Two picnic pavilions are planned for the Aiea Bay State Regional Park in honor of the late Shizuo Onishi, who served the International Association of Lions Clubs for 58 years. Pavilions at park
in Aiea will honor
Shizuo OnishiStar-Bulletin staff
Onishi died Jan. 1 at age 87.
Lions Club member Alan Miyamoto said he did not personally know Onishi but is involved with the pavilion project "because of what he accomplished for everyone."
Onishi was one of only four Hawaii Lions ever to serve as an international director, Miyamoto said. He also was past district governor, the highest Lions position in Hawaii.
The son of a fisherman and boat builder, Onishi grew up in a fishing village along the shores of Aiea Bay Park. He worked for the Honolulu Plantation Co. before Pearl Harbor was attacked and during and after the war years.
He helped organize the Aiea Community Association and served as community liaison for the Emergency Service Committee and Oahu Citizen Committee for Home Defense.
He befriended John A. Burns, a police captain and member of the Koolaupoko Lions Club, who sponsored him to join the Leeward Oahu Lions Club in 1942.
Onishi rapidly advanced through Lions leadership ranks, serving as director, vice president and director from 1947-48.
He organized the Aiea Lions Club in 1950, and in 1951 became a transfer charter member of that club. He served as its director, secretary, treasurer, vice president and president.
Onishi initiated the Keaiwa Heiau Shelter Project in Aiea Heights, served as state chairman of the United Nations Committee and on the governor's committee, Pearl Harbor Task Force.
He was a member of the Girl Scout Council of the Pacific (through his daughter) and chaired the Oahu Girl Scout Annual Nut Sale for six years.
Onishi was instrumental in organizing the Hawaii Lions Eye Foundation in 1960 and served as its charter president. He was a board member for many years, carrying out numerous blindness-prevention projects.
He also initiated a statewide glaucoma screening program and screening programs at the Queen's Medical Center for diabetes and blood pressure. He led a drive to purchase a $30,000 Argon Laser Photo coagulator for Queen's.
He also initiated distribution of a Home Eye Test Kit in Hawaii and helped introduce the kits and a diabetes screening program in Japan.
He started a program to donate $5,000 to the American Foundation for the Overseas Blind for seed money to help eradicate nutritional blindness in the Philippines.
Onishi was district governor of District 50 Hawaii in 1962-63 and was elected to Lions Club International Director in 1978.
He and his wife, Umeno, lived in Aiea Heights until 1995 and then in Makiki until his death.
The Lions will build the picnic pavilions under leadership of the Aiea Neighborhood Board and a committee representing the Aiea, Pearl Harbor, Pearl City and Leeward Oahu Lions Clubs and the Lions Clubs of District 50.
"The picnic pavilions will stand as a tribute to a community leader and a visionary Lion," the Lions said. "His lifetime work will continue for the welfare of the people of Hawaii."
A fund-raising campaign is planned, with construction expected to begin in January. The pavilions will be dedicated in the spring.