A legacy of building Church labor missionary Sione Feinga remembered for his work ethic, dedication to God, and service to family and fellowmen BY LEEANN LAMBERT
One of the Church’s labor missionaries originally from Tonga, who helped build the Polynesian Cultural Center, parts of the Laie Hawaii Temple and BYU–Hawaii campus and more, Sione Feinga passed away on July, 9, 2020. His family and friends gathered to remember him on July 17. Wearing traditional Tongan mats, members of Feinga’s family gathered in the backyard of their Laie residence to remember and honor a man who was a leader in the Church and a BYUH retiree who was the associate director of Physical Facilities on campus. In 2017, the University honored him by naming an annual employee performance award after him for his “many years of dedicated service, leadership and selfless devotion to Brigham Young University–Hawaii,” says the plaque he received. Friends started arriving early on the morning of July 17 for the viewing, filing in along one side of the house into the backyard, greeting family and passing by his casket, then exiting through the other side of the house. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only family
members attended the funeral services held after the viewing in the backyard of their family home, which Feinga built himself along with his labor missionary friends. His son, Johnny Feinga, conducted the services shown via Facebook for those who could not attend. Sione Feinga was born on Aug. 4, 1935, in Tonga, says information on his funeral program. He was the youngest of seven children. He attended Liahona High School in Tonga from 1950 to 1953 until a rugby injury sent him home to recover. In 1956, he became a labor missionary in Tonga and spent three years building chapels and additional buildings at Liahona High School. While serving at Liahona, he met his wife, Adele, a young teacher at the school, and he said the two fell in love quickly. “The mission changed my whole life,” he wrote in his personal history in 2002. “I love the work and learned how to build, and I met my wife, Adele.” Next, he was one of 31 Tongans called on labor missions to Hawaii, says information on his funeral service’s program. The missionaries
“My family was very happy to hear of the news of my call to Hawaii. It was the first time a Feinga left Tonga [to] go overseas… That is a big step in life to go overseas and work for the Church.” - Sione Feinga 18
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arrived on Oahu in 1960. They worked on the Center, the Laie Hawaii Temple and the Church College of Hawaii. In his personal history, he recalled, “My family was very happy to hear of the news of my call to Hawaii. It was the first time a Feinga left Tonga [to] go overseas… That is a big step in life to go overseas and work for the Church.” He and Adele married in the Laie Hawaii Temple the same day he completed his mission on June 2, 1962, and after Adele got a job at the Church College of Hawaii. Over the years, Sione Feinga served in several leadership positions in the Church. He was an elders quorum president, counselor in a bishopric, a bishop, a counselor in the stake presidency, and became the Laie Hawaii Stake president in 1984. His journal entry about his service read, “My testimony of the Church had strengthened in all the callings I have had.” Each of his children spoke at his service. His daughter, Kathy Pulotu, spoke about her dad’s life. She said he built their house in Laie “Tongan style, which means with no money.” She said he used what resources he had and
The Feingas were married the day Sione Feinga finished his labor mission. Photo provided by Monique Saenz. Graphics by Esther Insigne.
