The Early Years

Dwight helps grandparents Tozo & Usa Takamine with their sweet potato harvest in Ahualoa.

Dwight was born and raised in the plantation community of Honoka’a.   Just mauka of the town is Ahualoa where his grandparents had a farm.  Witnessing his grandparents’ hard physical labor on the farm was a part of his growing up experience.  Their words of advice on the importance of effort and education laid the early foundations of his understanding that hard work was to be embraced and appreciated, that the wisdom of the elders was to be respected, and that education was a means of making a difference in the world. 

As the eldest of five children, Dwight understood that everything he did was an example for his siblings.   A difficult role at best for any child, but he took it on and developed supporting relationships with his brother and sisters.  As the oldest, Dwight gained a keen understanding of obligation and responsibility to family and that the health of the family is the key to the health of the community.

Dwight’s father Yoshito, was for many years the State Representative from the Hamakua-Kohala District.  In the close-knit plantation society, his father’s work in the community and the legislature was well known.  The members of the community knew well of how his father worked to improve their lives.  None of this was lost on Dwight.  Throughout his young adult life, he developed a clear understanding of how the legislative process when directed to the greater good can benefit and improve the lives and future of people not only in individual communities in a district, but in communities throughout the state. 

By the time of his graduation from Honoka’a High School, Dwight made good use of every educational opportunity that was available to him and developed lasting relationships with his teachers and classmates.  He excelled both athletically and academically and graduated first in his class.  In his valedictory speech, one could see the values and beliefs that were to mature into his personal and legislative philosophy.  In his speech, he shared his understanding of how the responsibility to shape the future was passing to his generation.  He spoke of the sacrifices of parents as they tried to provide for their children’s future and that now it was the graduates’ turn to reach out to neighbors less fortunate and move the community to a brighter future.

While he attended the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, he developed a set of relationships that went beyond the normal college bonds with peers

Senior co-captain and starting quarterback HHS Varsity - 1971.

and professors.  Dwight became active  citizens in the community.  He worked to help the elderly from evictions and assisted them in finding affordable housing.   From seeing the plight of our elder citizens, his desire to see justice for those who needed it most glowed ever more brightly as did the desire to look beneath the surface of the community to see those in struggle.

The Elective Years

Upon Dwight’s graduation from law school and his start as an attorney, his knowledge of his father, Yoshito, grew into a fuller comprehension and appreciation for his father’s accomplishments in the state legislature.   In 1984, when Yoshito decided to retire from his legislative career, it was a natural move for Dwight to follow in his father’s footsteps.  In that very year, Dwight was elected to the House of Representatives from the First District. 

Dwight’s ties to his plantation roots were always strong and vibrant.  He knew his constituents well.  During the turbulent years when the plantations began to close, his knowledge of the families and the challenges they faced was real and immediate.  These  were neighbors, classmates, and friends.   Families, who for generations lived with the sugar industry as the basis for their way of life, suddenly were thrown into a future of doubt.  The crisis involved not only the workers’ futures but more importantly, it involved the future of their children. 

Dwight did not hesitate.  He provided important transitional and family support services by working with community-based support groups.  He stimulated growth for diversified agriculture through programs that provided financial assistance and farm loan guarantees.

To insure there would be a future for the people of Hamakua, he helped to provide resources that stabilized and improved the agricultural infrastructure that included roads, wells, waterlines, and the Hamakua ditch. 

His intimate and personal knowledge of the people in his district, their problems, their dreams and hopes for themselves and their children were the basis for everything he did in the legislature and in the community.  He acted to stimulate the conditions that would create opportunities while respecting our natural resources.  And more importantly, he acted to build and enrich the educational system.  His initiatives ranged from improving and building facilities, to developing responsive programs in elementary to post secondary education.  Dwight was tireless in addressing the needs of the people, especially in the areas of health and elder care as he saw those needs unfolding.   His energy and inspiration came from knowing what was happening to individuals in his district.  He visited them.  He listened to them.  He worked in partnership with them.  

As his legislative career matured, Dwight not only maintained his relationships with the citizens of his district but also developed relationships with citizens throughout the state of Hawai‘i.  In this way, his understanding of statewide issues and their solutions grew out of an appreciation of individuals struggling to create communities that were supportive of its members.

From his grandparents, his siblings, his parents, and his friends; from his life in a plantation community; from the people who just want the opportunity to work hard; from the people who just want the tools to shape their futures, Dwight learned how to serve and how to lead.  He emphasized collaboration, community building, and networking.  He built teams and mobilized community groups.  With his unwavering enthusiasm, he helped communities to chart new directions and to re-vitalize themselves in the most uncertain times.

Dwight facilitates a meeting in WaimeaHe has been able to accomplish all of this because he embraces these relationships; he learns from them; and finally he gives back to them.  This is Dwight Takamine.

Pieper J. Toyama