When Leanne first interviewed for a frontline position with HPPA at our Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site store on the Kohala Coast of Hawaiʻi Island, she remembers being in survival mode. “I was surviving, not thriving, in my life then,” she says. Long days at her retail department store job, unpredictable shifts, and constant exhaustion had become her “normal”. Her niece Rebecca, a ranger at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on the southeast side of the island, came to visit during a lunch break. As they talked, Rebecca said plainly, “Auntie, this job is killing you.” Then she mentioned that HPPA at Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site was hiring for the visitor center store.
Leanne remembers asking, “Where’s Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site?” It turned out that she had been going very near there her whole life, camping nearby at Spencer Beach Park with her family. In those days, she says, you had to pass through the site, literally between the Puʻukoholā and the Mailekini heiau (temples), to get to the beach on an old road that no longer exists. She knew there was a heiau there, a place to be respected, but she did not yet understand its full significance. Growing up in Hilo Town on the far east side of the island, that deeper Hawaiian cultural knowledge had not been part of her community story.
Coming to work for HPPA at Puʻukoholā Heiau NHS changed that. “I feel like I’ve come full circle,” she says. Through her time in this position, she says she has gained a deeper understanding of a place that had always been part of her landscape, even if she did not know its meaning for a long time. She says, “It took this job to do that.”
Leanne speaks with gratitude about her role and the sense of purpose she feels there. She describes it as “a blessing”, especially because she is committed to sharing the Hawaiian culture as she continues to learn more about it herself. The people who work at HPPA and for the National Park Service, the resources available to her, and the collective knowledge around her have shaped her. And visitors love her. She has read nearly every book carried in the store and has so much to contribute to their questions about the site, the island, the culture. “What a privilege it is to help visitors learn about so much they never knew,” she says.
When she first applied, Leanne imagined herself in a simple quiet bookstore with nice air conditioning (always a plus on the hot Kohala Coast.) What she found was something much, much bigger. “I had no idea where this job would take me,” she reflects. Today, she feels a deep sense of ownership and connection. “This is my park. I love it. It feels like home.”
Learn all about Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site here.
You can shop the park site here.
