Fagaoalii Satele Sunia

Fagaoalii Lefagaoali'i Satele Sunia (c. 1946 – September 5, 2015) was an American Samoan literacy advocate and educator. She served as the First Lady of American Samoa from January 1997 to March 2003 during the tenure of her husband, former Governor Tauese Sunia, who died in office in 2003. Sunia established and operated the Read to Me Samoa Program to promote reading in American Samoa. She also created the Tauese P. Sunia Memorial, a museum and visitor attraction dedicated to her late husband located at her home in Tutuila.

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

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. She was survived by 8 of her 10 children and ten siblings.

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

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