to attend Church College of Hawaii in 1963 and ended up dancing in the Polynesian Cultural Center night show.
