Helene Hale, 91, came to the Big Island in 1947 and by 1962, she was elected Chairman, which was the equivalent of Mayor.   A rare occurence for a woman in Hawaii at that time.

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This made Hale the first woman to hold an executive office in Hawaii government since the reign of Queen Liliuokalani.

In recognition of United Nations International Woman’s Day, the Zonta Club of Hilo will present its Rose Award to Helene Hale for her lifetime of service as an elected official representing Hawaii County.

More recently, Ms. Hale is best remembered for her service in the state House of Representatives as a dogged legislator from the Puna district. She’s been honored with the Pahoa School gymnasium being named after her, since she fought zealously to get it started, some 37 years after the state first promised it.

Ms. Hale is an avowed internationalist; she started the United Nations Association Chapter here and went to Beijing in the ‘90s with the League of Women Voters to participate in the U.N. Forum on Women.

“I’m basically an educator,” she said, and so was instrumental in the Model U.N. here. While she is a committed Democrat, Ms. Hale gives Gov. Linda Lingle great credit for having an international outlook.

“Hawaii has something to offer the whole world,” she said. “The aloha spirit. We could teach them an awful lot about how to get along. That’s because of the Hawaiian culture.”

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