Nora "Sunny" Sung Yil Goodness' Obituary
Nora “Sunny” Sung Yil Goodness, at the grand age of 107 years old, went home to the Lord on the morning of Saturday, June 4th, 2022 quietly from her Wailuku, Maui home.
Nora was born in ‘Ewa Camp, O’ahu and was the sixth of ten children to the Reverend Choon Ho and Mary Dho Lim. Reverend Lim founded the ‘Ewa Korean Methodist Church (now known as Olive Methodist Church) and is one of the first known Korean ministers in Hawai’i. His ministries continued on Maui and Lana’i. Nora had four brothers: “Bill” Pon Hi, “Max” Sung Hi, Tai Hi, Kwan Hi and five sisters: “Julia” Pong Soon Cho, “Violet” Pil Soon, “Vivian” Kil Soon Kim, “Esther” Young Soon Ome and “Carole” Kyung Sook. In 1926, Nora’s father and family were called to serve the Methodist ministry on Maui until his retirement in 1941.
Nora grew up in Camp One, also called Hawaiian Camp, and on Maui was schooled at Central Intermediate, Kaunoa, the old Maui High, and then at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa and Honolulu Business College. She worked for six years in the dry goods section at the Spreckels Camp Store, hired as the first woman employee. Her parents and siblings returned to O’ahu while Nora continued to reside in Maui and establish her family. She was offered a position with the State of Hawai’i Department of Health, and over time became Office Manager for the County of Maui. Following her retirement, she adopted the name Nora, a sedate and stable name to her, one with less unwanted attention than “Sunny”.
On February 10, 1941, Nora married the charismatic, athletic Ned Francis Goodness “Neddy”. Ned’s side of the family was well established here on Maui, descended from Kaulia Kahawai of Moloka’i and Kapela Umimaka’okalani on Moku o Keawe via Lahaina. Nora and Ned met at a church event and thereafter would ride in the rumble seat of their lifelong friends’ George and Mabel Leong’s car to formal dances at the old Territorial Building at the Kahului Fairgrounds. Nora took the name of “Sunny”, as she was already fondly known, on the day when she and Ned were married. After a few years and children, they acquired the last Pu’uone Tract property lot on their street in Wailuku and settled there for the rest of their lives.
For decades, Nora and Ned hosted their Annual New Year’s Day gathering at the Wailuku house. Relatives, neighbors, friends and their families were all welcome. The hustle and bustle would start at 7 A.M. and a couple of hundred people continued to visit the house through the day until 9 or 10 at night. Beef, pork, salt salmon, butterfish Lau Lau was the main course with all the other Hawaiian luau dishes to accompany it. Music, song, and lots of laughter were the call of the day. It was a memorable and fun time for all.
Nora so much loved spending time with her ‘ohana and was a very-much devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother. She spent many hours daily at her desk – reading, writing correspondence, and following news and current events. She thoroughly read The Maui News daily. Family parties kept up under her watch: regular gatherings at birthdays, holidays and family events with food, her famous Kal-Bi, and music and “talk story” amongst all ages for hours. She loved live music and singing so the family gatherings would often begin with pule and end with everyone singing Hawai’i Aloha. She will be deeply missed.
Some of Nora’s personal interests and passions included tending to her garden and trees, her swimming club at the Wailuku pool, and shopping – always searching for ways to enhance and present an atmosphere of home and welcome within the house that she and Ned built together. She used to play the ‘ukulele when younger, and was still able to strum a little later as well.
Nora enjoyed the diverse mix of cultures and the people she came into contact with on these islands and had many positive and long-lasting friendships in her life. She was active in the community and for 2 years was President of the Maui Extension Homemakers’ Council. She was politically engaged, often in her home hosting and supporting candidates relating to a diverse, multicultural community with strong female leadership and Native Hawaiian issues.
Nora, the family’s matriarch, is survived by sons Francis Guy Kulamanu (Joyce Schaunaman), Ned “Nick” Iliahi, William Nohea and David “Kim” Miki’ala Goodness; brother Tai Him Lim; daughter-in-laws Kathleen Nylin, Sally Goodness, Wilma Goodness, Patricia Loo; grandchildren Ryan Haku and wife Cheryl, Raul Nohea and wife Christina, Tarn Kanoa and wife Cheryl, Nicholas Kulamanu and partner Kyle, Sean Kapela, Brian Kaulia and fiancée Jamie, Christopher, Courtney and wife Kristie; great-grandchildren Evan Kawenaikeao, Nathaniel Kaimakana, Elena Naheleokapahuwainui, Mika, Kirika, Kaito, Javan, Katie; and great-great-grandchildren Camden and Dennis as well as generations of Nephews and Nieces.
The Goodness ‘ohana expresses gratitude and aloha to the following people and local Maui organizations by acknowledging: Eve Aquino, Ofie Rabara, Jennifer Julian, Danny Rosal and Helen Carino for the years and months of care that they provided to Nora; Cary D. Valdez of the Office of Aging, Kathy Snedicor Louis of Tri-Isle and Hale Mahaolu for Nora’s elderly services and care coordination; Hospice Maui for their comfort care; Kaunoa Meals on Wheels and MEO ADA Paratransit for transportation and services; and Sally O’Neill Goodness, Dr. Brian and Gayle O’Neill, Sarah Jean-Tokunaga and niece Geraldine Ome Best for their unfailing support, aloha and affection towards Nora.
There will be a family gathering and memorial celebration in August, after what would have been her 108th birthday. Condolences may be sent to the family c/o Nakamura Mortuary, 450 Waiale Road, Wailuku, HI 96793, Attention: The Goodness ‘Ohana.
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