
The first Miss South Pacific, Juliette Caroline Sword, passed away at her home in Mililani, Hawaii Sunday night, surrounded by family and friends.
Her husband, Taulapapa William Sword, said Juliette had been fighting pancreatic cancer since she was diagnosed in October 2016.
After having a tumor removed with the “whipple” procedure, she went through chemotherapy and radiation to no avail.
Juliette was born and raised in Gataivai, and was only 56 years old.
Taulapapa says Juliette’s life was full of achievements and constructive efforts.
At a very young age, she started working at their family store in Pago Pago, Spencers Store, then attended a business school in Hawaii.
She was a trained flight attendant for Samoa Air which flew between Pago Pago and Honolulu.
In 1987, she was American Samoa’s entrant in the inaugural Miss South Pacific Pageant, now the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant and won the crown in Samoa from close to 20 other contestants.
She remained humble and was the ever smiling and friendly village girl throughout her reign.
Juliette later became a member of the South Pacific Pageant Board and was instrumental in making improvements for the contest and participation and recognition of the title winners in regional events.
Juliette established MASI (Miss American Samoa Inc) to recruit, prepare and counsel young ladies for the Miss South Pacific pageants.
She did this for 10 years and mentored many young ladies, three of whom became Miss South Pacific.
She became the model for many young ladies and gave much back to society in later years by being involved in pageants, ladies paddling groups, aerobics events and other charitable events.
Juliette has been written about in several publications about young ladies in American Samoa.
In November of last year, during her illness, Juliette accompanied by her husband, took her dream trip.
They traveled to Paris where they visited the Louvre, had lunch on the Eiffel tower, toured Notre Dame Cathedral and had dinner on the River Seine; Rome where they toured the Vatican, St Peters Basilica, and the Coliseum and Tuscany, visiting Florence, Seanna, Pisa and Venice, enjoying a gondola ride with a singing tenor accompanied by an accordion player.
Juliette is survived by her husband of 29 years, Taulapapa William Sword, and her proudest achievement was raising sons Will Jr, John, and Spencer.
She was the daughter of Mrs Sia and the late Denver Spencer and was raised by her grandparents Tuugaelagi and Tauamo Tarrant.
Juliette ‘s friendliness , calm demeanor and ever present smile endeared her to countless relatives, friends, and colleagues in American Samoa, Samoa, and Hawaii, who are mourning her untimely death.
KHJ News expresses deepest condolences to Taulapapa and their sons and Juliette’s mother Mrs Sia Spencer for their loss.