[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 21 (Thursday, February 4, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H329]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       REMEMBERING HAWAII COUNTY MAYOR WILLIAM ``BILLY'' P. KENOI

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Hawaii (Mr. Kahele) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KAHELE. Mr. Speaker, my ohana is from the last native Hawaiian 
fishing village in Hawaii, Milolii. You have likely never heard of 
Milolii, and if you haven't heard of the small fishing village of 
Milolii, then you probably haven't heard of Kalapana.
  Kalapana, like Milolii, is an ocean community, but Kalapana sits in 
the shadow of the volcano Kilauea. For decades, this area has been 
shaped by the various destructive lava flows that have flowed through; 
but no matter how many times this happened, the people of Kalapana 
remained resilient and proud of their community.
  Mr. Speaker, I can think of no one who embodied the pride and 
resilience of being Kalapana born and raised than William 
Punapaia'alaikahala Kenoi, known to most as Hawaii Island Mayor Billy 
Kenoi. Billy Kenoi would proudly talk about the papaya fields of 
Kalapana and the mentors who helped him see the world outside of them. 
Their inspiration took him from the slopes of Kilauea to the University 
of Massachusetts at Amherst.
  From there, the boy from Kalapana walked with reverence through these 
very Halls, which he regarded as a heiau, or spiritual center of 
democracy, as a congressional intern with the legendary Senator Daniel 
K. Inouye. He then went on to attend the William S. Richardson School 
of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
  As he moved through his career, he remained that same resilient and 
proud kid from Kalapana. He worked for justice as a public defender 
with indigent clients. He moved home to Hawaii Island as a public 
servant, dedicated to helping his island weather the crystal meth 
crisis that was ravaging our communities. His leadership in crisis, 
born of the lava flows and fields of Kalapana, eventually translated to 
leadership at the island level, when he was elected as Hawaii County 
mayor in 2008.
  Nobody could deny Billy's charm, keen political drive, and 
charismatic leadership. And for all his high-level leadership and 
larger-than-life personality, he left his mark in the individual 
interactions he had with people, always kind and authentic. Some of us 
had the fortune of getting to know him as a friend. For me, he was also 
a mentor.
  I will always remember Martin Luther King Day 2016, because it was 
the day my father had a heart attack and passed away a week later. In 
the chaotic hours after he passed, there were too many calls and texts 
of support to count and certainly too many to answer. Despite all of 
this, one person's grief persisted and pierced through the profound 
grief: Billy Kenoi.
  Billy called, asked where I was, and told me to come to the State 
Capitol. He said, ``It was time.'' I didn't know what he meant by that. 
My father had just passed, but when Billy spoke, I listened. When a man 
who was once a boy from Kalapana calls you in the middle of a family 
crisis, you know that he summons with it the resilience and strength of 
an island community that persisted through lava flow after lava flow.
  I went to the State Capitol, to the desk of my father in the State 
Senate, surrounded by his colleagues, and my life was forever changed. 
Five years to the day after he passed, Billy Kenoi went into po 
himself, and he crossed into the afterlife. He left behind a beautiful 
wife, Takako, and three children, Justin, Liam, and Mahina. He was only 
52. And like my father, he was too important a leader to lose too soon.
  Billy was the personification of Kalapana. No matter what change life 
threw at him, he embraced it with pride, resilience, and a sense of 
humor. As Hawaii is now altered by the passing of this leader, we will 
conjure his spirit and the spirit of Kalapana. We will remember the boy 
from Kalapana who became the incomparable leader Billy Kenoi.
  Colleagues, I leave you with words from his final speech--and he was 
famous for speeches--to remember him and take us to a more resilient 
and prouder future: If impossible is nothing, then everything is 
possible.

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