Yvonne Izu Obituary

Although I got to know Yvonne well through Muriel, I believe I first met her as the Kona Delegate at the ´78 Con-Con and I was the Judiciary committee clerk for Delegate Walter Ikeda. She and other delegates would meet with Delegate Ikeda to discuss matters being proposed by the Judiciary Committee. At the time, little did I know the diminutive person I saw was actually a giant in many ways, whose stature would only grow as she moved forward in her future career as an attorney. Yvonne´s true measure of importance was as a friend to many. Through Muriel, I was able to get to know Yvonne better through different get-togethers, lunches, dinners, birthday and Trivial Pursuit parties enjoyed through the years. Through Trivial Pursuit, I found out you needed to be on Yvonne´s team to have a chance of winning. Music questions were her forte (down to the title and words to different songs across different genres and eras). Who knew Yvonne liked country music. It must have been the Kona in her. But any trivia question was fair game to being answered by Yvonne using her impeccable logic and intellect.
Through those get-togethers, I was able to experience and appreciate Yvonne´s many different talents, intellect and resoluteness once she arrived at a conclusion. As a former legislative staffer and an alumni of the 78 Con-Con, she understood the legislative process, the different individuals in Hawaii politics, and the dynamics at play. As a member of many different environmental groups, such as Hawaii Nature Conservancy, the Audubon Society, and WWF (the pandas, not the wrestlers), we saw her love and commitment to Hawaii´s nature wildlife. As a crafter, we got to see talent and skill as a cross-stitcher and if we were lucky enough to receive a completed cross-stitch project as a gift, it often came with the strict instruction that the article was to be used, not just admired. As a member of the volunteer group that screened donated books for the Hawaii Library book sale, we saw her commitment to the promotion of literacy and learning. An avid reader of everything but especially English novels, she shared with us her interest in English mysteries and in works about pre-WWII English society in transition. Even her varied interests in her travels opened up to us new worlds to investigate, whether it was to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, or the National Geographic tour of Los Alamos, years before "Oppenheimer" was made into a movie. But most of all, in our precious time with Yvonne, we got to know her as a person of high intellect, strong moral values and a conviction of what was right and what was wrong. No matter the situation, she would always arrive at the right conclusion for the right reason, and it was a position she would not back down from. It was not about what others said that influenced her position, but what she knew and what she believed. Her wise counsel was shared with many, not just in her work as an attorney but as a friend to many, whether it was through the book club, the crafting group, the book recycling group, the Trivial Pursuit group and we are sure, with her beloved family members. She will be sorely missed by all, but not forgotten.