On hand to witness and accept the honor in Manoa on Friday was Sen. Inouye’s son and widow.
"Well, he was very humble in that regard, so I think he would’ve said ‘Oh no no.’ He would’ve said that’s not the thing to do. I think deep down though, because this is about the future, he really believed in building the university on every major island," Sen. Inouye’s widow Irene Hirano Inouye said.
The UH C-MORE Center on Oahu, UH Hilo College Pharmacy, Maui College Health Center, and Kauai Community College of Electronics Building will now carry the Senator’s name.
"He wanted opportunities for young people and families on those islands and these projects represent the careers of the future," Irene said.
Inouye says she will continue to commute between Washington D.C. and Hawaii because a new legacy fund has been established to keep her late husband’s mission alive.
"And we know there’s been a reduction in federal funds and so we need to do all that we can to bring private dollars," Irene said.
The second longest serving Senator’s son, who works in D.C. as a political strategist, had this to say about running for office someday.
"I take one day at a time. I take one day at a time and I am just trying to do right by my family right now," Ken Inouye said.
Right now, his focus is to make good on his promise to help his three-year-old daughter Maggie learn about the great things her grandfather did.
"She needs to know who grandpa was that was the promise I made to him. Right now she thinks grandpa was a really cool guy," Ken said. "He had a photo of him taken with Elmo, so she said, ‘You know he is important because Elmo is important.’ As time goes on, I want to show her that grandpa’s an okay guy for other reasons too."
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
