Long after fire’s anniversary passes, memories will remain for families of victims

LAHAINA — Trixy Nuesca-Ganer was doing what she loves to do on Friday at the Lahaina Civic Center, 366 days after she lost her uncle David Nuesca Jr. in the Lahaina wildfire.

Nuesca-Ganer was a volunteer and was serving folks at the county’s “Aloha for Kūpuna of Lahaina” gathering in the gymnasium. The activity allowed her a little respite from the loss of her uncle, but at the same time offered an opportunity to reminisce about him as well.

“It helps me heal, seeing the kūpuna, they’re everything, right? Our kūpuna and our keiki, we take care of them and I’m right in between, being able to give back to my community that has given me so much during this time,” Nuesca-Ganer said. “It feels good.”

Nuesca-Ganer said the passing of the one-year mark of the fire that claimed at least 102 lives in West Maui had allowed her to heal a bit as she remembered her mother’s brother, who was 59.

“I feel better today, I can let him go,” she said. “These activities or these events that they’ve had for us has been healing and it’s a good thing.”

The gathering featured local musicians playing while several hula halau performed, as well as bingo and breakfast. It was also time for camaraderie and to talk story. Nuesca-Ganer was thankful to be there.

“I just asked (to volunteer) because I think it is important for us to give back even though we are trying to heal, this is the best way to heal, is giving back,” she said.

When asked what her uncle would have thought of the festivities and Nuesca-Ganer’s part in it, she said, “I think he would be proud of me and he’d be proud of everything that Lahaina has done this far.”

Nuesca-Ganer, who is the director of stewarding at the Hyatt-Regency Maui and the girls volleyball head coach at Lahainaluna High School, said that the nine events of the Kuhinia Maui gatherings organized by the county was a large way of furthering the healing process. 

“It will be a slow road, but I think we’re on the track that we need to be,” Nuesca-Ganer said. “It’s hard, everybody is going through their grieving process different. Grief never goes away, you just learn how to manage it. One day at a time, one moment at a time.”

Asked if time passing has helped, Nuesca-Ganer said, “Absolutely. I can manage it better now.”

Nuesca-Ganer and her family lost three homes on their property in the fire and now lives with her daughter in Waihe‘e. The daily commute to her job is between 45 minutes on good days and two hours or more on bad days, “depending on the surf,” she said. “It’s been definitely life-changing, but we have to do what we have to do to keep it moving.”

Nuesca-Ganer said her family is moving through their process of losing her uncle in different ways.

“We’re all kind of maneuvering through our grief differently,” she said. “Some have been able to move on and let him be at rest and peace. I think collectively we just try to remember the good things and not focus on the loss.”

Charmaine Nuesca-Ganer, Trixy’s mother and David Jr.’s sister, is coping with the loss with her strong will.

“One day at a time, but she is a rock,” Trixy Nuesca-Ganer said of her mother, adding “being able to volunteer at an event like this helps me and my heart to heal because I get to see my community, the community I love.”

Trixy’s daughter Elizabeth Ganer is 14 years old and a freshman at Baldwin High School. There are times that the memories of her grand uncle are hard for the youngster.

David Nuesca Jr. watched over the family’s three-home property in Wahikuli before all three homes burned in the fire. 

“She has her ups and her downs, she was close to him — she has her moments,” Trixy Nuesca-Ganer said of her daughter. “When she gets quiet, that’s when I know she misses him the most. He was like our home security system and they were very close.”

‘HARD TIME SLEEPING AT NIGHT’: STILL ON THE ROAD TO CLOSURE  

Lahainaluna head football coach Dean Rickard, a 34-year veteran of the Maui Police Department who retired as acting chief in 2021, lost four family members in the fire.

Rickard lost his mother-in-law Virginia Dofa, 90; his brother-in-law’s mother, Louise Abihai, 97; and two cousins, Donna Gomes, 71; and Coleen Jones, 59 — all were from Lahaina.

“It’s been very, very difficult knowing that we’re coming up on the anniversary and it’s been — the most recent relative we put to rest was in June — and it brought closure that we were able to put them to their final rest, but at the same time coming up to August 8th we didn’t really know what to expect other than that same old ‘we miss them,’ of course,” Rickard said via phone on Thursday morning from Lunas practice. “Even the grandchildren are asking about their grandma, but like we always tell them ‘keep them in your hearts, keep them in your memories.’ That’s all we can do right now.”

Rickard’s wife Stephanie has been hard hit as the Aug. 8 date drew near.

“Yeah, it’s been difficult. I can’t say it’s been easy, I can’t say it will ever be easy,” Dean Rickard said. “I can see, especially with my wife, as we got closer to the anniversary, that it’s going to impact her significantly and my sisters- and brothers-in-law as well. As it does, the entire community, no doubt.”

Dofa and Abihai lived at the Hale Mahaolu, the senior independent care facility on Lahainaluna Road.

“Their bodies were both recovered with two or three others that didn’t get out of there in time,” Dean Rickard said. “The way they passed, the tragedy of it, that’s what makes it more difficult to really accept. It wasn’t like a natural way of passing and that’s the hard part to deal with, not knowing what they went through in those last, last minutes. 

“And nobody really wants to talk about it — and understandably so — nobody wants to imagine what they must have gone through before passing. And that’s the hardest part.”

Dean Rickard has leaned on his large family for support.

“That’s why you have each other, for support, support each other, that’s what family is for,” he said. “We’re doing the best that we can.”

Gomes was the final of the four family members that the Rickards laid to rest, less than two months ago.

“Everybody was having funerals, you’re talking about 102 people,” Dean Rickard said. “And making sure it was an opportunity for family members to be able to be here that were on the Mainland.”

Rickard said his professional background in police work has helped him be cognizant of his own mental health.

“I’m hanging in there, I think for me, you know, it may come across to my family or people that know me that I’m a nonchalant guy, but I have a hard time sleeping at night,” he said. “It’s not like I don’t think about it, but at the same time I think my job, what I did for 34 years before I retired from law enforcement, actually helped out in critical, crisis-type situations, but at the same time it doesn’t exclude me from becoming emotional. It taxes on my mental state as well, but at the same time I know I’ve got to hold strong for myself and family and everybody else.”

Ten of 18 coaches for Lahainaluna football, including Rickard, lost their homes in the fire and more than half of the 2023 roster on the team did as well.

“That’s what it was because they are my support group, the (Lahainaluna) coaches that were involved, we support each other,” Rickard said. “Players help me by being out on the field just as much as we help them. … That’s what it’s all about, being able to lean on each other.”

‘MY MIND IS STILL IN LAHAINA’: LIVING FOR LOST LOVED ONES

University of Hawai‘i senior wide receiver Karsyn Pupunu played in all 13 games last season for the Warriors, including three starts. The Kamehameha Schools Maui graduate who was born and raised in Kahana finished 2023 with five catches for 71 yards.

He lost his father’s sister and her husband, Faaoso, 70, and Maluifonua Tone, 73; their daughter Salote Takafua, 39, and her son, Tony Takafua, 7, the youngest to perish in the fire. They were found in a burned-out car near their home. 

“Right now, my mind is still in Lahaina and I’m getting better, but it also gives me more motivation to come out every day and just have that in my mind, that I’m supporting Lahaina and I’m playing for Lahaina,” Pupunu said. “So, that makes it easier for me to go out on the field every day and play with that mindset. For sure, it drives me. It just makes it easier for me to go out and play knowing that I’m playing for my home and supporting the people back home.”

Kimo Holo Holt-Mossman, a senior defensive back and special teams player for UH who hails from Kula, did not lose a loved one or his home in the first but he took special pride in helping his fellow Mauian through hard times a year ago.

“For me, it was just being there for Kars,” said Holt-Mossman, who is also a KSM graduate. “Because I remember that practice like it was yesterday for me, just going in that locker room and me and Karsyn went to the field in the morning. That morning he just told me that, ‘Oh, Lahaina, this happened.’ The night before me and him was talking about it, but we didn’t really think anything of it because there’s always fires in Lahaina. It was that time, the dry season, so, ‘Oh, it’s just another fire.’ It was hard because he showed me videos and before going up to the grass field for practice and me and him were just in shock.

“It was hard because you just find out all that stuff at practice and then he had to come back to the locker room after practice and heard about his family. … We really do have one braddahood and we’re always there for each other. We’re really close, the whole team, but me and Kars being the only Maui boys on the team, we’re very close.”

‘WHO IS ALIVE NOW?’: RECONNECTING WITH FRIENDS AFTER FIRE 

Darcel Gilbert, 73, has lived in Lahaina since 1980 and was at the Lahaina Civic Center for the breakfast festivities on Friday. 

“It was awesome — it’s very hard to reconnect with people because we’ve split and separated all over the island, all over the state, all over the country,” Gilbert said. “So, you almost come here to say, ‘Oh, who is alive now?’ I knew couple dozen people who died. I live in Kā‘anapali Vista, it’s right on the other side of the civic center. So, we were evacuated, but last week was the first time I drove through town and it was amazing because there’s nothing there.

“This tells you that the people are still here. Getting and seeing the people who are remaining, who are still here was truly important because unless you see someone in Costco or somewhere else on the island you don’t even know if they are still alive. So this was special, I got to see more people and you just hug everyone you see. Lahaina was a living thing, too, so that loss will never change.”

Tom Gourley, 75, has lived in Lahaina for eight years. He accompanied Gilbert to the festivities on Friday.

“This was very nice, a great way for people to connect again, especially those who haven’t seen each other,” Gourley said. “It was very friendly, very upbeat and good feelings. … I don’t know about the rebuilding, it should be safe, it should be functional, it should help people who live here.”

Gourley then pointed to the tall, dry grass right near his car behind the civic center.

“The main thing is that grass, all that grass needs to be cut down, that grass is all over the mountain, it hasn’t changed,” he said. “Big land owners have not cut the grass down. I’ve cut my grass down and I’ve built a rock wall, but that’s not going to save anybody. They need to cut that grass.”