Posted on: Friday, May 31, 2002

Barge accident killed La'ie native

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

LA'IE — Paul Tailele left this Windward community more than two decades ago, but it was never far from his heart. He was always calling home to hear about local events and the Kahuku Red Raiders' latest victory, said his brother Peter.

Paul Tailele had even begun thinking about returning to the Islands to raise his two teenage children.

"He wanted his boy to play (football) for Kahuku," Peter Tailele said.

But the dream was cut short when Paul Tailele, a 39-year-old truck driver, was killed in the collapse of an Oklahoma bridge on Sunday.

After a delivery in Texas, Tailele was driving home to Utah across the Arkansas River when an out-of-control barge slammed into the Interstate 40 bridge, collapsing a 500-foot section and sending nearly a dozen vehicles plunging 62 feet into the Arkansas River.

Fourteen people died in the accident. Rescue efforts were called off Wednesday after authorities said they believed they had recovered all the bodies.

Tailele, who grew up in La'ie, had lived on the Mainland since he was 18, leaving before graduating from high school to get away from bad influences, Peter Tailele said.

His brother did turn his life around, got a high school diploma in California and attended Idaho State University, eventually going to Utah where he worked for a trucking operation, Peter Tailele said.

"My brother was not a troublemaker," Peter Tailele said. "He was always a nice person. He enjoyed life with his friends and respected his family. He just hung around with his friends that like to go steal, and that got him into trouble."

Tailele was divorced, and his mother has gone to the Mainland in the hope of bringing the children back to Hawai'i to live.

Peter Tailele said he last talked to his brother this month. Paul Tailele was looking forward to seeing videos of the Kahuku games that Peter Tailele had shot and was planning to send to Utah next month, when his two daughters were to visit. That Tailele will never see the videos is Peter Tailele's greatest regret.

"It's hard on me; I feel really bad," Peter Tailele said. "I didn't have that much money to send it, but I wish I did."

In addition to his brother Peter, Tailele is survived by his children, Shakaira, 14, and Jeremy, 13; parents, Paulo and Valu; brothers, Payton and Prescott; sisters, Katrina, Karen Wily and Kathy Wilson; and nieces and nephews. Arrangements are pending.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.