Thousands turn out for Don Ho memorial

HONOLULU – Thousands of people, some in electric wheelchairs and others in bikinis, gathered Saturday for a sunset memorial service on the beach at Waikiki for legendary Hawaiian crooner Don Ho.

As they have for decades, fans of different generations brought flowers and reminisced about the late entertainer’s earlier years.

“I remember my mom would swoon every time she heard him sing. My dad would get so mad,” said Rick Williams, of Visalia, Calif., who was wearing a T-shirt with Ho’s unforgettable smile. “Hawaii was two things back then: Don Ho and Pearl Harbor.”

Officials expected as many as 25,000 people to attend, which city officials said would make it one of the largest crowds ever in Waikiki. The city arranged extra buses, parking and traffic control.

Ho, known for his catchy signature tune “Tiny Bubbles,” died April 14 of heart failure at age 76.

At an earlier private ceremony on the grounds of the Sheraton Waikiki, guests included politicians, musicians and family members, all of whom where dressed in white, except for Ho’s wife, Haumea, who wore a floral orange dress and a maile lei.

Some of his 10 children sang songs during the tearful ceremony. Afterward, Ho’s ashes were taken by a double-hulled canoe about a quarter mile off Waikiki and scattered.