By Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald
Deacon Lauren Wong, a Longs Drugs pharmacist who served the church in thoughtful, devoted and generous ways, died at his home in Kailua on March 11. He was 76 and a deacon for 30 years.
Deacon Wong’s wife Hazel told the Hawaii Catholic Herald that the diaconate “was his life.”
She found a reflection that her husband had written about the diaconate in 2000. In it he said, “I have been afforded a great opportunity to grow in faith and to respond to God’s love. With all of this I am able to serve people with his love and care.”
“Deacons must remember that it is a privilege to serve as a deacon that is given by God, church and community,” he said. “It is not a God-given ‘right.’ We need to serve with love, care and humility. Our service should be in response to the many great gifts that we receive from God. It should be a great example of living stewardship.”
Hazel said that even while suffering during his final illness, her husband reached out with concern to others.
Deacon Wong’s funeral is scheduled for April 7 at St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua. Visitation is 9:30-11 a.m. followed by a eulogy and the singing of the Saint Louis alma mater. Bishop Larry Silva will celebrate Mass at 11:30 a.m. The burial will be private.
Deacon Walter Yoshimitsu, who served with Wong as one of four deacons at St. John Vianney Church, called him a “quiet but effective kind of person.”
He would never tout his own contributions which were considerable, Yoshimitsu said. “He did everything on the quiet side.”
“He was very giving person,” he said, “very generous, with not only his time and talent, but also his treasure.”
Yoshimitsu first got to know Wong before their ordinations in the Marriage Encounter movement. “He stayed active in the organization for quite a few years,” he said.
He said his fellow deacon had the reputation of always being available to help, whether it was ministering at the women’s prison or presiding over funerals and burials.
Deacon Lauren Wong was born in Waialua, Oahu, on Jan. 10, 1941, and grew up on a sugar plantation. He attended St. Michael School and graduated from St. Louis High School in 1958.
In 1963 he married Hazel whom he had met at a St. Francis Xavier Club meeting a few years earlier. He graduated from the University of Hawaii with a bachelor’s degree in education and began his career as a clerk with Longs Drug Store.
With a partial scholarship from Longs, he earned a doctor of pharmacy degree and continued at the drugstore as a pharmacist in Kahului, Maui, and Kailua, Oahu.
The year 1977 became one of changing priorities for Lauren and Hazel. At a Marriage Encounter weekend they discovered God’s great love for them and the importance of his presence in their lives. That year, they began their full participation at St. John Vianney Parish. In 1980, they were thrilled to have their daughter Denise become a part of their lives.
Feeling a call to further serve the church, Wong began training in 1983 to become a deacon. Ordained on June 15, 1987, he was assigned to parish work at St. John Vianney. He also served as the chairman of the diocesan Deacon Council for 12 years with Hazel as secretary. For a time he represented California, Nevada and Hawaii on the National Association of Deacon Organizations.
Career-wise, Wong served in the mid-1990s as president of the Hawaii Pharmacists Association.
At his parish, he and Hazel taught baptism classes for parents, planned functions for the parish’s Young At Heart seniors group, and ministered at the Women’s Community Correctional Center. For 10 months in 2008, he was assigned to St. Stephen Parish in Nuuanu after which he returned to St. John Vianney.
On a diocesan level, he served on the priest personnel board, volunteered as a pharmacist in Catholic Charities Hawaii’s Medication Management Program for seniors, and was the diocesan director of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development from 2011 until 2013.
Lauren retired from Longs in 2005 and from the active diaconate in 2015.
Wong’s pastor, Father Peter Miti, said he worked with the deacon for three periods, first when he was a seminarian, then as a deacon and later when he was appointed pastor of St. John Vianney.
Father Miti said that during those times he learned much from Wong’s experience.
“Many times I turned to him,” he said. “He was easy to talk to. He was a man of great depth, a very gentle man, a very thoughtful person.”
When he preached, “he spoke from the heart,” Father Miti said. “He was a man of integrity.”
Deacon Wong also helped out at the parish doing marriage and baptismal preparation, RCIA and other ministries.
When Father Miti was assigned to the parish several years ago, Deacon Wong had already retired, but offered his services nevertheless.
“He still preached at Mass to the very end,” the pastor said.
Father Miti said Deacon Wong resolutely fought the cancer that eventually took his life. “He went with the Lord in his heart,” he said.
On the day after he passed, the Second Sunday of Lent, Father Miti wove the news of the deacon’s death into his homily about the Gospel account of the Transfiguration. He said it was Deacon Wong’s turn to be transfigured in his rebirth into eternal life.
In addition to his wife, Wong is survived by his daughter Denise Wong-Ibrahimi, nephews and nieces, and grandnephews and grandnieces.
