U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye remembers the day in November 1963 when, monitoring wire service dispatches, he learned President John F. Kennedy was shot by an assassin in Dallas.

Inouye knew Kennedy's brother, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, was presiding over the Senate, so he quickly sent word. "It must have been a shocking experience for him" to get the news in that way, Inouye said yesterday. That moment, he added, "was as close as one can get to a person."

Inouye and Kennedy were elected to the Senate in 1962 and served together as allies for 47 years. Kennedy took office a few months before Inouye because he was picked in a special election to fill the remaining two years of his brother's Senate term, so the Massachusetts Democrat ranked just above Inouye in seniority.

With Kennedy's death Tuesday night at the age of 77, Inouye, D-Hawai'i, becomes second in seniority in the Senate, behind Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

Speaking to reporters in his office at the Honolulu federal building, Inouye described Kennedy as an optimist who kept working even though he was on his death bed. Inouye recalled how Kennedy had called him about 10 days ago in Washington, D.C., to ask him to insert a provision into a federal spending bill.

Inouye said he and Kennedy — two of the Senate's old bulls who were protective of the chamber's rules and traditions — shared similar philosophies on human rights and civil rights. He said their differences were usually only in approach.

Inouye said Kennedy's virtue was his optimism, which he kept even after his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968 and after he was involved in a car crash in Chappaquiddick in 1969 that left a young woman dead.

"People have asked me earlier today, 'Who will take his place?' I don't suppose anyone could take his place," Inouye said. "However, at the same time, no person is indispensable, and I'm certain we'll try our best to carry on the mission that he had started in the health reform area.

"It will not be easy, but we will do our best. We will miss him very much. I will miss him."

Inouye said Democrats will likely use Kennedy's memory to try to push through President Obama's health care reform plan. But the senator could not predict whether a bill will advance before Kennedy's replacement is chosen by special election.

Kennedy's death leaves majority Senate Democrats short of the 60 votes they need to break filibusters on their own, which means they may be unable to advance health care legislation without some Republican support.

"He was never dissuaded from doing activities or missions even if he lost the battle," Inouye said. "Now the health battle has been an ongoing one for decades now and this in many ways was supposed to be the high point in his mission for providing health to all the people of the United States."

Inouye said he and his wife, Irene, will cancel events scheduled in Hawai'i and travel to Boston this weekend to mark his colleague's death.

The senator said he was disappointed he will miss a reunion with his McKinley High School class of 1942. He said he will return to Hawai'i soon to mark the death of his youngest brother, Robert.

Inouye, 84, said it was sad to say goodbye to old friends like Kennedy.

"None of us walk on water. The day will come for all of us," he said. "I hope I can do it as nobly as he has."