Carolyn Keiko Aoki-Hyatt was born on January 23, 1939 in Torrance, California. She spent her first three years in Torrance before being interned at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Rohwer, Arkansas for the duration of World War II. When the war ended, her family first moved to New Jersey, and then back to Los Angeles.
Carolyn graduated from Gardena High School in 1958, and then took up singing and working for a life insurance company before meeting her husband, Louis Hyatt, and marrying in 1961. Their daughter, Teri Lynne, was born in April 1962. She then went on to have a 45-year career as a leasing agent.
She was also active in her community and local politics. Over the years, Carolyn dedicated herself to volunteering with the Gardena Evening Optimist Club (where she was the club’s first woman president) and the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute. She was also a member of the Gardena Police Department’s Citizen’s Advisory Panel, the Gardena Chamber of Commerce, the Pediatric Therapy Network, was a board member of the Asia America Symphony Association, and was appointed to the Los Angeles County Commission for Women in 2013. For her extensive community-focused efforts, she was awarded the title of Woman of the Year 2004 for District 51 by Assemblyman Jerome Horton.
In her later years, she enjoyed attending services at Faith United Methodist Church in Torrance; doing many jigsaw puzzles and sudokus; going to concerts, baseball games and to Disneyland with her family; and watching the Lakers, Rams and Packers, and Dodgers games on TV.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Kyoichi “Mike” and Kiyome “Kay” Aoki; her sister, Donna Nobuko Holzer (David); and her ex-husband, Louis Hyatt. She is survived by her grandchildren, Morgan Bennyworth (Gideon) and Marin Casey; her daughter, Teri Casey (Bill); her sister, Joan Freeman; her brother; Takaji Aoki (Nancy); her niece, Arin (Eric); great-niece, Leah; nephew, Randy (Stephanie); and great-niece, Addison.
Her services will be on November 8, 2025, at 2 p.m. at Faith United Methodist Church in Torrance, California.