'I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye'
| • | Police promise crackdown on road racers |
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Beth Bogdon packed the personal effects from Elizabeth Kekoa's office at Holy Trinity Catholic Church yesterday and kept stumbling upon the little things that spoke about Kekoa's work and her life.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
There were the packages of food Kekoa collected for the needy and the homeless. A 2-foot tall pile of board games for the youth groups she was organizing. Framed and laminated aphorisms, life-affirming sayings that represented her sense of duty and humility.
Holy Trinity School principal Monica DesJarlais, right, packed up Elizabeth Kekoa's personal belongings yesterday with the help of Beth Bogdon, whose husband teaches music at the school.
"Any good ... that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now," one reads.
Kekoa worked from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. nearly every day and had been stretching out her hours to involve teenagers. She spent Saturday night celebrating her mother's 79th birthday and would have normally slept at her aunt's in Kapolei, said her brother, Willie Davis. But Kekoa wanted to get home to Hawai'i Kai Sunday morning and be rested for a 9 a.m. baptism at Holy Trinity Church, Davis said.
At 4:17 a.m., police say an 18-year-old driver speeding in a black 1999 Honda Prelude lost control on the H-1 Freeway near Kaimuki and smashed into Kekoa's van, killing Kekoa and injuring her husband, Wally, and mother, Rose Alma.
Wally Kekoa was driving their Aerostar van, Elizabeth was on the passenger side and her mother sat in the middle, said Davis, who talked to Wally Kekoa. All were wearing seat belts.
Just before the crash, Wally Kekoa said he saw lights speeding up from behind and then a car bounced off of the median, according to Davis. In the moments that followed, Wally Kekoa looked over to see his wife slumped in her seat, Davis said.
Elizabeth, 58, and Wally Kekoa, 68, have two children, a daughter Kristen, 21, and a son, Kristopher, 19. Kristopher graduated from St. Louis School in 2000 and was a casual acquaintance of the driver of the Prelude, Nicholas Tudisco, Davis said.
Elizabeth had been the secretary at Holy Trinity School before taking over as religious education director for both the school and the parish. But for four years, she overlapped as both secretary and religious education director.
Juggling two jobs meant splitting time in the school office, helping to teach third- and fourth-graders and guiding parents and children through baptism, first reconciliation and first communion.
She was always humble and low key as she touched families through both the church and the school, said Monica DesJarlais, the principal at Holy Trinity School.
"Mrs. Kekoa never said a bad thing about anyone, any time," DesJarlais said. "She's not a person to focus on herself. Her own humility was important. You're talking about a woman who affected and made such a difference in kids' lives."
On Sunday, DesJarlais called the parents of the 20 third- and fourth-grade students with whom Kekoa worked closest. Yesterday, at least 15 parents came to Holy Trinity School to help the children deal with Kekoa's death.
Some of the children arrived in tears. Others carried flowers or lei. One brought a computer-generated color drawing of the sun setting behind a palm tree and a handwritten inscription that said: "Dear Mrs. Kekoa. We will miss you a lot. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye."
The church and school organized a 30-minute service for all 150 students yesterday morning. Flowers and the card lay at the base of the church altar. Parents and teachers sat next to crying children. Everyone heard a passage from Ecclesiastes, the one that says there is "A time to be born, and a time to die; ... A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance."
DesJarlais tried not to dwell on the sadness of losing Kekoa as she spoke to the children.
"I talked only about the fact that we were blessed to have her in our lives and that she loved them," DesJarlais said. "I said that we can't spend time asking the question why. We must take comfort that she was in our lives."
The school had counselors available yesterday. But by the middle of the school day, students were laughing and playing on the playground equipment.
"At this time," DesJarlais said, "we think they're doing OK."
As the children went through their day at school, Bogdon kept packing Kekoa's belongings.
Nearly every time she turned around Kekoa's cramped office, Bogdon found another angel. Angels of all sizes made of porcelain, glass and wood.
At least 50 angels in all and Bogdon wasn't even through counting.
Reach Dan Nakaso at 525-8085 or dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.
