Club appreciates longtime songbird Fortunato Revilla

HUI O HULA

The Hui O Hula Hawaiian dance club thanks Fortunato Revilla for being so good to the club over the years. Known to many as Leisure World’s “Elvis” who is famous for singing “Blue Hawaii,” Fortunato and his wife, Lucie, live in Mutual 15, where they’ve been for five years. For 10 years before, he lived in Mutual 1. Pasadena was his home before coming to Leisure World.

While in Pasadena, Fortunato took advantage of art classes in the public program at the ArtCenter in Pasadena.

“You won’t find out until you try it,” he says wisely, and thus developed an interest in sketching, oil and watercolor painting, and various artistic expressions.

For the 50th anniversary of Leisure World, Fortunato sang with a group called The Harmonizers, and eventually he began playing his ukulele and singing for various performances and practices for Hui O Hula. He remembers connecting with the hula club for a Christmas performance seven or eight years ago. He plays whenever possible with other musicians.

Fortunato has served others in many ways aside from singing and playing ukulele. He has volunteered his time in cancer wards, and also in the AR& C Long Beach program, which stands for “Advocacy for Respect and Choice.”

He and his brother played music and sang for the clients there, and discovered the power of music to make connections with others. Those with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome happily joined in, singing and dancing, at times with the Hui O Hula dancers present as well.

To speak with Fortunato is to come away encouraged and with a desire to live life well and with a heart of aloha. “Life is a learning experience, and it is the way that we handle things that matters,” he says.

Club members feel fortunate to know him.

—Lori Chamberlin

Fortunato Revilla (standing, right) sang to Jacklyn Taylor at a party in August.

Jojo Weingart