Late volunteer's dream of deaf community center alive
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Writer
Georgia Morikawa, who died of cancer May 5 at age 72, may yet achieve the dream that inspired her through almost three decades of volunteer work with the deaf.
Mayor Jeremy Harris announced last week that he has appropriated $25,000 for the planning and study of a deaf community center.
Georgia Morikawa was volunteer executive director of the Aloha State Association of the Deaf.
"Right now there is no center for the deaf and hard of hearing in our community," said Kathy Reimers, executive director for Hawai'i Services on Deafness. "Georgia dreamed of a place that would offer a comprehensive range of services and activities."
Reimers said this might include preservation of unique sign language in Hawai'i that is being lost, and a meeting place for both the elderly deaf and young people.
"Georgia was volunteer executive director of the Aloha State Association of the Deaf, a full-time job without pay, for at least 20 years," Reimers said. "She was always the first to visit the deaf in hospitals to make sure they were being cared for."
Born deaf Dec. 23, 1928, in Bellingham, Wash., Morikawa moved to Hawai'i in the 1940s.
She attended Hauole Business College, then became a clerk-typist at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., working her way to the position of supply coordinator by the time she retired.
Meanwhile, she became indispensible as a volunteer for the deaf.
"Anybody actively involved with the deaf community knows the name 'Georgia,' " said Fusako Miyashiro, librarian at the Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped.
"If you want information that is not available, ask Georgia.
"If you need help with a project, ask Georgia. She is highly respected both locally and nationally."
Morikawa taught other volunteers for the deaf, managed men's and women's volleyball teams that participated in the World Games for the Deaf in Sweden and Yugoslavia, and worked to set up craft fairs and conventions for the deaf.
