A flotilla of surfers — spread out in the ocean from Diamond Head to Black Point — met a catamaran full of John Kelly's friends and family who put the veteran surfer, activist and mentor to rest yesterday during a daylong service in his honor.

Surfers, all 75 strong, dived under the water as Kelly's ashes were released. He died at the age of 88 in his Black Point home on Oct. 3.

While his two-decade battle with Alzheimer's left him with little memory of the battles he waged to protect Hawai'i's shorelines from development, Kelly never forgot his passion for the ocean and never lost his spirit, said Bill Saunders, a longtime friend of Kelly's who helped catalog surf spots by name from Makapu'u to Honolulu.

"John Kelly worked harder than anyone I've ever knew, not for money, but to just do what was right," Saunders said. "Alzheimer's took his mind away from his body, but his heart was still there."

More than 300 people turned out for a memorial service at Kapi'olani Community College yesterday and shared their favorite memories of the man who ignited the passion in Hawai'i to save surf and fishing spots from development and in 1971 organized 2,000 people at the state Capitol to protest against development.

Kelly, who founded Save Our Surf in 1961, fought to prevent offshore development around the Islands that would have destroyed reefs, surf sites and other resources.

"It's been a day," said Colleen Kelly, one of John Kelly's daughters. "This is like a reunion of many, many different issues, places, reasons and eras. This is a reunion of the people who made it work. It makes me proud."

In the large meeting room at the college, five rows of bulletin boards were filled with pictures, posters and fliers chronicling the public side of Kelly, who came to the Islands when he was 4 years old.

There were photographs of Kelly as a musician and as a teacher leading a concert of musicians from the Palama Settlement, where he worked as a band director. There were photographs, posters and political cartoons marking Kelly's work to revitalize Sand Island; of protesters carrying signs saying, "Trust People Not Courts"; of Kelly getting arrested at a protest; and of him testifying before legislators and the Honolulu City Council.

Another photo showed a group of protesters sitting on the roof of a home in Kalama Valley where a farmer's house was being bulldozed to make way for others.

Claire Shimabukuro was in several of those pictures. Then, her hair was long and straight and her face unlined. But her fervor for fighting the fight remains undaunted. What she learned from Kelly, Shimabukuro said, she has used throughout her life.

"He taught me how to organize as an activist," Shimabukuro said. "He told me, 'No. 1 you need to know your subject, arm yourself with knowledge. And No. 2. no one individual can create a movement.' I apply these rules with everything I do."

Richard Ribuca met Kelly when Ribuca was playing the French horn and drums in the Palama Settlement band. It was Kelly who taught Ribuca to fight back against the newcomers coming in and snapping up prime pieces of real estate for big oceanfront developments.

"He helped me do something about it," Ribuca said. "People come together and you can make a difference. At first I thought he was just one guy making noise, but he affected a lot of local people in Kalama Valley, Waiahole, Waikane and Kahana Valley to preserve and perpetuate the Hawaiian way of life. We had to make a stand."

Bo Kahui, a Kona resident, spoke of Kelly's legacy that benefits residents today, such as park improvements at Sand Island and his successful efforts to block development of golf courses on the Wai'anae Coast.

"He was my Hawaiian idealist," Kahui said. "He was truly a legacy and he talked about the things we needed to accomplish in society today. I tried to live that legacy myself and, in my own way, today I serve my community as a leader."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.