Elder Komatsu — An Unwavering Servant
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HONOLULU, HAWAII
Elder Adney Yoshio Komatsu was remembered Saturday as a great man who trained and inspired an entire generation of Church leaders.
“I don’t know of any leader in the Church who has had a greater influence in Japan than Elder Komatsu,” said Elder William R. Walker of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He paid tribute to his mission president at Saturday's funeral service, held in the Honolulu Tabernacle in the Honolulu Hawaii Stake.
“I’ve always wanted to live my life in a way that my mission president would be proud of,” said a tearful Elder Walker as he recited from his 1965 journal, quoting then President Komatsu of the LDS Northern Far East Mission. “When you lose someone, he would say, ‘smile a little and wait for the sunrise’… he believed after every storm there is a calm, behind every cloud, there is always a silver lining.”
Elder Komatsu, the first person of Asian descent to become a General Authority of the Church, was remembered by granddaughter KelliAnn as a kind soul who loved to shower her with “ruffled dresses.” Brandon Komatsu talked of his grandpa’s love for Samurai movies, and confessed that he only learned of Elder Komatsu’s accomplishments while serving a mission. “I will always uphold his name,” he said.
“I am grateful for the legacy which he established and left,” said Elder Scott D. Whiting, an Area Seventy, North America West Area. Elder Adney Komatsu will forever be known as an unwavering humble leader who served with “all his heart, might, mind and strength.”
Elder Komatsu served as an Assistant to the Twelve until his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy on Oct. 1, 1976. During his service, he was executive administrator in the Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa and Micronesia Area from 1978-82. He served as president of the Tokyo Japan Temple from 1982-85 and second counselor in the Utah South Area from 1984-85. He then served as first counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency from 1985-87, and as first counselor in the Utah South Area from 1985-87. Elder Komatsu served as Asia Area president from 1987-90, second counselor in the Utah North Area from 1990-91, until he served as Assistant Executive Director of the Priesthood Department of the Church. He was given an emeritus General Authority status on Oct. 2, 1993.
After his release from the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Komatsu served as a sealer in the Laie Hawaii Temple.
Elder Komatsu served in the U.S. Army's 441st Counterintelligence Corps in Japan during World War II. In 1954, he joined Honolulu Federal Savings and Loan where he became senior vice president and manager of the mortgage division.
Elder Komatsu is survived by his wife, Judy Nobue Fujitani Komatsu, and their four children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
