In this blog post, I will write about 3 people that I've met in my life that have died earlier this year.
Uncle Victor
Victor Cardona was the brother of my late grandma Ramona Wegesend (previously named Ramona Caban).
I've only met him a few times when I was a kid, then I haven't seen him for years, basically because he lived on another island (Maui). The only time I saw him during my adulthood was my grandma's funeral in 2019. At the funeral, he made an impromptu speech towards the end of the service about his relations with my grandma.
An interesting thing about meeting him at the funeral was that he was friends with the family of one of my former students from my substitute teaching days, so I was able to meet that former student again at the funeral. By then, that student already graduated from high school, and we compared notes about our lives after I was subbing at the school.
My grandma's funeral was the last time I saw Uncle Victor. He passed away earlier this month.
It's times like these I wish I met with my extended family more.
Jeffrey Apaka
Jeffrey Apaka was known in Hawaii as a Hawaiian musician who entertained audiences at various hotels in Waikiki, as well as the son of another legendary Hawaiian musician Alfred Apaka.
He also had a day job at Waikiki Community Center (WCC) as the director of community relations. That was where I met him. WCC has a preschool where I spent some time as a substitute teacher (mostly from 2007-2010), and I used to always see him walking around. He was definitely filled with Aloha Spirit and good cheer. He made everyone at WCC feel like a part of the family.
Learn more about this legendary man at
Mark Anthony Garcia
I actually know multiple people with the name "Mark Garcia", so let me be specific, this Mark Garcia was a former high school classmate. from my time at McKinley High School (should be renamed Honolulu High School) in the late 90's.
I remember he was in my Marine Science class. He was a funny guy and likes to joke around with people. During free time, he saw me reading the Source Magazine and we would talk about hip-hop music.
My favorite memory was in a pep rally, I would cheer on the seniors and he told me "calm down" and I'm like "aren't you a junior?" Fun times!
I found him on Facebook and we were on each other's friend's list, but he hasn't posted much in recent years so I was out of the loop on what's going on in his life. I found out about his death from one of our mutual friends (another former classmate), and I later learned from one of his relatives (who happened to be a former co-worker) that he had heart problems.
Sad to see someone around my age die so young.
