She was the widow of the late Hawaiʻi Intermediate Court of Appeals Chief Judge James Burns, son of Gov. John A. Burns, who was the governor when H50 was originally on the air, and the guy who Leonard Freeman reportedly spoke to when he came up with the idea of H50.

From Wikipedia:

Sources differ on how the show came to be. Producer Leonard Freeman moved to Hawaiʻi to recuperate after suffering a heart attack. One source states the idea for the show may have come from a conversation Freeman had with Hawaiʻi's then-Governor John A. Burns.

Another source instead claims that Freeman wanted to set a show in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California until his friend Richard Boone convinced him to shoot it entirely in Hawaiʻi. A third source claims Freeman discussed the show with Governor Burns only after pitching the idea to CBS. Before settling on the name "Hawaii Five-O", Freeman considered titling the show "The Man".