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Bishop Hanchett of Hawaii Dies

Diocesan Press Service. August 15, 1975 [75281]

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- The Rt. Rev. E. Lani Hanchett, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii since 1969, died of cancer in St. Francis Hospital, Honolulu, at 4:30 a.m. Monday, August 11. He would have been 56 years of age in November.

Bishop Hanchett underwent surgery for cancer of the colon on December 27, 1974, and had been receiving intensive chemo-therapy for cancer of the liver.

During the period of his treatment he continued active in his office as Bishop and as recently al April had made a three-week visitation to the Churches of Asia, attending the Church Council of Southeast Asia in Singapore and conferring with the Bishops of the Church in Japan.

In his last letter to the clergy of the Diocese Bishop Hanchett wrote :

"As I look out of my fourth floor window here in the hospital and watch the night turn to day, I know that my future is in the hands of a dependable God and as I trust in Him I need have no fear. Our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again to give us God's own assurance that we, too, will follow in His way as long as we give ourselves into His keeping."

Bishop Hanchett's death had been anticipated, but came unexpectedly, and he died peacefully in his sleep.

Until a successor is chosen the ecclesiastical authority will be exercised by the Standing Committee of the Diocese, according to the canons of the Church. The Rev. Eugene Harshman, rector of Calvary Church, Kaneohe, is president of the committee.

Two services were held on Thursday, August 14, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., the first a Diocesan requiem and the second a service of the burial office and requiem, both in St. Andrew's Cathedral. Bishop Harry Kennedy, retired Bishop of Honolulu, pontificated at the early service and Bishop Kilmer Myers of California officiated and preached at the second.

Born in Honolulu on November 2, 1919, Bishop Hanchett was the son of the first doctor of Hawaiian ancestry to practice in the islands. He was educated at the University of Hawaii and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif.

He was suffragan bishop and bishop-in-charge of the Diocese of Hawaii from 1967 to 1969 and had served as diocesan bishop of the diocese since 1969.

Bishop Hanchett had represented Province VIII on the national Executive Council of the Episcopal Church since 1973.

He was married June 21, 1941, to Puanani Akana, who survives him, along with four children.