VINCENT HISAKI YANO / EX-ISLE OFFICIAL

Former state senator
helped legalize abortion
in Hawaii

Vincent Hisaki Yano, a former state senator and prominent Catholic layman who had a key role in the legalization of abortion in Hawaii, died May 11. He was 83.

Yano was a state senator from 1963 to 1970, when he was recruited to seek the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.

He was chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee until 1969, when he moved to the Senate Health Committee. In 1970, the controversial abortion bill was referred to his committee.

"The Catholic bishop was stalking the halls, and Vince was a very big Catholic layperson," recalled Tom Coffman, former Star-Bulletin reporter, historian, documentarian, producer and author.

"He read intently on the subject and consulted with many people, eventually reaching the agonizing decision that if he opposed the bill, he would be imposing his personal religious beliefs on others.

"So, as chair, he moved the bill out of committee, and it was passed by both houses."

Coffman believes Yano's position "had an extraordinarily big influence, sort of freeing up others to be for it. It also was a preview of what Gov. (John) Burns had to go through (as a Catholic) before allowing the bill to become law without his signature."

In the 1970 campaign, George Ariyoshi became an early candidate for lieutenant governor with Burns, and Yano was recruited at the last minute to run with then-Lt. Gov. Tom Gill, Coffman said. But in the Democratic primary election, Ariyoshi defeated Yano and Burns beat Gill.

Yano was raised in Palama in a family of nine boys and two girls.

He won a scholarship to Dayton University in Ohio through the St. Louis Marianists but did not have the money to travel to Ohio. The entire Yano clan chipped in so he could get there by boat and bus.

He graduated summa cum laude and was valedictorian. He married Eloise Yoshie Takiguchi and they had 11 children.

Yano attended St. Stephen's Seminary at Pali and was lead seminarian.

He served in the Army from 1946-47 and graduated from Harvard Law School in Boston in 1949. The late U.S. Sen. Spark Matsunaga and attorney Eichi Oki were among his classmates.

Oki said he and Yano remained friends for more than 50 years. "He was a man of many talents and interests who lived fully and deeply.

"As long as I have known him, he always took things in stride. He was always cheerful and positive, and nothing seemed to faze him. Under his cheerful and friendly manner, there lurked a bulldog spirit, a steadfast determination and a clear conception of the values he set and lived by," Oki said. "Vince to me was a man of courage and integrity, a good man."

Yano started the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii in 1952 and worked as a civilian attorney for the Army on Okinawa from 1952 to 1954.

He helped start the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC of Hawaii) 40 years ago because of a disabled daughter, and was past president of the Hawaii Association for Retarded Children.

He owned Rubber Stamp House for 30 years and had a Taco Bell franchise with seven locations when it was sold.

His second wife, Maureen, spent more than 10 years caring for him through failing health and went daily to Kuakini Hospital's Hale Pulama Mau the past five years to ensure that he had the best care.

Other survivors include sons Francis, Vincent, Michael, Thomas, Gregory and Robert; daughters Therese, Katherine Aries, Clare Omid-Zohoor and JoanMarie Hughes; brothers Edward, Gus, Kenneth, James, Paul, William and Brian; sisters Dorothy Nakahara and Mary Haruno; and 19 grandchildren.

Private services were held.