Posted on: Thursday, October 28, 2004
Virginia Ann Kepano, retired social worker
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Virginia Ann Kepano, a retired social worker best known for her activism on behalf of senior citizens and Native Hawaiian concerns, died Monday in Honolulu. She was 82.
Kepano was born in in St. Paul, Minn., but her marriage to the late Philip Samuel Kepano, a full-blooded Hawaiian, brought her into the center of Hawaiian issues. In 1962, the Kepanos both lobbied lawmakers for an investigation of how the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 was being carried out, pointing out the long waits by many Hawaiians for homesteads.
Much later, she became involved in discussions over reparations to Hawaiians for the overthrow of the kingdom, discussions that led ultimately to President Clinton's signing the apology bill in 1993.
Native rights was not her only cause, said a friend, Hawaiian activist Lela Hubbard.
"I think she was one of the great grass-roots political people in Hawai'i," Hubbard said. "She knew the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party.
"She marched in the civil rights marches with her children," she added. "And she was president of the Kokua Council for Senior Citizens," a group that lobbied lawmakers vigorously for programs benefiting the elderly.
Among her pet projects were Handi-Van services and securing financing for the Nursing Home Without Walls program intended to keep more elders out of institutional placement. She also backed legislation barring landlord discrimination against single elders caring for children and grandchildren.
Naomi "Sister" Correa, another who was active in Democratic Party politics, spoke admiringly of Kepano, especially her "trying to keep the focus on Hawaiian Homes."
"She was a sincere person in whatever she went into," Correa said. "She did whatever she did wholeheartedly."
Kepano is survived by her daughters, Nalani Aweau, Malia Ramos and Leiana Evans; sister, Gloria Hjelm; six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.
Visitation is from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at O'ahu Cemetery Chapel. Attire is casual.
Arrangements by Ultimate Cremation Services of Hawai'i.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
