A specific memory came to mind when Brian DeLima learned that Helene Hale, Hawaii’s first female mayor and a Merrie Monarch Festival founder, had died. It was one he said encompasses her widely known spunk and fearlessness.
In the early 1990s, DeLima, then 35, was the youngest Hawaii County councilman, and Hale, then 72, the oldest.
"We had to go to an event at the Hilton Waikoloa," said DeLima, now a lawyer in private practice. "Back then it was known as the Hyatt — they had just built it, (and) it had a big water slide."
While the Council members were swimming together in the hotel pool, DeLima said he got the idea to challenge Hale to a ride down the slide.
"She said, ‘Oh, let’s go,’ and up she went," DeLima said. "She was just willing to, you know, go and try it. She surprised me. She was full of energy."
Hale died Friday of natural causes in her South Hilo Home. She was 94.
Colleagues on Sunday remembered Hale as a unique spirit, a woman with tremendous courage, a trailblazer who wasn’t afraid to be contentious.
"She was not afraid of any person at all in a world of politics dominated by males," former Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim said. "If she thought it was wrong, she would go after it. If she thought it was right, she would go after it. And that’s Helene Hale."
Kim said Hale’s unwavering dedication to her community inspired his political work and that he’s a better person for having known and worked with her.
"You look at her lifestyle: she never capitalized on being a mayor or a councilperson or a representative — none of that," Kim said. "She never changed as a person. She just worked because she wanted to work, and she wanted to serve this community."
Hale, who was part black, moved to Kona with her first husband, William Hale, and their daughter, Indira, in 1947 because she wanted to raise a family where the color of her skin wasn’t important, said her niece, Barbara Hilyer. She taught at Konawaena Intermediate School for a few years and had a son, Jasper.
Hale was preceded in death by both her children and her second husband, Richard Kiyota.
In 1963, Hale was featured on the cover of Ebony magazine for being Hawaii’s top female politician. She was elected to the Hawaii island Board of Supervisors in 1954, before statehood, and served for 10 years. Her last two years on the board were spent as chairwoman, which at the time was equivalent to county mayor.
Hale’s stint as chairwoman not only made her the first black person elected to office in Hawaii; it made her the first woman to hold an executive position in local government since Queen Liliuokalani.
"She came from a family of breakthrough people," said longtime Hawaii journalist Hugh Clark. "Her grandpa was the first black graduate from (the University of) Minnesota, her father was an attorney who also graduated from Minnesota, so naturally she was a graduate from Minnesota."
But Hilyer said race was never an issue for Hale.
"That’s why she moved to Hawaii; she didn’t want it to be an issue," Hilyer said. "And she didn’t want gender to be an issue. She could play the big leagues just because of who she was, and that’s what she wanted to do."
Colleagues agreed.
"Here she is in the ’60s: a woman, political leader, all of that," Kim said. "And none of those things phased her, absolutely none."
Clark said, "A lot of people want to emphasize her feminism, her gender rights, and she did have that in her, but I don’t think that was her primary focus. I think it was more kind of break down the old oligarchy and create a new government."
HALE RE-ENTERED politics in 1980 and served on the County Council for a total of 10 years between 1980 and 1994.
Russell Kokubun, director of the state Department of Agriculture, who once worked alongside Hale on the Council, said her personal situation motivated her to fight hard for diversity, justice and equality in her community.
"She was always an advocate for the people, particularly those who were in an underdog role," Kokubun said. "She was always wanting to balance that table for everyone so everyone had a fair shot at whatever opportunities there were."
Kokubun paused for a moment on the phone, explaining that he had been trying to think of one word to "really home in on her character."
Then he said, "I really like ‘feisty.’ Yeah, she was very feisty. … (She had) this courage to just speak up and speak out. I think that’s kind of it to me, and that’s what I mean by feisty: very thoughtful but at the same time very courageous."
Kokubun said he wasn’t surprised when Hale decided to emerge from retirement in 2000 and run for the state House of Representatives at age 82, because she still had so much to offer.
Former Mayor Kim said Hale’s last six years in politics should teach people that age doesn’t need to limit a person’s accomplishments.
"She projected, I mean, real energy at any age — you just don’t associate old age with her," he said. "I think we should all learn, if anything, from her (that) age is only an excuse for people; she never used it."
Former county councilman and state Rep. Bob Herkes said Hale was just as powerful a politician in her 80s as she was in any other decade.
"There’s no question that she was a fighter, and that’s one of the things I think that made her so successful," Herkes said. "She never gave up, and she always fought for what she thought was right, and that carried her on for many, many years."
Hale had a reputation for being a pit bull in the political ring, Kim said, but he never thought of her that way because "even pit bulls take a break." He said that despite her no-nonsense attitude, she disagreed with people in a way that commanded respect.
Hale’s niece agreed: "I think people respected her because they knew even if you didn’t agree with her, she did her homework and you could talk to her."
Former councilman Jimmy Arakaki, familiar with the receiving end of Hale’s fearlessness, echoed that sentiment.
"We had our differences but we made up our differences," Arakaki said, recalling that the two bonded in her state representative’s office over a box of manapua that he brought her, and he eventually came to consider her a close friend. "Those times that we didn’t agree just faded away, and I offered my help and she accepted my help."
Arakaki said the two then worked together to make a reality Hale’s last big political influence: an $8.6 million project to build a new gymnasium for Pahoa High and Intermediate School, which is now named after her.
"All the way back to her early advocacy for the Merrie Monarch Festival up until the Pahoa gymnasium, she was always just an anchor for the Big Island," Kokubun said.
Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi said he has a picture of himself with Hale at the gym dedication last March that he is proud of and will now cherish.
"It was an honor to know a true public servant, a leader who is a pioneer in so many ways … who cared really deeply about our Hawaii … our people," Kenoi said. "She was everything we want in a public servant: a servant, leader, tough, courageous, smart, hardworking but most of all kind, compassionate and caring."
Hale is survived by Hilyer; granddaughter Angelique Kaiulani Tucker Stephens of Hollywood, Calif.; son-in-law Judge Marcus Tucker of Long Beach, Calif.; nephew retired Judge Bruce Hilyer of Seattle; grandnieces; and a grandnephew.
A tribute to her life will be held later in Hilo.
