Five children facing life without mother
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Daysia Lee knew the hardship of growing up without her mother, who was killed in an auto accident in 1980 when Lee was just 8 months old.
Sadrian Chee comforts his wife, Darnell, after she looks at a photo of Chee's daughter Daysia Lee and Lee's five children. Lee was killed in a one-car accident in Hau'ula yesterday.
Now Lee's five children will know the same struggle.
Lee — full name Daysia Pohaikai H. Chee Lee — died from injuries suffered in a one-car accident in Hau'ula about 2:40 a.m. yesterday. Police said Lee's 1991 Acura hit a hollow tile wall off Kamehameha Highway. Speed may have been a factor in the crash, police said.
The 24-year-old leaves behind four daughters and a son ranging in age from 3 weeks to 7 years.
Life for Lee was changing, said her father, Sadrian Chee, pastor of 'Ohana Family of the Living God Church. She had dropped out of high school to have her first child, but recently separated from her husband and planned to complete her education, seek job training and start over, he said.
"She was happy where she was at and looking forward to her future," her father said.
The two accidents — Lee's yesterday and her mother's 23 years ago, on May 30, 1980 — bore several similarities. They occurred within two miles of each other, at opposite ends of Hau'ula, while it was dark. Both women died young, of head injuries. Lee's mother, Tracie, was 17 when she died.
Before yesterday's accident, Lee had been with friends in Honolulu, playing music late into the night, something she loved to do, Sadrian Chee said.
She was headed home about 2:40 a.m. when her car crashed into a wall on Kamehameha Highway near Puhuli Street. She was pronounced dead at The Queen's Medical Center at about 4:17 a.m.
Daysia Lee leaves behind her five children, from left, Ku, 4; Nakoa, 7; Lejend, 3 weeks; Haukea, 2; and Suka, 3.
The 'ukulele she had been playing hours before was recovered at the crash site.
Yesterday, the family was grieving over the loss of Lee, and music was part of their mourning — it's something they have always done together.
Gathered under a 20-foot-by-40-foot tent in Hau'ula, swapping food and memories, were Daysia's friends, eight brothers and sisters, cousins, grandparents, father and stepmother.
And her children.
Those old enough to understand have taken the news hard, especially the oldest, 7-year-old Nakoa. She and her sisters, Suka, 3; Haukea, 2; and Lejend, 3 weeks; and brother Ku, 4 — will continue to live with their grandfather, Sadrian Chee, and his wife, Darnell, as they did when their mother was alive.
Lee always put her children first, said her brother, Kaimana Chee, 25.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"She devoted her life to raising her kids," Kaimana Chee said.
Nakoa Lee, 7, draws a picture to honor and remember her mother, who died after a one-car crash in Hau'ula.
To make sure Lee's children remember her, Kaimana Chee is asking family members to write down their memories of his sister that he will make into a book to give to her children when they start asking questions.
The book will include his sister's favorite color and food, what relatives were doing when she was killed and the kind of person she was, Kaimana Chee said.
He was a toddler when his mother died. "By the time I was old enough to know what I wanted answered, nobody knew or people had forgotten," he said. "I wanted to know these favorite things even if I didn't know my mom very well."
Before Lee left home for the last time, she spoke to her children about Christian values, her father said. "It was about being good generally and doing good and being kind to others," he said.
He thinks that's a fitting legacy.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
