Patsy Mink: The Untold Story

Lorna’s father Toshi Takehara and Patsy Takemoto sat next to each other in their alphabetically assigned seats in pre-med classes at the University of Hawaii. While Patsy was rejected from dozens of medical schools because she was a woman, Toshi went off to dental school. 

As a young girl, Lorna loved Patsy’s Christmas parties where Patsy would dance the hula.   

Patsy and Lorna's mother Alice broke traditions. They navigated through the traditional Japanese cultural norms of male dominance in order to change the system.  Alice managed Patsy’s campaign when she ran for the US Senate against Spark Matsunaga in 1976 and lost. 

Patsy and her husband John Mink lived in Waipahu, a plantation town. 

Claire’s mother was Patsy Mink’s office campaign manager. Orange was Patsy’s favorite color and was used in her campaigns.  Patsy Mink's first election was in 1956 for the Territorial House of Representatives. Claire was a little girl when she went with her mother door-to-door holding a can with a little slot to collect coins to finance the campaign. Their strategy was grassroots with an appeal to the stay-at-home mother.  It was the first time a campaign TV commercial showed housewives. Later, In the mid-1960s, Claire saw her mother and Patsy crying after being bullied by men who wanted them to drop out of the race. The two mothers were outsiders and harassed because politics was for men.