AARON GLENN LEONG, 45, of Honolulu, died Dec. 31, 2008. Born in Glendale, Ariz. Legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye. Survived by wife, Lori-Anne; children, Emily and Tyler; parents, Boniface and Barbara; brother Greg; sister, Bonnie. Visitation 9:30 to 11 a.m. Thursday at Borthwick Mortuary; memorial service 11 a.m. No flowers. Aloha attire. Arrangements by Borthwick Mortuary.
-From http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090112/OBITS/901120326/1163
Today’s post is dedicated to my friend, Aaron Leong, whose funeral I attended one week ago. We met when I volunteered with the Ready to Learn program that provides school supplies for Hawaii’s needy children. Aaron was a long-time staffer to U. S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye – 17 years! Finding the right words to remember him have been difficult, probably because none of us ever expected to have to do it so early.
Aaron’s celebration of life was attended by a who’s who of government, political, and non-profit leaders – surely a testament of how tirelessly he worked for Sen. Inouye to serve Hawaii. While Hawaii will lose his legislative expertise on many of the Federally-funded projects and issues of concern for our state, I will miss Aaron’s humor. Of course, it sometimes got him in trouble, but that’s what we loved about him!
One of his favorite sayings, and a great way to showcase how he often used humor to make light of uncomfortable situations, was “I may not be the smartest guy, but…” They even termed it an “Aaron-ism” – there were others, but this was the one that I thought best represented him. Anyone who knew Aaaron knew not to put too much stock into that statement; he was a pretty smart guy.
It’s hard to say good-bye to someone who left so soon, yet that’s exactly what we had to do with Aaron, who was only 45. To my friend Aaron, as the commercial goes, this Bud’s for you. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s Bud Light!
Mahalo!
So sorry about your friend. It's so sad to lose one so young with so much more to contribute.
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