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Whatever Happened To...?

Hansen-Young writing stories, plays

By Richard Borreca

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 15, 2008

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Question: What ever happened to Diana Hansen-Young? Wasn't she the youngest politician in Hawaii?

Answer: Diana Hansen-Young made local political history by winning a seat to the 1968 Hawaii Constitutional Convention when she was only 20. Now 61, Hansen-Young divides her time between New York; Paris; Salem, Ore.; and Hawaii.

She went on to win a seat in the 1970 state House, representing Kailua and Waimanalo. In 1972 she ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

"I was fortunate enough while in political office to meet President Nixon, Ford, Henry Kissinger and George Bush when he was director of the CIA and head of the Republican National Committee," Hansen-Young said last week in an e-mail interview. "I was a child of the '60s, and am blessed to have lived to see an African-American elected president -- an African-American who went to Punahou, like my half-Chinese, half-Swedish daughters," she wrote.

After politics, Hansen-Young worked in her parents' Kailua frame shop and also painted, selling paintings by the road. Her paintings of Hawaiian women became popular. The endeavor expanded to include art books and children's books about her family's farm, Mango Hill.

In 1997 Hansen-Young, burned out from painting, went to New York with her daughters where she received a master's degree in musical theater writing from New York University. Her daughters also went to NYU and were in New York when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack happened.

"It was a long walk back to Brooklyn, and on that long walk I sort of rethought my life, and what I wanted to do for the rest of it, which was to write. In that smoky walk, I realized that indeed, I could not control anything in life; I could only control my reaction to it. It was an epiphany for me," she said.

In 2006 she wrote a musical, "Mimi Le Duck," which ran for 58 performances off Broadway, starring Eartha Kitt. Hansen-Young also writes murder mysteries, including one about a Hawaiian detective during the overthrow of the monarchy.


This update was written by Richard Borreca. You can write us at What Ever Happened to ..., Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; e-mail cityeditors@starbulletin.com; or call 529-4747.

Question: What ever happened to Diana Hansen-Young? Wasn't she the youngest politician in Hawaii?


Answer: Diana Hansen-Young made local political history by winning a seat to the 1968 Hawaii Constitutional Convention when she was only 20. Now 61, Hansen-Young divides her time between New York; Paris; Salem, Ore.; and Hawaii.

She went on to win a seat in the 1970 state House, representing Kailua and Waimanalo. In 1972 she ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

"I was fortunate enough while in political office to meet President Nixon, Ford, Henry Kissinger and George Bush when he was director of the CIA and head of the Republican National Committee," Hansen-Young said last week in an e-mail interview. "I was a child of the '60s, and am blessed to have lived to see an African-American elected president -- an African-American who went to Punahou, like my half-Chinese, half-Swedish daughters," she wrote.

After politics, Hansen-Young worked in her parents' Kailua frame shop and also painted, selling paintings by the road. Her paintings of Hawaiian women became popular. The endeavor expanded to include art books and children's books about her family's farm, Mango Hill.

In 1997 Hansen-Young, burned out from painting, went to New York with her daughters where she received a master's degree in musical theater writing from New York University. Her daughters also went to NYU and were in New York when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack happened.

"It was a long walk back to Brooklyn, and on that long walk I sort of rethought my life, and what I wanted to do for the rest of it, which was to write. In that smoky walk, I realized that indeed, I could not control anything in life; I could only control my reaction to it. It was an epiphany for me," she said.

In 2006 she wrote a musical, "Mimi Le Duck," which ran for 58 performances off Broadway, starring Eartha Kitt. Hansen-Young also writes murder mysteries, including one about a Hawaiian detective during the overthrow of the monarchy.


This update was written by Richard Borreca. You can write us at What Ever Happened to ..., Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; e-mail cityeditors@starbulletin.com; or call 529-4747.

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