Isle man to receive
achievement award

Warren Togo will get one
of the highest honors given
to disabled individuals

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

April 24 can't come soon enough for Warren Togo, who will receive a national award in Reno, Nev., for overcoming a mental disability and excelling at his job.

He'll celebrate his 50th birthday two days after the ceremony with one of the highest honors given to disabled people: the $1,000 William Miller Usdane Memorial Award.

It's named for one of the founders of the National Industries for the Severely Handicapped and will be presented at the organization's annual meeting.

Warren Togo

"I can't believe it," said Eiko Togo, Warren's mother. She said her son, a Kailua High School graduate, is shy and doesn't say too much but he's excited. "He's getting a trip to Reno and he loves Las Vegas. He said, 'Oh, can I pack my clothes?' I said, 'No, it's a little bit too early."

Packing will include some of his cherished caps from his bosses over the past 10 years -- Navy commanders at Camp Smith.

"He always wears a cap, any kind of cap," his mother said. "He has almost 70 caps all lined up in his room."

Warren joined Opportunities for the Retarded Inc., about 20 years ago. The program, based at Helemano Plantation, Wahiawa, provides vocational training, residential, educational and recreational services to about 100 people with developmental disabilities.

Susanna Cheung, the program's president and chief executive officer, said Togo has achieved more than anyone expected. "He is a dedicated worker who has overcome many barriers and become one of our great success stories."

Togo arrives at 3 a.m. for his job as custodian at the U.S. Pacific Command headquarters and doesn't get back to his Aiea home until 3 p.m., his mother said.

Navy Cmdr. Carl Carpenter, who recommended Togo for the honor, said it started with Capt. Berry Beckman, former Requirements and Forces Division chief at Camp Smith.

When Beckman retired, he told top military officers in a ceremony on the Arizona that Togo was like a barometer. "If Warren likes you, you're doing something good," Beckman said. "If Warren doesn't like you, you need to re-evaluate your personal habits."

"Warren is just a great guy," Carpenter said. "It (the award) couldn't happen to a better person."

He said Togo is very personable and makes an effort to talk to people, to memorize their names and learn their interests. "His memory is astronomical."

He remembers the names of flag officers and others who worked at Camp Smith years back, Carpenter said. "He is an institution."

He said the two of them have a great friendship. They talk about University of Hawaii baseball and football and they both have season passes to the football games so they critique the 'Bows after they play.

Eiko Togo said Warren, one of three sons, was always falling down after he was born and he was a little heavyset as an infant. "Then when he went to kindergarten, he had a little difficulty."

She sent him to a private day care center where he learned to put on his shoes and clothes. He is very organized, neat and clean, she said, "but you have to remind him to do this, to do that. ... He's always in a rush to go out. He rides the bus. That's his favorite transportation. He knows all the schedules all around the island. All the bus drivers take care of him."

He mastered playing the organ when he was 6 or 7 years old, playing by ear, she said, and he enjoys Hawaiian music on the radio. "He always has that ear thing on his ear."

She said he "takes care of himself, and what little he can do he does. He tries to improve little by little ... He vacuums my house every week.

"He's very cool -- that kind of people. He's going to live long. He doesn't have a worry."