“I am in the world to change the world”- Käthe Kollwitz
Family Life
Bethany is the mother of two beautiful daughters and is dedicated to ensuring they are loved and supported in everything they do. They both attend Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School. Her oldest daughter, Lynsey, enjoys playing music and swimming as a member of the Honokaa High School swim team. Both girls are also active in community theater and have performed in several productions of the Waimea Community Theater.
Bethany is the wife of Michael Morrison. They have been happily married for almost 17 years. Michael is a member of the ILWU and is employed at Yamada and Sons, Inc. Family values are an important pillar to the Morrisons. They enjoy hosting holidays and family birthdays at their house where everyone can be together. They also really enjoy getting outside and adventuring together, camping, hiking, or exploring the shoreline. Bethany and Michael believe in hard work and enjoy working on their home remodel projects together.
Experience
Bethany is a senior long range planner and supervisor for the County of Hawaii. She is a member of HGEA. Bethany has over 12 years of experience in the Planning Department. Bethany is currently the project planner for the comprehensive update of our County General Plan. The General Plan is the long range policy document that guides all land use and infrastructure for the next 25 years. Bethany was also a contributing member for the creation and adoption of the Hamakua and Kau Community Development Plans. Bethany values using good research and analysis to guide decision making. She has championed the County’s efforts to update shoreline setbacks, address climate change, ensure hazard mitigation, and promote sustainability. Bethany has also worked with all of the County departments to put the capital improvement budget together every year. Bethany is dedicated to public service and was nominated as the County of Hawaii Supervisor of the Year in 2017.
Education and training
Bethany is a college graduate. She attended Gonzaga University where she studied philosophy, pre-law and political science, before transferring to California State University-Fresno, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree in political science. Bethany has always had a passion for learning and has continued her growth. Bethany is a trained facilitator and public speaker.
Community Service
Bethany is actively involved in serving her community. She served two 3-year terms on the Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School Governing Board. During her tenure, she served as the chairperson, vice chairperson and treasurer. She also partnered with the administrator to design and complete the strategic plan for the school. Bethany is also a past member of the Hilo Toastmaster’s International Club, where she served as a club officer. Bethany also served as a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Hawaii Shore and Beach Preservation Association.
Connected to Council District 1
Bethany is strongly connected to her district and wanted to share the following personal story.
I’d like to share a little about me and my connection to our place. I was born in a rural small town in Eastern Washington where farming and forestry were the main industries. When I was 8, my family took a vacation to Hawaii to reconnect with family friends and relatives. When we returned home, my mom had received a response to a postcard she had dropped in the mail. Our family friends were living up Ookala Mauka at Umikoa Ranch and had positions available for a nursery manager and sawmill operator for their commercial Koa forestry business.
Our family made the arrangements and relocated within a couple of months. In 1989, I started my 4th grade year at Laupahoehoe Elementary School. My memories are very clear from the time period. Everything was so new and different. We lived off grid on a self sustained ranch. We had to travel several miles down the mountain, opening and closing 3 gates and passing vast fields of sugar cane to catch the school bus. My bus route went all the way down to Laupahoehoe Point to pick up students that lived at the Jodo Mission. I was the tallest in my class, including my teacher, Mrs. Ashida, and I stuck out with my copper-colored curly hair. As 4th graders will do, they blessed me with several nicknames including Pippy Longstocking and Raggedy Ann. During weekends, I would explore the deep gulches within the ranch and eat banana poka and thimbleberries all day. My grandmother lived at the Papaaloa elderly homes across from the Papaaloa gym and I went to her house everyday after school and played with friends at the gym. I remember being at her house when they would burn the cane feilds and the sweet smelling smoke it created.
As life happens, my family relocated to the Kona side and eventually back to Washington State. My parents divorced and my dad moved back to Kona, where I visited every summer. My junior year of high school, my mom and stepdad purchased property that had been part of the sugar industry in Papaaloa and began their move back to the island. During college breaks, I would come and stay with them in their small cabin they had built as they began to clear out the sugar and plant fruit trees.
When I got engaged I knew right away where I wanted to get married. I was living in California at the time and my fiance had never been to Hawaii. Since most of my family lived here, we decided to bring his family with us. My mom worked frantically to groom her front yard with flowers that we had gathered from a neighboring farm and my stepdad built an awesome imu pit in preparation for the big feast. On our wedding day, the weather looked iffy for an outdoor wedding. It sprinkled lightly on us as we walked down the bougainvillea strewn aisle but stopped as soon as the ceremony started. It was a blessed day.
After returning home to California, my husband and I could not shake the longing to be back. After our first child was born, we easily made the decision. We wanted to be close to family in a safe community that made us feel at home, so we moved in with my parents in Papaaloa. I was bale to stay at home with my daughter and help with my mom’s drafting and permitting business and my husband worked with my stepdad building houses.
After the birth of our second daughter, we were able to purchase a home in Papaaloa, just down the road from my parents and a mile away from our daughters’ school, Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School. I am connected and dedicated to serving Hamakua.
I will be humbled to serve as your next County Councilwoman!
Paid for by Friends of Bethany Morrison PO Box 32 Laupahoehoe, HI 96764