Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 6, 1 August 1984 — Young Widow Realizes Dream of Operating Her Own Hotel [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Young Widow Realizes Dream of Operating Her Own Hotel

By Jalna keala Community Resource Coordinator Just as the stately Norfolk pine has heeome part of the Lana'i landscape, so has the present hotel symbolized shelter and hospitality for over 60 years. Built originally around 1921 for the bachelor supervisors of the young Dole Pineapple Company, the facility has evolved over the years from a company boarding house to the small, pleasant hotel currently owned and operated by a Lana'i kamaaina. Alberta Morita DeJetley worked at the former Lana'i Inn as a student attending Lana'i High School, and even then thought about what she might do with it if she were the owner. The years after graduation in 1963 led to a short stay at the University of Hawaii, and eventually to employment in the hotel industry in Hilo, South Kohala, Waikiki, New Zealand and Hana. It also meant marriage to Hotel Hana-Maui general manager Tony DeJetley and the birth of two sons, David, 13, a student at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, and Tony-George, 8, attending Lana'i Elementary School. In 1980 DeJetley was living in Hana when she heard that the owners of Lana'i's only hotel were retiring and the lease for the hotel was available. Within 36 hours DeJetley had pulled together enough facts and figures for a loan proposal to the Bank of Hawaii, Waikiki Branch. Received favorably, DeJetley's proposal became the basis of a loan eommitment whieh made her a hotel owner. She still marvels at the expression of confidence from the bank in granting her a loan at a time of fiscal austerity throughout the country. It was in 1981, too, that DeJetley was suddenly widowed, and becoming owneroperator of her own hotel took on new meaning as an av enue for her energy and experience. Now named Hotel Lana'i, there are 10 guest rooms — tiny, but absolutely spotless. There are personal touches throughout the hotel from flower-scented air fresheners in eaeh bathroom to fresh fiowers daily on eaeh dining table. Everyone smiles a lot, and there is a temptation

to leave hotel room doors open just as you do at home. Colors throughout the hotel are light and warm, including the dining room whieh still leaves the impression of dark, polished wood. The porch offers tables to sit and write postcards, or lounges to share an evening cocktail and watch the sun set through the pines. Fully screened, it also allows a view of the town's activities just down the road a-ways. Artwork and paintings are plentiful and are part of DeJetley's personal art gallery. A magnificent pair of carved horses guard a rarity in Hawaiian public dining rooms — a large fireplace, well utilized in eool Lana'i City. DeJetley's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Morita, still live on the island where Morita brought his family from Molokai'i when third child, Alberta, was six years old. There are eight Morita offspring, five girls and three boys, a handsome blend of Hawaiian-German-Jap-anese ethnicity who made Lana'i home when their father accepted a job as a game warden there. Prior to that they had been at Puko'o, Moloka'i with expert lauhala weaver Grandmother Grace Haaheo KaawaKauo Kahoohuli Hagemann, whom DeJetley remembers with warmth and admiration. Anita Hagemann Morita, her mother, makes leis from the akulikuli flowers in her garden several times a

week, and it's a fortunate hotel guest that is gifted with one of these lovely creations. DeJetley likes her location because it's so centralized, and finds her guests extremely interesting. She says that Lana'i people are really beautiful, and just as she told her sons when they moved from Hana, they have had fun. DeJetley feels that development on Lana'i is inevitable, and wants to be in a position to influence development so that it is eompatible with the personalized, low-key lifestyle of the kamaaina residents. She

wants to be able to look around Lana'i 20 years from now and know with pride that she helped deliver quality development and livable environment. A raft trip down the Na Pali coast and canoeing down the Hanalei River of Kaua'i are part of the summer plans for DeJetley, sharing with her sons a youthful dream of knowing and understanding Hawaii intimately. To quote DeJetley, "Wherever I hang my hat is home, and I believe in being happy there. For me, Lana'i is a niee plaee to be."

Alberta Morita DeJetlev

This is a section of the spic and span Hotel Lana'i dining room.