When Ah Quon McElrath was honored at a Nov. 1 Hawaii People's Fund dinner, she listened to acclamations about her many decades of service and advocacy for working people, human rights and social change.

Then she used the occasion to speak about her current passion, the need for universal health care. She told the 1,200 attendees that no matter who won the Nov. 4 election, “;keep the administration honest and keep them on track,”; said Joanne Kealoha, a social worker for the ILWU.

McElrath, whose activism spanned nearly 70 years, from ILWU social worker to University of Hawaii regent, died Thursday night at Kaiser Moanalua Medical Center, four days shy of her 93rd birthday.

“;Her kidneys let out on her about a year and a half ago, and she's been going downhill since,”; her son, Brett, said yesterday. McElrath had a variety of ailments, including cancer.

But she never slowed down. On Sept. 1, Labor Day, she penned an opinion piece in the Star-Bulletin, saying “;the community at large must do its part by holding industry accountable for corporate irresponsibility and callous treatment of the working class.”;

Born Ah Quon Leong, one of seven children of Chinese immigrant parents in Iwilei, on Dec. 15, 1915, she began working in the pineapple canneries at 13 years old.

Chinese was her first language, and she focused her efforts on her education, seeing it as a “;window to the world.”; She became editor of the school paper in intermediate school and served on McKinley High School's debate team.

After graduating from McKinley and UH, she married labor organizer Bob McElrath and began a career as social worker with the ILWU where she joined the effort to get health care, pension plans, living wages and other social changes that evolved plantation laborers into the middle class. She continued in that path after retiring from the union job in 1981.

Known as “;AQ,”; she worked tirelessly for such diverse causes as affordable housing and “;Save Our Star-Bulletin,”; a successful drive to block an effort to shut down the paper. In the latter part of her life, McElrath championed universal health care, something she had hoped to see accomplished in her lifetime.

“;Although we look at her as being maybe the matriarch of the union movement in Hawaii, she had a bigger constituency, she served the larger community,”; said state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, who chairs the House Finance Committee. “;She used her life's energies and talents for the common good. She was a role model for women, the disenfranchised, the underdogs, the have-nots.”;

“;She was such an incredible person,”; said Kealoha, social worker for International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 142. “;It was really her passion to advocate for union members and working people and people who were disenfranchised. She had the passion all through her life. It never abated. She was a true icon.”;

McElrath's son brushed aside the notion of his mother as a living legend. “;She was just a mother to me,”; Brett McElrath said with the blunt delivery typical of his father, who died in 1995.

Ah Quon McElrath spent most of her career as a social worker for the ILWU. She retired in 1981 but pushed on with her activism on behalf of Hawaii's poor, frequenting the halls of the Legislature and taking to the streets.

State Rep. Roy Takumi said, “;AQ was a constant presence”; at every legislative session in his 17 years. “;Every session she would come ... and would either be in a mood to share insights or in a mood to scold, berate and chastise all of us.

“;When I first got elected, she told me that young legislators make the mistake of trying to help everyone. She said you have to focus on a few things and do it well. She took her own advice,”; Takumi said. “;She focused on whatever she saw as needed at that time, hence her effectiveness and her impact.”;

Guy Fujimura, ILWU secretary-treasurer, said: “;Whether the governor, the legislators or business people, she challenged them to do the right thing, to be the best person they could be, and she would assist them to be that person. She was always that solid person, the conscience of the union, the conscience of the labor movement, the conscience of the legislators.

“;She knew people nationally. Her talent, capabilities, experience and longevity meant she had associations that no one could match, a huge international network who knew her.”;

Fujimura said that although McElrath is seen as one of the historic ILWU leaders, she never held a title or elected role. “;She made her place. It wasn't traditional leadership; it was a leadership of character and confidence.”;

She was named to numerous government advisory committees, and in 1995 then-Gov. Ben Cayetano named her to the UH Board of Regents, where she chaired the Academic Affairs Committee for five years. UH President David McClain said in a release that “;although small in stature, she was a feisty and resounding voice for students and faculty while serving on the board.”;

In 2004 the UH Founders Alumni Association gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award. The UH ethnic-studies program established an Ah Quon McElrath Fund for Social Change in her honor, funding student engagement though internships and conferences.

“;She loved Shakespeare, she loved reading, she loved music and she loved to cook and sew,”; said friend Claire Shimabukuro, Hawaii Meals on Wheels executive director. An avid supporter of the Honolulu Symphony, “;she believed that classical music was not just the province of the well heeled and well educated.”;

Shimabukuro said McElrath “;was not only an activist; she was a donor. She supported numerous causes with whatever she could afford. Once she gave me a rubber-banded bundle to mail of 28 envelopes with donations to causes from the symphony to the Southern Poverty Center.”;

McElrath is survived by son Brett, daughter Gail Long, brother Ah Nee Leong, sister Mabel Alili two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A celebration of McElrath's life will be held in February.