This month, our family commemorates the 32nd anniversary of the passing of our Granny, Lena Machado, on Jan. 22, 1974. We are the surviving children of her daughters, Catherine and Rose, whom she raised as her own, and we are proud of the legacy she has left us in her music and in her continued celebrity.

Granny was a world traveler who not only wrote her own songs, but recorded them on her own label. Besides copyrighting her compositions, Granny copyrighted the title "Songbird of Hawai'i," as radio announcers began calling her in her early years as a singer.

She also scheduled her own bookings. One that we recall fondly was her gig at the Niumalu Hotel, which sat on part of the property that is now the Hilton Hawaiian Village. These were our early days with Granny, learning what show business was all about for her, from the hustle and bustle backstage to her flawless performance in front of an audience.

Granny always had four main dancers in her shows. During the Niumalu days, they were Nani Castro, Joanie Lindsay, Kawehi Makini and Gertie (Pi'olani) Motta. These were her original hula girls. We'd watch as the dancers ran to the bungalow for a costume change, then race back to the nightclub for their next number. ... She would usually come back only once during her performance, to change her holomu'u. While rushing into the bungalow, she'd always stop to ask, with a smile on her face, "How you fullahs doing?" (We had gotten used to this particular term of endearment, which Granny used for children and adults alike, and later for her hula students.)

She had many beautiful costumes, but our favorite was the black satin holomu'u, which she used with long strands of 'ilima around her neck, and a shorter 'ilima lei twisted into an orange halo in her hair. She looked so regal as she walked — not raced — back to the nightclub.

TOURING THE MAINLAND

When Getty was 9, in the mid-1950s, she accompanied Granny and Gertie to the Mainland for a three-month contract of performances. They stayed in a New York penthouse but traveled to Atlantic City and to the Florida Keys for weekend performances. They had use of Arthur Godfrey's private jet to transport them to their destinations.

Getty performed "Anapau" in her cowgirl costume, and Gertie did hula solos. Granny sang her songs, and would duet with a young Ed Kenney.

Most of the performances were at weekend conventions in New Jersey, at a hotel that looked like a huge castle, as Getty remembers it. ...

SUPPORTING TROOPS

During World War II, Granny supported our troops with her singing on radio shows. We heard many stories praising our Granny for her talent and good works during the war.

We've learned that Gen. Eisenhower himself telephoned her to hear a song that the troops were talking about. That song was "Mom," which Granny sang to the future president of the United States, in her richest soprano, with her own heart-wrenching lyrics: "Wait for me, Mom, be home real soon. ..."

This was a song that would be requested many, many times in the years to come. The effect was the same, often bringing tears to someone in the audience.

Granny — Lena Machado, Songbird of Hawai'i — never failed to thrill her audiences, no matter where they were, sitting comfortably in a hotel nightclub or crouched in a foxhole.