With portraits of "Karate Kid" co-star Pat Morita arrayed behind him, actor Ralph Macchio, right, honors Morita's memory during a private service Wednesday at Palm Mortuary. Photos by K.M. Cannon. The widow of Pat Morita, Evelyn, gets a hug from Lance Burton during Wednesday's memorial service for Morita. Erin Morita-Rodda, daughter of actor-comedian Pat Morita, follows a Buddhist tradition and burns incense at a Wednesday memorial service for her father, who died Thanksgiving Day.

Family and friends shared loving memories of Pat Morita on Wednesday, waxing poetic, nostalgic, sentimental -- and even comedic -- for the "Karate Kid" star who made "wax on, wax off" an '80s catchphrase.

More than a hundred mourners gathered at Palm Mortuary Green Valley for a memorial service that reflected the many facets of Morita's life, from ill child to hip stand-up comedian, Oscar-nominated actor to community benefactor.

Morita, a Las Vegas resident for more than a decade, died Thanksgiving Day. He was 73.

Before the service, Morita's wife of 13 years, Evelyn, greeted friends with a wan, weary smile and the sweeping, open-palmed gesture her husband made famous as "The Karate Kid's" wise, witty mentor, Mr. Miyagi.

"Wax on, wax off," she said.

The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio, didn't utter those words during his remarks.

But Macchio did recall how "my life changed when we came together back in '83" to make the movie. He and Morita "had an amazing, unique, special chemistry together," Macchio said.

And when the "Karate Kid" partners parted, often for years at a time, "it would take Pat and I literally seconds to reignite that rapport," Macchio added. " 'One hell of a team,' Pat used to say. 'Me and you is magic,' Pat used to say."

Morita's initial portrayal of Mr. Miyagi, which he reprised in three sequels, earned him an Academy Award nomination.

But it was his role as Arnold, the excitable malt shop owner in the long-running '70s sitcom "Happy Days" that proved an inspiration for violinist Michele Higa George, who traveled from Cleveland to play and pay tribute to Morita.

"I couldn't believe there was finally a TV star who looked like me," said George, who directed an award-winning documentary, which Morita narrated, about the founder of the Suzuki music teaching method.

"Uncle Pat," as she called him, "had the biggest heart of any man," George recalled, her voice quaking with emotion.

Speakers at the service included family members and longtime friends, from showbiz pals to the Rev. LaVerne Senyo Sasaki, a retired Buddhist minister from Northern California. He met Morita more than 50 years ago, after both had been released from World War II internment camps.

Before sharing his recollections, Sasaki chanted a brief Buddhist service and presented Morita with his Buddhist name, which he translated as "Play in the World of Wisdom."

Morita's widow Evelyn began her tribute with an old joke recycled from her husband's days as a stand-up comedian, but a choked-back sob quickly replaced the brief laugh.

"I could spend the remainder of the day and the week telling you" about the man who "was my best friend, my soulmate, my partner, the other half of who I am," she said.

Instead, she told those assembled about the time Morita helped teach a fellow comedian how to tie a necktie so he would look like a showbiz pro.

The lesson took two hours, because "the man he taught to tie a tie," comedian Alex Valdez, "was blind," she said.

"That's the kind of man my husband was."

Magician Lance Burton, reacting to others' anecdotes, said: "I've learned a lot about Pat Morita today. He's like an onion -- you keep peeling layers off."

And although "he was a great actor, that's not what made him a great man," Burton noted, citing Morita's work to support Shriners Hospitals for Children.

As a child, Morita received treatment at Shriners hospitals for spinal tuberculosis, which kept him "almost completely immobilized" from 2 to 11, recalled his nephew, Walter Morita.

Local lounge favorites the Checkmates -- Sweet Louie and Sonny Charles -- crooned a soulful a cappella version of "What a Wonderful World" in Morita's honor, urging those at the service to stand after the number ended.

"Pat always stood up for the little guy," Louie said. "I want everyone here to give a last standing ovation for Mr. Pat Morita."

And comedian Steve Rossi, the final act on the memorial bill, ran through some time-tested jokes before extolling Morita as "such a great man. I wanted to leave Pat with a few laughs, because if I wasn't laughing, I'd be crying."