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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Women Are Hawaii's 'Mothers of the Year'
Honolulu HI Star-Bulletin 18Mar00 P2
By Mary Adamski: Star-Bulletin
HONOLULU, HAWAII -- Two LDS women have been named Hawaii's Mother of
the Year and Young Mother of the Year by American Mothers, Inc. Chryl
Chun, 44, of Wahiawa, Hawaii was chosen Mother of the Year while
Susan Kunz of Laie, Hawaii was chosen Young Mother.
Chun, the mother of eight children, learned of the honor a few weeks
ago, and had hoped that her ill mother would last until the awards
luncheon at Pearl Country Club, but her mother, Rebecca Leinaala
Saromines, died March 10th. Chun's family was all at the awards
luncheon just a week after the funeral and burial. In addition to
raising her own eight children, Chun and her husband Clayton have
been foster parents to 15 since 1992, five of whom currently live
with the family.
Kunz, of Laie, is mother to seven children. She is a graduate of
BYU-Hawaii and is active in the Laie Community Association and with
the Koolauloa Little League. She plans to promote literacy during her
term as Young Mother of the year, hoping to get children "not just to
read but to love reading."
Chun's goal as Mother of the Year is to encourage youth to avoid
smoking and help others to quit. The goal came directly from her
mother's death of cancer, brought by years as a smoker, "She was
still smoking until January. Nothing we said or the doctor gave her
helped her to quit," said Chun. "My message to young people is: Don't
start. Our youth who start smoking cannot quit; they become addicted
adults. When they ask me to give a speech, this is what they'll hear
me say." Unfortunately, Chun was never able to tell her mother about
her title, "She was in the hospital since the first week of January
and she was in a lot of pain. It didn't seem an appropriate time to
mention it."
The two women will represent Hawaii at the National Mother of the
Year Convention April 26-30 in New York.
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