Maui fire: Help my dad who lost everything
Donation protected
*** Over the past few days, the extent of loss is starting to crystallize. We are working with insurance, but, in anticipation of greater need, I am raising the goal to $25,000. Mahalo for your kokua. ***
My dad, Edwin (“Ed”) Bartholomew, lost his house and everything that he owned in the Lahaina, Maui, fire last week. He’s 77 and a local artist with an easy smile who can be found most weekends selling his paintings at a local art fair in Lahaina town. I’m hoping to help him raise money to rebuild his art supplies and his life, so he can make art again.
My dad was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Hawaii immediately after he graduated from college in the 1960s to pursue his first passion, oceanography, and marine biology. In the early 1990s, he started teaching biology at Lahainaluna High School (the oldest high school west of the Rocky Mountains), and moved to the gorgeous tight-knit community of Lahaina just two blocks from Front Street. Front Street and the surrounding blocks have been burned beyond recognition. If you have been to Front Street in Lahaina you know the wonderful, historic, and vibrant place it was, full of locals and tourists alike. It also was home to a bustling art scene. Lahaina’s history, natural beauty, and sense of community was an inspiration to, and held a special charm for its artists, like my dad. All of this is, now, unfathombly, gone.
My story begins on Maui, too, where I was born and raised. Art and natural beauty, including various sea creatures (with full explanations as to their biology) were part of every day life. But for more than a decade now, I’ve lived in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with my two children who will be attending MHS and Village School this fall. The three of us consider both Marblehead and Maui our home. This Marblehead-Maui connection runs deep, as the very first house we rented when we moved to town was on Front Street. When my dad comes to visit, you are likely to find him in Old Town, walking down Front Street, or hanging out at the Barnacle, as if he were on Maui’s Front Street. Marblehead is our home in Massachusetts and Lahaina is our home on Maui.
Luckily, my dad escaped from Lahaina. He was home in Lahaina that day, and, although he had lost cell service, he was able to track the fire’s progress based on the color of the smoke that he could see from his carport deck, originally built to watch the spectacular Hawaiian night sky. When the smoke was white, he assumed the fire was under control; but when it turned black he knew it was not. When he felt the heat from the fire, he jumped in his car and navigated east away from the fire, having grabbed only an overnight bag. Initially doubting his decision to leave, he turned around and backtracked, not understanding the peril he was in. Stopping back at a friend’s house, he found it abandoned, his friend having evacuated already. He then realized that his initial instinct was correct and that he needed to save himself. Which he, thankfully, did.
Anything you might be able to donate to help my dad rebuild his life and, particularly, to help him replace his art supplies, which included oils, watercolor, oil pastels, and soft pastels, so that he can continue to create art, would be greatly appreciated.
To learn a bit more about my dad, here is his artist profile on the Maui Arts Society web page: https://www.shopmauiart.com/artists-directory-edwin-f-bartholomew Artists directory - edwin f. bartholomew | Lahaina Arts Society (shopmauiart.com)
Mahalo for your generosity.
My dad, Edwin (“Ed”) Bartholomew, lost his house and everything that he owned in the Lahaina, Maui, fire last week. He’s 77 and a local artist with an easy smile who can be found most weekends selling his paintings at a local art fair in Lahaina town. I’m hoping to help him raise money to rebuild his art supplies and his life, so he can make art again.
My dad was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Hawaii immediately after he graduated from college in the 1960s to pursue his first passion, oceanography, and marine biology. In the early 1990s, he started teaching biology at Lahainaluna High School (the oldest high school west of the Rocky Mountains), and moved to the gorgeous tight-knit community of Lahaina just two blocks from Front Street. Front Street and the surrounding blocks have been burned beyond recognition. If you have been to Front Street in Lahaina you know the wonderful, historic, and vibrant place it was, full of locals and tourists alike. It also was home to a bustling art scene. Lahaina’s history, natural beauty, and sense of community was an inspiration to, and held a special charm for its artists, like my dad. All of this is, now, unfathombly, gone.
My story begins on Maui, too, where I was born and raised. Art and natural beauty, including various sea creatures (with full explanations as to their biology) were part of every day life. But for more than a decade now, I’ve lived in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with my two children who will be attending MHS and Village School this fall. The three of us consider both Marblehead and Maui our home. This Marblehead-Maui connection runs deep, as the very first house we rented when we moved to town was on Front Street. When my dad comes to visit, you are likely to find him in Old Town, walking down Front Street, or hanging out at the Barnacle, as if he were on Maui’s Front Street. Marblehead is our home in Massachusetts and Lahaina is our home on Maui.
Luckily, my dad escaped from Lahaina. He was home in Lahaina that day, and, although he had lost cell service, he was able to track the fire’s progress based on the color of the smoke that he could see from his carport deck, originally built to watch the spectacular Hawaiian night sky. When the smoke was white, he assumed the fire was under control; but when it turned black he knew it was not. When he felt the heat from the fire, he jumped in his car and navigated east away from the fire, having grabbed only an overnight bag. Initially doubting his decision to leave, he turned around and backtracked, not understanding the peril he was in. Stopping back at a friend’s house, he found it abandoned, his friend having evacuated already. He then realized that his initial instinct was correct and that he needed to save himself. Which he, thankfully, did.
Anything you might be able to donate to help my dad rebuild his life and, particularly, to help him replace his art supplies, which included oils, watercolor, oil pastels, and soft pastels, so that he can continue to create art, would be greatly appreciated.
To learn a bit more about my dad, here is his artist profile on the Maui Arts Society web page: https://www.shopmauiart.com/artists-directory-edwin-f-bartholomew Artists directory - edwin f. bartholomew | Lahaina Arts Society (shopmauiart.com)
Mahalo for your generosity.
Organizer and beneficiary
Ivy Walsh
Organizer
Lahaina, HI
Edwin Bartholomew
Beneficiary