[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 22 (Monday, February 8, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E130-E131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HONORING THE LIFE OF HAWAI`I STATE SENATOR GILBERT KAHELE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TULSI GABBARD

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 8, 2016

  Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, on January 26, 2016, the Aloha State lost 
the Honorable Gil Kahele, a U.S. Marine, a Hawaii State Senator, and a 
loving husband and father. His life was extraordinary from beginning to 
end, and he will be sorely missed.
  Hawai`i Island State Senator Gilbert Kahele was born to Peter and 
Rebecca Kahele, both of Hawaiian descent, in a grass shack by the sea 
on May 15, 1942 at Kalihi, just south of the Hawaiian fishing village 
of Miloli`i in South Kona. His parents valued education, so in 1947, 
they moved the family to Hilo, 90 miles away when Gil was five years 
old. It was a big change for the Kahele family because Hilo was a 
bustling town after recovering from World War II and the 1946 tsunami. 
It was full of commerce, cars, buildings, sporting events, and multiple 
nationalities, a far cry from the isolated fishing village of Miloli`i 
on the other side of the island.
  Gil attended Hilo High School and played on the Vikings football 
team--graduating with the class of 1960. After graduation, Gil began 
his long career of service to his country by joining the United States 
Marine Corps. Stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Twenty-Nine 
Palms and Camp Pendleton, California, Gil was part of the engineering 
troop responsible for refrigeration. As a young Hawaiian traveling 
through the South in the 1960's, Gil remembers riding a bus across the 
country and seeing the discrimination of African Americans on buses, in 
bus stations, and restrooms in the South. He saw segregation for the 
very first time. The black man was treated differently than the white 
man in this part of the country, something that was uncommon to him 
growing up in Hawai`i where everyone was treated with aloha.
  After four years serving as a Marine, Gil was honorably discharged 
and settled in California for a few years. His first son Gibson was 
born in October of 1963, and he attended Chapman and Laney Colleges in 
Northern California. After graduating with an Associate Degree in 
Science in 1967 from Laney College, Gil moved back to Hawai`i where he 
began a civil service career that would last 33 years. He got a job 
with the Federal Government at Naval Station Wahiawa as a refrigeration 
mechanic. He married United Airlines stewardess Linda Haggberg in 
October of 1971, and the couple lived in Wahiawa. In 1976, the couple 
moved to Hilo. They had two children, Kai and Noelani. For the next 25 
years Gil drove from Hilo up the Saddle Road to his job at the 
Pohakuloa Training Area, where he would eventually retire in 2000 as 
the Director of Public Works.
  During the 1980s, Gil spent a lot of time in Miloli`i and made a name 
for himself as a successful community organizer in South Kona as a 
result of his ability to bring people together in the village to rally 
around a common cause or project. In 1986, Gil teamed up with Boone 
Morrison to produce a documentary, ``Song of South Kona''. Featuring 
Diana Aki, the film took a look at the history of the village and the 
songs that had been passed down through generations of musicians. 
Additionally, Gil, the president of Pa`a Pono Miloli`i at the time, 
successfully prevented the development of Kapua Bay and Kahuku by the 
Farms of Kapua and the Hawaiian Riviera Resort.
  Tragically, Gil's younger sister Mona died in a car accident along 
with her husband Eric, leaving their three young children without 
parents. To Gil and Linda, family was their priority, so they adopted 
the three children, Ihilani, Ilima and Imaika, and Gil began to spend 
more time in Hilo and less time in Miloli`i.
  In 2011, Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie selected Gil Kahele to fill 
a vacancy in the State Senate, where he would end up serving for the 
remainder of his life. Gil boasted an impressive record rather quickly 
because of his sincere desire to make a difference for the people of 
the Big Island and all of Hawai`i
  I recently saw Gil in Washington, DC, where as always, he was ready 
with a smile, a hug, a heart full of aloha. My heart is with the Kahele 
family (ohana), and all of Hawai`i Island. Gil, you are missed. Thank 
you (Mahalo nui loa) for dedicating your life to serving others and for 
demonstrating how much we can achieve when we work together in the 
spirit of aloha. God bless you (Ke Akua me ke Aloha).

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