She was an iron fist in a velvet glove, her granddaughter said — a political dynamo who broke down barriers while ruling with fierce passion gilded in quiet aloha.

She was soft, but not a pushover. Assertive, but not brash.

While professional colleagues and community members remember Jean Sadako King as Hawaii’s first female lieutenant governor who fought hard for peace and dared to challenge Gov. George Ariyoshi’s bid for re-election in the early ’80s, close friends and family recall fondly the messages of "Happy Birthday" she recorded on their phones, the notes and newspaper clippings she sent that pertained to their personal interests, and the roses she brought to monthly lunch dates.

Those who cared deeply for King gathered Saturday at Kawaiaha‘o Church to remember and honor her many accomplishments and reflect on vignettes of her kindness, generosity and staunch advocacy for peace and justice. King died on Nov. 24, 12 days before her 88th birthday.

"There will now be one less phone call every birthday, there is now one less dedicated advocate for peace, one less voice for Hawaii’s fragile environment," King’s grandson, Lanikea King, said during her eulogy. "We lost a great and magnificent person. I hope that you think of Jean King from time to time and the things she stood for. Maybe it will help you reach out to someone when they need it: Ask that person, ‘What’s the matter? How can I help you?’"

Gov. Neil Abercrombie sent a letter of condolence that his chief of staff, Bruce Coppa, read and delivered to King’s family during the service.

"She was an individual of tremendous drive and grace," Abercrombie wrote, noting King’s work to promote government transparency and establish the state’s early Sunshine laws. "I wish you her strength and her courage in the days ahead."

Kimi Matsuda, who also spoke during the service, remembered becoming close friends with King through Hawaii Youth for Democracy, a group formed during their college years at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

"Jean McKillop was so beautiful … the most beautiful woman on campus," she recalled.

Matsuda said her first impression of the Kaimuki home King grew up in was of King’s father and mother, William and Chiyo McKillop, washing dishes together in the kitchen.

"I had never seen couples relating in that way," she said. "And they would sing to each other, and they would laugh. That was the atmosphere that she grew up in."

After attending UH, King went on to earn master’s degrees in history from New York University and in drama and theater from UH. She also worked with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in San Francisco in the office of Harry Bridges, a widely known union leader, and even transcribed an interview between Bridges and the FBI because she was known for her attention to detail, her grandson said.

Matsuda remembered hanging around with King in New York and serving as the maid of honor in her New York City apartment wedding to the late James King, whom she later divorced.

The free-spirited King once took a walk barefoot in the city and called New York pilau, or dirty, upon noticing that her soles were covered in black soot, she said.

With humorous trepidation, Matsuda also told of how she and King shared a turnstile while entering the subway because the fare had recently increased from a nickel to a dime. The church crowd laughed.

"What was Jean like as a young person?" Matsuda said. "She had a wonderful sense of humor, she was always gracious, she was brave, and she was outspoken. She said what she believed."

Many described King as a woman who approached life in a profoundly meaningful way.

"I remember when she took us down to Hanauma Bay — and this was before they charged and before there was a real trail," her niece, Cori Pohle, who lives on Maui, said after the service. "And we were sitting in the sand and she’s leaning back, this beautiful woman … and she put her foot over her knee and created this triangle and she said, ‘Cori, look through that and picture it.’ It was like the first time I had ever thought about looking at things differently, but she always had that kind of eye."

Robert Bley-Vroman, who spoke about King’s active participation in the Honolulu Friends Quaker community, said that upon meeting her many years ago he was "struck by how unprepossessing and quiet" she was.

"Other Quakers have shared their impressions of Jean with me in preparation for today, and Jean’s quiet nature was mentioned again and again," he said. "But Jean was a public figure, and a powerful political leader. One does not expect such people to be quiet and unassuming."

Bley-Vroman said King helped keep the group focused on social issues, and that in the past few years she became deeply interested in Hawaii’s homelessness issue and attempts at prison reform.

King was the glue that held the Quaker group together because she was a community-builder at heart, he said. When one member’s eyesight was fading, King called her daily to read news articles over the phone that she thought would interest her.

Another Quaker member provided Bley-Vroman with a letter regarding her friendship with King, which he read during the service.

"Jean had a way of being in the world I’ve never witnessed before," the member wrote. "She never referred to days gone by, nor would she seem to anticipate tomorrow. She saw each new day of life as a gift, complete with something to be appreciated or celebrated."

The letter continued, "Jean was one of those rare people who had inner eyes — eyes that see the blessings. For me, knowing her has shown me how it is possible to live."

Lanikea King said his grandma rarely spoke with family about her public service — as a state representative from 1972 to 1974, a state senator from 1974 to 1978, and lieutenant governor from 1978 to 1982 — not because she wasn’t proud if it, but because she was an activist who didn’t dwell on the past.

"That is perhaps the side of her I am least familiar with," he said. "When I spoke with Grandma Jean about the world, which was often, it was the world of today we discussed, and what needed to be done in our world today."

One political story she did tell him — sparked by a drive the two made together from the North Shore to town — was of a time she rode horses along the beach with a friend.

"They had been celebrating a recent victory," he said. "The passage of the Shoreline Protection Act, which preserves beach access for everyone in Hawaii. And I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that’s because of you?’"