Sister Chieko Okazaki remembered for her 'power of goodness'

SALT LAKE CITY — He was just 7 years old at the time, but the image remains frozen in his mind. His second-grade teacher, Chieko Okazaki, was standing at the front of the class, a bright flower tucked neatly in her dark hair. Her physical presence was, by any measure, diminutive. And yet she commanded the attention of the entire class with her powerful, penetrating gaze.

"She had the power of goodness far beyond her size or dimension," remembered Elder W. Craig Zwick, now a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "I could feel that, even though I was seated on the back row, as usual, because of my last name. She was my schoolteacher, not my Primary teacher. But it became clear to me by watching her through the year that she knew the Savior. Her great wisdom and faith touched us all, because she not only taught it, she lived it."

Elder Zwick was one of six speakers who appreciatively and affectionately celebrated the life and faith of Sister Okazai Wednesday during funeral services for the beloved author, speaker and former counselor in the general Relief Society presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Sister Okazaki died last week of congestive heart failure. She was 84 years old.

In addition to her service in the Relief Society and as a member of both the LDS Primary and Young Women general boards, Sister Okazaki was remembered during the services as a compassionate leader, a loving friend and a dear and devoted parent and grandparent.

"She embraced goodness in any shape or form," said long-time friend Carol Lee Hawkins. She spoke of frequent shopping trips with Sister Okazaki. As they shopped they would often become separated from each other. Inevitably, Hawkins said, she would find Sister Okazaki listening intently to a tearful stranger who was pouring her heart out to her.

"I always thought I was one of Chieko's closest friends," Hawkins said. "I learned that everyone was her friend … She shared her pain in life, and in so doing gave us permission to share our own."

The two women with whom Sister Okazaki served in the LDS general Relief Society presidency, Elaine Jack and Aileen Clyde, also spoke to the near-capacity congregation gathered at the Salt Lake Holladay South Stake Center for the funeral. Jack said that "the women of the world were her friends," and that "she will live on because of the profound effect she had on people throughout the world." Clyde remembered her capacity to recall her own life experiences and help her listeners and readers see their application to their own lives.