Christina Keiko Rice

Christina Rice was born on September 28, 1970. She is the youngest child of four and the daughter of Jane and James Kishiyama. Her siblings are Douglas, Brian and Dale and her husband is Jerry. We are here today to celebrate Christina's life and her valiant courage. She was stunningly beautiful not only outwardly but inwardly as well. She always extended herself respectfully with her generous, caring and kind heart, never revealing the severity of her condition with Lupus.

As a young child, Christina was compassionate and driven. She was very close to her parents and dreamed of taking care of them as they had always done for her. She loved her parents very much and always treated them with respect and kindness. In her early adulthood she worked three different jobs while attending College at University California at Davis earning a Bachelor's degree in Rhetoric and Communications ON TIME!, four years later. During this time, she was an honored Sorority Sister for Beta Kappa Phi and a leader in many journalistic organizations on campus. She wanted to be a role model and pave the way for Asians in television.

Her face became familiar in Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and across the United States gracing the cover of an International Magazine, Transpacific. She was chosen to her surprise alongside celebrities such as Tia Carerra and Joan Chen. Her radiant beauty made her a natural to become a model to finance her education. She loved public speaking and being a role model. She hosted her own local cable show, and was given the freedom to work in all aspects of several programs at DCTV. She also worked at local television news stations towards her dreams of becoming a News Anchor. She studied and spoke several languages such as French, Spanish and Japanese.

Early in her life, she was unfortunately diagnosed with the disease, Lupus. Her dreams of becoming a newscaster and journalist were cut short by this disabling and incurable illness, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or SLE which was causing permanent tissue and organ damage. Her many attempts made to achieve self-sufficiency was met with unrelenting and vengeful illness over many years. Her efforts and intentions were honorable and sincere to contribute to society, pursue a career and enjoy many of the everyday pursuits all of us take for granted and don't ever realize until times like these. Her pursuits were "always" made much more difficult and often not possible under the duress of her illness and her unfortunate condition created by the evil faces of Lupus.

She decided to take a positive stance and was relentless and driven, to control and try her hardest to beat this illness that afflicted and controlled her. She was an active member of the Lupus and Arthritis foundations. In fact, she dedicated herself and her life, to overcome the effects of her illness. She started working out no less than 2-3 hours every day, studied yoga and restricted herself to a diet of only the healthiest organic foods she could find. She literally ate non-stop, but ONLY the healthiest of foods that would put most all of us to shame for not indulging the same diet ourselves. Yes, she literally ate from dusk till dawn (like she did as a little girl), while maintaining a perfect models figure. Despite not feeling well she would always look her best, in her appearance, make-up and her apparel. She was always putting her best face forward with a positive upbeat attitude, always made time to care for others and loved to laugh. In fact, she was incredibly quick witted and always joked around with many of us, with her banter and conversations. No one would ever know that she was in constant pain and severely ill. She was selfless and always carried herself with dignity. Chrissy would always go out her way to help anyone less fortunate with a huge soft spot for rescuing animals.

Her life changed when she met her prince Jerry Rice, from Petaluma. She found someone that cherished her and treated her like a princess. She knew this was someone special she would spend the rest of her life with, because they were so similar in nature, he was her soul mate. She was happy and in love. They celebrated their marriage with a beautiful scenic ceremony in the Rome Valley Vineyards in Garden Valley. They spent a lot of their time building their large custom dream home on a large lot, so that they could have their own fruit trees, with plenty of room for their beloved three dogs and could be near each other as Jerry was able to relocate his business to their new home. Her love to rescue any animal she saw made this the perfect place for her as she dreamed of building a shelter to rescue dogs. She was always excited and thrilled watching out for the wild cotton tail bunnies, deer, coyotes and birds that lived in their yard. In fact, she saved many of the little bunny families very recently in a neighboring field, where she feared would be hurt during a plowing of those fields. Her efforts and her pro-active stance reaching out to the County accomplished the goal of saving wildlife and precious living souls that she cared deeply about. This is how she lived her life. She fought tirelessly for the rights of others and put herself last.

She loved walking hand in hand with her husband, enjoyed their cozy nights together watching their favorite cable programs, shopping for food and picking out different pieces to finish and decorate their home. Her most favorite memories were overnights in San Francisco, spending time at the peaceful lake house and her favorite restaurant, The Tides in Bodega Bay all which included her favorite pastime…..eating.

Please join us in our celebration of Christina Rice's legacy of life! Although her struggles were not visible, she would always make sure that you would know that you could count on her. She had a generous loving heart and was a kind and compassionate. We will all miss her dearly. Our world was a better place with her in it as she touched many lives. As horrific her sickness had been over the years and certainly over the past few weeks, we should all draw on the positives that she lived by:

1. Live with passion. Believe in yourself and always show others that you care.
2. NEVER give up regardless of the odds, have hope.
3. Be modest about our faults and misfortunes. Chrissy never complained in fact many of us never knew how ill and in pain she really was on a daily basis.
4. Work well with the cards we are all dealt, with dignity and perseverance. As ill and fragile as she had become, she was the Bravest and Strongest Soul I have ever known.
5. Maximize the positives and find a way to minimize the negatives. This she did.
6. Have a good heart and be compassionate and kind to those less fortunate, as she did.

She taught us to be honest, respectful, to find peace and happiness. Chrissy made the most of life and accomplished a lot by showing a kind and considerate regard toward others before she thought of herself. We are all inspired by her and wanted her here for a much longer period of time. She was taken so suddenly and so young. She truly fought the fight of her life with a great deal of tenacity never giving up hope for a cure.

Chrissy, you left a legacy…You were so stunningly beautiful inside and out. Your kindness and love was one of a kind and so special. I am honored to have been a part of your life. You will never be forgotten and will be truly missed. Thank you for gracing our lives with your beautiful soul. You are forever in our hearts, our inspiration and we will always love and cherish you as you did for us.