HONOLULU (KHNL/Gray News) – Hawaii just got another centenarian.
Betty Mitsuko Tokunaga is now 100 years old.
She was born on August 11, 1924, in Paia, Maui, before eventually moving to O’ahu and building a life in Niu Valley with her husband, Mike Tokunaga.
Together, Tokunaga and her husband raised two daughters and a son.
Over the years, the family has grown to include seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild, and family members say another child is on the way.
Tokunaga was affectionately called “Grandma Betty” by her loved ones.
Until her retirement, she worked as a payroll clerk for the city’s transportation authority.
Her husband has since passed away but is still remembered for his time in the armed forces in the Go For Broke Battalion.
When she turned 100 on Sunday, she celebrated with a party at the 100th Infantry Battalion Memorial Building in Mo’ili’ili.
At her party, Tokunaga talked about what it was like for her to grow up.
“When I was young, I always played games. I even played with the boys. Football, baseball, you know,” she said. “When they played away, I just joined them. And they let me play, too. So I played with the boys.”
Tokunaga also said that she spent a lot of time helping her mother with daily household chores.
She said the secret to living to 100 is to stay active for most of her life.
Family members said she loved taking daily walks around her neighborhood.
They added that Grandma Betty was the “authoritative person and didn’t let anything go.”
While she kept the family together, she also had a lot of aloha for those around her.
“Everyone who met her knows that she cared for everyone as if they were her own family and fed them,” said family member Chanteyl Tuvale.
Tokunaga was already 35 years old before the country of her birth was officially declared a state of the United States on August 21, 1959.
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