Lost brothers reunite on Maui, fulfilling late father’s final wish

MAKAWAO (HawaiiNewsNow) – A family reunion 65 years in the making begins when Philip Peter Konohia was in the Army and stationed in Washington, D.C.

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There, he met a woman who became pregnant. He was going to propose, but she got cold feet and fled.

Konohia met another woman and had a son, Eric.

“For as long as I can remember, my father, probably about two or three years old, he always told me I had another brother,” said Eric Konohia. “And he told me, I need you to help me find your brother. Now, at that age, in the 60s, I don’t know what to do.”

Turns out that other brother, named Michael, was put up for adoption.

“Only thing we knew somewhere in Connecticut,” Eric Konohia said. “So, in my mind, I’m thinking I have an older brother out there that was adopted in Connecticut. The 70s come, only thing we know is a baby was born in Connecticut. Don’t know what city in Connecticut, don’t know what hospital.”

In 2023, Eric turned his search to Ancestry.com.

“I see my nephew there and above my nephew, Michael Ferraro, half-brother,” he said.

Eric and Michael met for the first time in California in 2024.

Philip Peter Konohia died in 2016 and never got to meet his son Michael.

Michael, now 65 years old, made his first trip to Maui and Eric took him somewhere very special.

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“Oh, it’s very emotional,” Michael Ferraro said, standing next to his father’s grave at the Maui Veterans Cemetery. “I’m honored to be here with my father. I’m on the sacred land that he grew up on, and it’s a privilege to be here.”

The brothers discovered that Eric is actually 21 days older than Michael.

They wore the same shirt in their high school pictures, had similar first jobs, pursued the same career, and Michael was never in Connecticut.

“He grew up on Oahu. He was adopted on Oahu,” Eric said. “We didn’t even know he lived within miles of my father’s oldest sister, and we had been back to Oahu not knowing that he was miles away from his son.”

They hope their story inspires others to pursue their dreams, never give up hope, and to appreciate the importance of ohana.

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