Early and personal life

Born Lefagaoali'i Satele, Sunia was named after Lefagaoalii, the village where she was born on the island of Savaii, Western Samoa Trust Territory (the present-day Independent State of Samoa).^[2][3] She was the oldest of her parents' eleven children.^[2] Her parents, Le Alo o Salamasina Satele Mosegi and Mata’ia Avaiu Mauigoa-Satele, were Christian ministers for the London Missionary Society from the village of Vailoatai in Western District, American Samoa.^[3] The London Missionary Society is now known as the Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa and Samoa.^[2][3]

She initially attended school in American Samoa, but graduated from Waipahu High School in Waipahu, Hawaii.^[3] She returned to American Samoa, where she was hired for her first job at the territory's Department of the American Samoa Government, now known as the territory's Office of Communications.^[3] She then enrolled in, and graduated from, nursing school and became a nurse at LBJ Tropical Medical Center.^[3]

Sunia married her husband, future Governor Tauese Piti Sunia, in 1969; the couple had ten children.^[3][4] The Sunias moved back to American Samoa in 1981 at settled in the village of Leone, American Samoa.^[3]

Fagaoalii Sunia held several honorary titles, including Leilua, Lomialagi and Sina.^[2]

First Lady of American Samoa

Sunia served as the First Lady of American Samoa from 1997 to 2003 during the two gubernatorial terms of Governor Tauese Sunia, a former schoolteacher. She championed efforts to promote reading and literacy in the territory, including the Read to Me Samoa Program, which she founded and operated.^[1] Governor Sunia died in office on March 26, 2003, while en route from Apia, Samoa, to Honolulu on board a Polynesian Airlines flight to seek treatment for abdominal pains.^[5] First Lady Sunia was accompanying her husband on the flight at the time.^[5]

Following the Governor's death, Sunia devoted much of her time to her family and her church, the Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa (CCCAS) in Leone, American Samoa.^[1] Governor Sunia had been a CCCAS deacon.^[2] Fagaoalii Satele Sunia was ordained as deacon to succeed her late husband, making her one of the few female deacons in the Congregational Christian Church (CCCAS) denomination.^[2] Additionally, she was a member of the CCCAS' Women's Fellowship.^[2]

She also established the Tauese P. Sunia Memorial, a memorial and museum at her home in Fogāgogo, which became a tourist attraction.^[1][3]

Sunia suffered a stroke shortly after midnight on August 30, 2015.^[1] She was admitted to Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center in Faga'alu on Monday morning, August 31, 2015.^[1] Sunia suffered a second stroke on the afternoon of August 31 and lapsed into a coma.^[1]

Fagaoalii Satele Sunia died from complications of her strokes at LBJ Tropical Medical Center in Faga'alu on September 5, 2015, at the age of 69.^[1] She was survived by 8 of her 10 children and ten siblings.^[2]

Fagaoalii Sunia's funeral was held at the Leone Roman Catholic Church, near her CCCAS church, on September 25, 2015.^[2] Dignitaries in attendance included American Samoan and Samoan relatives, former First Ladies and politicians.^[2] Her casket, which was draped in the flag of American Samoa, was accompanied by territorial police officers.^[2] Sunia was buried next to her late husband at her home in Fogāgogo, American Samoa.^[2]

Senator Timusa Tini Lam Yuen sponsored a house concurrent resolution honoring the former First Lady in the American Samoa Fono.^[2][6]