Chiyoko Suzuki Rodgers

Chiyoko Suzuki Rodgers passed away in her Honolulu home on Monday, August 24, 2026, at the age of 96 after years of progressive pulmonary fibrosis and dementia. Her visitation, funeral service and celebration of life will be held September 23, 2026, from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Hawaiian Memorial Park Chapel in Kane‘ohe, Hawai‘i. Chaplain Dennis Mendoza of Bristol Hospice and the International Church of O‘ahu will officiate. Her committal service will be held September 24, 2026, at 10 a.m. at Hawaiian Memorial Park’s Ocean View gazebo followed by the burial in the nearby Rodgers family plot. Rev. Yoshitaka Fujinami of the Makiki Christian Church will officiate.

Chiyoko was born in Nagoya, Japan, on April 25, 1930. She attended elementary, junior high and dressmaker schools in nearby Komaki. She married Earl Duward Rodgers on August 14, 1953, in Tokyo. They were married 73 years. Chiyoko moved to the United States in 1957 and lived in Iowa, Texas, California, Michigan and Hawai‘i. In California, she attended Mayhew Community Baptist Church in Sacramento and was unofficially adopted by John Sato and his family. She worked as a seamstress, a domestic servant and a sales clerk. She retired from the Duty Free Shop in Honolulu after 30 years. Chiyoko enjoyed quilting, arts and crafts, gardening, traveling, entertaining and visiting with friends and family. She spent her retirement years volunteering for the Waipahu Plantation Village.

Chiyoko is survived by her husband Earl Duward Rodgers (HI); daughters Carol J. Harper (husband John Donlin) (CO) and Sylvia Mae Spalding (HI); son David Earl Rodgers (wife Kyla) (IA); grandchildren Troy David Fisher-Harper III (Japan), Daniel William Rodgers (wife Dianna) (HI), Bryce Winton Rodgers (IA), Brynja Michelle Thompson (husband Shea) (AZ), Sabrina Kaye Rodgers (GA) and Sarah Hokule’a Spalding (HI/LA); great grandchildren Wylder Winton Thompson (AZ), Oakes David Thompson (AZ), Hayes Shea Thompson (AZ) and Luna Usagi Galileo Rodgers (HI); niece Atsuko Banno (husband Sukeo) (Japan); nephews Toshiharu Suzuki (Japan) and Yoshiya Suzuki (Japan); and several grand and great grand nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her maternal grandparents Tsuru and Heijirou Suzuki (Japan); paternal grandfather Nabekichi Suzuki and step grandmother Iku Suzuki (Japan); parents Kuni and Kama Suzuki (Japan); son Daniel Duward Rodgers (HI); grandson Duward Rodgers (HI); sisters Itsuko Goto (husband Soken) (Japan) and Takeko Suzuki (husband Kenji) (Japan); and nephew Hirotoshi Suzuki (wife Tomiko) (Japan).

The family of Chiyoko S. Rodgers wishes to thank her private caregivers, especially Jennifer Mendoza, and the doctors and nurses at Tripler Army Medical Center, Queen’s Medical Center and Bristol Hospice who tended to her as well as the neighbors who came to visit, particularly Diana Salansky and Violet Kakunu.