Post office renamed for Patsy Mink
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
PA'IA, Maui — With her list of accomplishments during a long career of public service, the late Patsy T. Mink probably deserves an airport or highway named in her honor.
Timothy Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser
"She achieved tremendous heights and goals," said U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, yesterday. "But this is how she wanted to be remembered. It's a simple recognition."
Patsy Mink's brother Eugene Takemoto, daughter Gwendelyn Mink, Postmaster Calvin Yang and husband John Mink, right, unveiled a plaque renaming the Pa'ia, Maui, post office in honor of the late congresswoman.
The small post office that serves the area where Mink was born and raised was officially renamed the Patsy Takemoto Mink Post Office in a dedication ceremony yesterday.
Case and Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, introduced the House version of the legislation to name the Baldwin Avenue post office after her. Case said Mink's husband, John Mink, had suggested naming the post office in his wife's honor, and Case agreed it would be a fitting memorial to her legacy.
Both of Hawai'i's U.S. senators, who introduced the Senate version, had been scheduled to speak at the ceremony, but had to stay in Washington to debate the Medicare bill.
At yesterday's ceremony, Mink was remembered as a fiery orator and defender of the poor, defenseless and needy. She was praised as a champion for childcare, education, workers' rights, and equal opportunity.
Mink died Sept. 28, 2002, at age 74 after 24 years in Congress. She also served on the Honolulu City Council for four years.
"Patsy Takemoto Mink was born under the most ordinary circumstances, but she did the most extraordinary things," Case said.
U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-California, called her "one of the most remarkable women of our time," a woman of strong character and "an incredible core of strength and fight in her."
"Anyone with a daughter really needs to thank Patsy for setting this country straight," Farr said, referring to Mink's role in authoring Title IX, which forbids exclusion from any education program receiving federal financial assistance on the basis of gender.
A former Maui High School classmate of Mink's, retired judge Harriette Holt, remembered her smiles, laughter, friendship and loyalty.
"She went from our unknown rural island to Washington, D.C., the halls of Congress and the halls of power," Holt said. "She was a credit to our school, our island, Hawai'i and the nation."
"This is a woman who really believed in the sky is the limit, and the limit is only what you perceive," said Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa.
The only other post office in Hawai'i named for an individual is Goro Hokama Post Office on Lana'i, named for the former Maui County Council member. Mink engineered that honor through Congress and even designed the plaque — the same design unveiled for her plaque yesterday.
