Chieko N. Okazaki papers, 1924-2012

Chieko Nishimura was born on October 21, 1926 in Hawai'i. Raised Buddhist, she converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1942. She attended the University of Hawai'i where she met Edward Yukio Okazaki, a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and a graduate student in Social Work, whom she married on June 18, 1949. After graduating, Chieko worked as a teacher in Maui, and then moved to Utah where Robert and Kenneth Okazaki were born. In 1968, Edward was called to serve as president of the Japan-Okinawa and Japan Central Missions, and Chieko was called to serve as the president of the missions' auxilliaries. After returning to the United States, she resumed her career as a teacher, and later moved to Denver, Colorado with her family. She earned her master's and administrative degrees, and then worked as a school principle for several years. In 1990, Chieko was set apart as the First Counselor of the Relief Society General Presidency, making her the first woman of color to serve on the Relief Society General Presidency, and the first woman to serve on all three of the women's general boards of the LDS church. During this period, Chieko began her public speaking and authorial career which focused on LDS women's issues, and she is one of the first major LDS figures to directly address sexual abuse. Edward died on March 20, 1992, after which Chieko established the Edward Yukio Okazaki Memorial Award for students in the College of Social Work at the University of Utah to commemorate Edward's work in the field of gerontology. Chieko was also a member of several boards and organizations including the Boards of Trustees of Southern Virginia University, a liberal arts college that promotes the tenets of the LDS church. Chieko continued to speak at many church conferences, Firesides, and other LDS church events until her death on August 1, 2011.