MA'ILI — Angeline "Cookie" Cordeiro's world came crashing down late Monday night when friends went to her house to tell her that her husband, Michael "Smiley" Jones, had just been killed in a pedestrian accident on Farrington Highway, less than a mile from their house.

"This is just like a bad dream," Cordeiro, 62, said yesterday. She said Jones, her husband of 17 years, took care of her in the wake of several illnesses that have confined her to a wheelchair. "He went to 7-Eleven to buy something. He told me, 'Honey, I'll be back in 15 minutes.' "

Jones, 54, was struck by a car while crossing at the crosswalk between the Ma'ili 7-Eleven convenience store and "7-Eleven's," the beach park across the street that about 50 tent-dwelling people call home.

That stretch of road is considered dangerous, said people who live at the beach as well as Wai'anae Coast residents who drive through there.

On the way to 7-Eleven, Jones had apparently stopped at the beach park to visit people living there, something he and his wife often did. He was walking back across Farrington Highway toward 7-Eleven on the mauka side when he was struck at about 10:35 p.m. by a town-bound 2003 silver Volkswagen driven by a 24-year-old man.

Campers said they heard only a loud bang. When they came out from their tents, Jones' body was lying about 50 feet from the crosswalk where he was hit, his left leg severed and his left arm barely attached.

The loud crash startled those living on the beach, among them Cassie Kauihana, 30. Kauihana said she came out of her tent, saw others standing around but no one attempting to go to Jones as he lay on the highway.

Kauihana went to comfort him until paramedics arrived on the scene.

"If you get banged, brah, you wouldn't want to lie in the middle of the road alone," said Kauihana, whose family has known Jones and Cordeiro for years. "I wouldn't. You would like someone to comfort you."

Jones was pronounced dead about 2:30 a.m. yesterday at a hospital, Cordeiro said.

Yolanda Pahinui, 45, who lives in the tents closest to the crosswalk, said she's witnessed many pedestrian accidents there. She said she was struck crossing Farrington two years ago at the nearby St. John's Road intersection, suffering a broken pelvis and tailbone.

"People tend to speed on this stretch, and they don't pay attention," Pahinui said.

Kauihana said she almost got hit crossing at the 7-Eleven crosswalk earlier this year. A cousin of hers was struck by a car, but did not suffer permanent injury.

"When you enter the crosswalk and its nighttime, (motorists) cannot see you," Kauihana said. The streetlight there is dim, and the bright lights of the convenience store make the far side of the road seem even darker.

The chairwomen of the Wai-'anae and Nanakuli-Ma'ili neighborhood boards said the area has long been known as hazardous for pedestrians.

Patty Teruya, chairwoman of the Nanakuli-Ma'ili board, said the stretch of Farrington Highway from Ma'ili to the Nanakuli Sack N' Save is known by Leeward Coast residents as "the stairway to heaven" because of the danger to pedestrians.

"People have got to be more careful. We've got to be more pono with each other," Teruya said. "People always seem to be rushing and speeding."

Jo Jordan, chairwoman of the Wai'anae board, said the idea of a bar being established next to the 7-Eleven was rejected because of concerns about pedestrian safety.

Several years ago, the crosswalk was one of three where the state Department of Transportation had planned to install traffic signals that could be activated by a pedestrian, Jordan said.

But vandals damaged the first one installed, near the 7-Eleven in Makaha, and state transportation officials decided not to install the other two signals, Jordan said.

Bringing those flashing pedestrian lights back may improve the situation, Jordan said. "Those drivers out there really don't want another traffic signal," she said. "It's hard to make both sides happy. And HPD can't sit out there 24/7 to slow the traffic."

Police Maj. Michael Moses, who leads HPD's Wai'anae-'Ewa region, said officers have set up speed-enforcement traps at all hours of the day along Farrington whenever possible.

"If people could slow down and follow the posted speed limits there, that would help us out immensely," Moses said.

The speed limit in the area is 35 mph.

Yesterday afternoon, Cordeiro was welcoming well-wishers to her home, offering them food and sodas.

Cordeiro said she does not know what she will do next. She has suffered several illnesses that require her to be in a wheelchair, most recently a stroke that paralyzed her left side five months ago.

From cooking to cleaning, "Michael was there for me, he did everything," she said.

Cordeiro said she and Jones, a Florida native, met as fellow worshippers at the Ma'ili Church of God.

The two had a happy life together, Cordeiro said. "He was like my big teddy bear — with angel's wings."

On the day he was struck, the two spent time at the beach and she drew a portrait of the spectacular Wai'anae Coast horizon.

"I just want to remember (Monday) the way it was," Cordeiro said.

Jones had been a chef back in Florida and was known in the tight-knit Coral Sands subdivision for his Southern-style cooking, she said.

Family friend Trinda Sanchez called Jones and Cordeiro a special couple. "They don't have much, but they give everything that they have without hesitation," Sanchez said. "There are not too many people like that."