VERA JUNE ABERCROMBIE / 1908-2004

Congressman’s mother
lived in isles as
retired teacher

She often distributed "Vera's
cookies" at political events

Vera June Abercrombie was often seen accompanying her son U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie to political events and was known for her "Vera's Cookies," which she handed out to political supporters, friends and neighbors.

She died Dec. 4 in Florida at age 96.

Abercrombie was a retired kindergarten teacher when she and her husband, Don, moved to Palm Springs, Calif., from Buffalo, N.Y., in the early 1960s.

After her husband died, she moved to Honolulu, where she lived at the Lagoon Apartments on the grounds of Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikiki in the 1980s and '90s.

After a short stay in a retirement community in California, she spent her final years with her son Hal and his wife Shirley in Wellington, Fla.

Besides the Hawaii congressman and his brother, Abercrombie is survived by grandson Timothy and two great-grandchildren, Alexander and Malcolm.

A memorial service will be held at the waters adjacent to the Hilton Lagoon, where some of her ashes will be spread.

The rest of her ashes will join those of her husband in the mountains near Palm Springs.