Family, friends, present and former students of a respected and revered servant of God and influential educator, Rev Elder Faatui Laolagi will farewell and pay their respects to him today.
Rev Faatui passed away January 12 at the LBJ Hospital at the age of 89.
In his lifetime he has been a teacher, counselor and vice principal at Samoana High School, a Secretary General of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa, and a CCCAS Minister in Fagasa and Fagaalu.
Perhaps his most famous role was founder of the South Pacific International Christian Church Center (SPICC) at Fatumafuti.
He and his wife, Elisapeta Saelua Laolagi, also an educator, started the school in 1992 and it quickly established itself as one of the territory’s best private schools.
Rev Faatui and his wife were not just teachers or principals to the students and their parents, they were “Tama and Tina.”
A close friend of Rev and Mrs Faatui, Mr. Lawrence French, said in everything they did, their goal was to show the love of Christ to all. “They instilled in their students and their parents the desire to have Christ and the Holy spirit in their lives.”
Mr French recalled White Sunday celebrations with the Faatuis at Fagasa.
“When small children would be frightened and tear up when they got on stage. ev Faatui and his wife would take that all away with their motherly and fatherly approach and the kids would just sing and perform, all the fright gone,” he said.
The couple’s passion for education and God’s ministry is something they passed on to the students they taught, said Mr French.
“And it shows with the graduates who have gone on to become military officers, church ministers, and hold good jobs in various professions.”
Rev Faatui was armed with a Bachelor in Theology from the VanGuard.University, Orange County, a Master in Education from San Francisco State College and Master in Divinity from American Baptist University, Berkeley.
Rev Elder Faatui is survived by his wife of 54 years, Elisapeta, five children and 12 grandchildren . Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
