Akaka link endures in baby’s name

The legacy of former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka didn’t end with his public service and body of legislative work amassed over more than 3-1/2 decades in Washington.

The late senator also played a role in naming U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s babies, including her latest, born Monday.

Duckworth, 50, the Illinois Democrat who graduated from McKinley High School in Honolulu and attended the University of Hawaii, gave birth to Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, becoming the first senator to give birth while in office.

The middle name of Duckworth’s second daughter comes from the great-aunt of her husband, Bryan Bowlsbey.

“Bryan, (first daughter) Abigail and I couldn’t be happier to welcome little Maile Pearl as the newest addition to our family and we’re deeply honored that our good friend Senator Akaka was able to bless her name for us — his help in naming both of our daughters means he will always be with us,” Duckworth said in a news release.

Maile is the Hawaii flowering vine traditionally made into lei.

Akaka, who died Friday at the age of 93, provided the middle name for Duckworth’s first child, Abigail O’Kalani Bowlsbey, who was born in 2014 while her mother was serving in the House. Duckworth said O’Kalani means “gift of the heavens.”

At the time, Duckworth became one of only 10 lawmakers to have given birth while serving in Congress.

Duckworth met Akaka while she was a patient at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Akaka, who was chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, asked her to testify before the panel, said Sean Savett, Duckworth’s press secretary.

The two also worked together on an initiative to end veteran homelessness that Duckworth coordinated when she was assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Savett said.

Akaka’s political career started in 1976 in the U.S. House of Representatives and ended in the U.S. Senate in 2013.

In his autobiography, published last year, Akaka praised President Barack Obama for making a “smart appointment” of Duckworth as VA assistant secretary. He called her “a rising star and a source of inspiration for the latest generation of veterans.”

In his book, Akaka noted how Duckworth was born in Thailand to an American father, a Marine veteran, and a Thai woman, and they moved to Honolulu when she was 16. She graduated from McKinley High School in 1985 and then UH Manoa before going on to graduate school at George Washington University, where she joined the ROTC program.

Duckworth learned to fly helicopters in the Army Reserve and later transferred to the Illinois National Guard before being deployed to Iraq in 2004.

She lost her right leg and left leg below the knee and fractured her arm in three places when her helicopter was shot down in battle. She received a Purple Heart and a promotion to major while still recovering at Walter Reed.

Duckworth was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 after representing Illinois’ 8th Congressional District in the House for two terms.