Jerry Nunogawa “loved doing the Lord’s work.” That’s how Michael Shizuma remembered him in a eulogy he offered to his fellow deacon in services in Hilo, where Nunogawa lived and worked, and on Oahu.
Nunogawa died on June 17 after collapsing at St. Stephen Diocesan Center a day after assisting at a formation weekend for a new class of deacons.
“His passion and love for God and the church was always priority,” Deacon Shizuma said, “especially if it had anything to do with helping someone.”
A funeral Mass was celebrated June 24 at St. Joseph Church in Hilo where Deacon Nunogawa was assigned. A second Mass was celebrated July 17 at St. John Vianney Church in Kailua, Oahu. He was interred at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe.
Deacon Shizuma, a Molokai resident who was ordained in the same class as Nunogawa, sent the text of his talk to the Hawaii Catholic Herald.
Shizuma described his friend as “very intelligent” and “a gentleman in every respect.”
“Anything to do with helping others, you could count Jerry in,” Shizuma said. “That was Jerry’s middle name — ‘Help.’ He went above and beyond to help anyone.”
He said Deacon Nunogawa would go “the full 10 yards” with any effort, whether it was guiding Shizuma through the process of presiding at a wedding ceremony, or making “perfect” coffee.
In a second eulogy, Deacon Nunogawa’s son Matthew delivered an affectionate tribute lightened with humor.
He described his father as an exceptional husband and father, an avid reader, a careful planner and a man of strong loyalties: to his country and career, to friends, to his church and God, and especially to his wife and family.
He said that one of his father’s six “philosophies” of life was to “leave things better off than you find them.”
“This applies to every career, job or errand he ever did,” the younger Nunogawa said.
He said is father “always did things to the best of his ability. He would help anyone. He would stop and talk story to anyone in an attempt to make their day better off.”
“This philosophy in particular is why he was able to touch so many lives,” Matthew said, “whether it was saving someone’s marriage, visiting people in prison or just taking his grandchild for a walk.”
Deacon Nunogawa had only been a deacon for six years. He was ordained a permanent deacon at St. Joseph Church by Bishop Larry Silva on Feb. 3, 2007. He was 72 when he died.
Born in Honolulu and educated at the University of Hawaii, Deacon Nunogawa had worked for the Hawaii state Department of Health as an environmental engineer and also served in the U.S. Army and in the U.S. Public Health Service for 26 years.
In his homily at the July 17 funeral service, fellow deacon Tom Contrades said that anyone who became Nunogawa’s friend, “became a friend for life.”
“Jerry loved people,” he said. “He loved his deacon brothers and their wives. He loved his parish and all the parishioners and they loved him back.”
“Jerry’s greatest love, though, was for his family,” Contrades said. “He loved Rose so very much. He treated her as all wives should be treated — with kindness, gentleness and love.”
Shizuma said that Nunogawa believed in the deacon’s mission “to be a servant to God.”
“He modeled to us his vision of what God wants,” he said, which is “simply to be there for others.”
“During his final days of his life, it seems like all Jerry’s hard work … was falling into place,” Shizuma said. “His actions were of pure enjoyment and satisfaction.”
Deacon Nunogawa is survived by his wife Rosemary, his sons Matthew of San Mateo, Calif., and Nicholas of Philadelphia; brothers James and Joe of Honolulu, sister Karen Sakata of Mililani, and two grandchildren.
