Nowelo Garden Blessing & Dedication

ʻImiloa’s Nowelo Garden was dedicated in memory of Koon Leong Chock and Bertha Luke Chock during a blessing ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 13.

The late Hilo residents were business and community leaders who embodied the values of learning, caring for the land, and exploration. They were examples of perseverance, self-sufficiency, and foresight, and they left a lasting legacy for the benefit of future generations.

“Our hope is that the significance of this gift will resonate for generations to come on Hawaiʻi Island, where our family’s dreams were made,” said daughter, Thelma Nip, on behalf of the Chock family.

Nip spoke at the dedication, in addition to University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin and ʻImiloa Executive Director Kaʻiu Kimura. 

The garden is one of several at the grounds of ʻImiloa’s award-winning landscape that showcase plants brought to Hawaiʻi on voyaging canoes and reflect the vegetation found at various elevations on Maunakea. The gardens illustrate Native Hawaiians’ connection to the land and heavens, as patterns in the skies guided cultivation and harvest practices on earth.

Kimura noted during the dedication ceremony that the family, whose business was destroyed twice by tsunamis, reflected the resilience of the Polynesians who first arrived in Hawaiʻi, bringing with them the canoe plants displayed in the garden. 

"The dedication and resilience of Koon Leong Chock and Bertha Luke Chock speaks to the strength of the Hilo community,” Kimura said. “Having a place here at ʻImiloa that will commemorate the leadership and legacy of the Chock ʻohana is a great honor and will be perpetuated through our education mission and service to all audiences."

Koon Leong Chock was an active community and political party leader, a Waiākea baseball team manager, one of the founders of the Hilo Chinese School, and a builder of homes for immigrants and the underprivileged. He headed the dry goods department of American Factors, a leading kama‘āina business firm. He also operated Fong Hing, the family grocery store at the foot of the Wailoa bridge. 

He passed away in 1942 at the age of 44. His wife persevered, operating the family store while providing for their young children. 

A generous gift from the K.L. Chock Trust will ensure the grounds are maintained for the benefit of future generations and continue to inspire aloha ʻāina.