Lisa Chiyo Kam Chin Chan's Obituary
Lisa (Aizawa) Chan
Beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunty and friend with a heart as big as her smile.
Lisa Chiyo Kam Chin Aizawa born in Honolulu, Hawaii, passed away peacefully at age 52 with dear family and friends at her side. She is predeceased by her Mother, Muriel “Peachy” (Ogata) Aizawa, survived by her husband George Chan, children Kelsey and Bryson, her father Dr. Herman Aizawa, sisters Lori (Michiko and Kelee) and Linda (Todd and Emi) and her beloved pet, Finnick.
Lisa loved life and was the happiest, most energetic and positive person among any circles. She always looked for and found ways to make everyone feel satisfied and good about themselves. If there was ever a true “boy scout” Lisa was the epitome of the model “girl scout”. From elementary school through high school, Lisa made lifelong friends easily and everyone was comfortable around her. She attended Kaneohe Elementary, a brief stint in Ohio education system, King Intermediate and graduated from Castle High School. At UH as a Civil Engineering student, she was very much involved with the two most prominent Civil Engineering organizations, American Society of Civil Engineer and Chi Epsilon, the Honor Student chapter of Civil Engineering of which she eventually became the president of the latter. It was no surprise that Lisa would graduate top of her class and also garnered the Student Engineer of the Year award by the Hawaii Council of Engineering Societies (HCES) during her senior year.
As much as Lisa was a studious learner, she was equally a hard worker. In addition to the many volunteer work she did as a young child extending through young adulthood, she worked at Wing’s Coffee as a stock person, a C&C parks and recreation aide, an engineering aide, a tutor and peer counselor, and an assistant teach for handicapped children. She started at Belt Collins and Associates while still attending UH and continued on as a junior engineer after graduating from college. She tested her engineering skills on the mainland signing on at Berryman, Stephenson Inc. in San Diego where eventually her enthusiasm and professionalism got the attention of the City of Poway Public Works Dept. She was recruited to lead in developing an assessment district for new land under expansion within the city and she was also a lead inspector for a multi-million dollar industrial park development. She was remembered as the little lady who would climb out of a big City of Poway pickup truck to conduct inspections but was always fair and with a smile. Upon returning to Hawaii, Lisa started her federal career with the Public Works Center at Pearl Harbor as a Planner. It didn’t take too long before she found a new calling and became an Environmental Engineer who made big strides in organizing and implementing the Navy’s Lead and Asbestos program. Her work made significant impact to PWC’s operations and that culminated in her being recognized as the Young Engineer of the Year by the HCES. Her successes translated into promotions and Lisa soon was promoted to be the Navy Region’s Environmental Engineer overseeing many policy and compliance programs. Her love for Environmental Engineering work took on a new turn when she and her family moved to Japan where she continued her work as a project manager under the US Army Corps of Engineers. There were opportunities abound and Lisa took on everyone of them that came her way. She gladly accepted the challenge of serving as the Japan Engineer District’s engineering specifications engineer and then the Quality Management Representative. Lisa made great strides in the quality improvement areas and created useful tools that made the working conditions of her co-workers a little easier. To this day, one of the programs that she helped develop is still being used in Japan! Lisa returned home to Hawaii as an Environmental Engineer working for the US Army Corps of Engineers Pacific Ocean Division. She worked for merely a year before
being promoted to a Senior Environmental Engineer position where she worked tirelessly to improve many programs in the Regional Business Directorate. Lisa was last promoted to Senior Manager of the Business Technical Division. She was well loved and respected for her insights, vision, professionalism and care for people. In all, she devoted more than 25 years of her career as a civil servant to the federal service and she loved every minute of it.
Lisa was a leader in the professional and local school communities. She was a staunch advocate for the engineering profession and even a stronger advocate for woman to get involved in the field of engineering. She participated in job fairs, recruitment tours and spoke at open forums for young engineers who are just entering the workforce. She was active in engaging students at the Middle and High School levels seizing every opportunity to encourage them to consider Science Technology Engineering or Math (STEM) fields. In addition, she supported the Project Grad program every year that her children were in high school and actually was a co-chair of the event during one year. She made lifelong and endearing friends while working the fund raisers and main event. No matter how much effort was involved, she was able to make them seem fun and productive.
An avid and adventurous “foodie”, Lisa enjoyed and would try any cuisine, especially food from her favorite place, Japan. In fact, Lisa loved everything about Japan, its culture, people, traditions, landscape, and of course it’s many styles of cooking. While living in Japan, she was able to hone her Japanese communication skills, learned how to snowboard and literally created her own Soko ga Japan episodes. She traveled with family and friends from the northern land of Hokkaido to the southern shores of Kyushu. She also took many trips to Okinawa and she thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness of the island that reminded her of her Hawaii home.
Lisa was a rarity, a well-balanced combination of beauty, smarts, humility, class and an outgoing and genuine personality. She was a wonderful wife, wise and loving mother, respectful daughter, supportive sister, fun-loving aunty and a loyal friend. She cherished everyone and lived her life to its fullest, every single moment. Always thinking of others, she constantly looked for opportunities to host gatherings for family and friends so that they can build fellowship and relationships. She was always generous with her smiles, hugs and sincere expressions of love. She will be dearly missed as she has touched the lives of all with whom she’s met. She is now in Heaven with her Mom and Mother-in-law, two special women who’ve shaped her life and taught her how to be a role model to others. Full obituary at http://www.hawaiianmemorialparkmortuary.com Celebration of Life service, Saturday, July 21, Hawaiian Memorial Park, Kaneohe. Visitation at 9:30 am, Services at 11:00 am
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