WAIPAHU — An estimated 1,000 people filled Leeward New Hope Chapel yesterday evening to pay tribute to Royal Kaukani, the 25-year-old 'Ewa woman shot to death last month as she sat in her car near her home.

"She was the one who made us laugh," said Kaukani's mother, April Kaukani, as she gazed at the photos of her daughter before the funeral. "She was always happy. And, she was the one who always had to be in all the pictures. She was very close with all her sisters."

Royal Kaukani's ex-boyfriend, Toi Nofoa, 31, pleaded not guilty yesterday to a murder charge. He is being held on $4 million bail and his trial is scheduled to begin the week of June 8.

Relatives and authorities have described the couple's relationship as troubled, but yesterday the focus was on Kaukani. More than a dozen people took the stage to share remembrances of the woman they knew as a friend, schoolmate, volleyball teammate and sister.

Lance Watanabe, one of Kaukani's former teachers at Wai'anae High School, said in 11 years of teaching at the school he never met a student to match her. He said she talked all the time, stood in the doorway to greet everyone who passed by and got straight A's. When Kaukani in 2000 went to the SkillsUSA-VICA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City, Mo., he predicted she would win a gold medal. She did.

"She made me realize that anything is possible if you have a big heart, a big brain and a big mouth," Watanabe said, getting the biggest laugh of the evening.

Others got up to talk about how Royal's smile would light up a room, or about the times she got out of bed in the middle of the night to help a friend.

Hundreds of photos of Kaukani with her friends and family — but mostly with her six sisters — lined one wall of the foyer outside the auditorium, and Kaukani was smiling in virtually every shot.

Many of those who know the family well spoke about the special bond between the sisters. The funeral program included these words written by Kaukani:

"I know some sisters who only see each other occasionally and some who refuse to speak to each other. But my sisters and me, we are all True Best Friends who make other best friends seem slightly less than best."

Kaukani was remembered by family and acquaintances for her friendliness and perpetual smile. But she wasn't afraid to speak her mind if she felt strongly about an issue.

She was outraged, for example, to learn in August 2005 that a National Guard commander in Iraq had restricted use of the shaka sign among Hawai'i soldiers.

"I am extremely upset that they can do something like this," Kaukani said in an Advertiser story back then. "We have our Hawai'i soldiers working their butts off, and it's the little things, in the end, that help push them through the day — like a simple shaka to show the aloha spirit."

Kathy Yamamoto, Kaukani's high school class adviser, described Kaukani as someone who would go out of her way to help a classmate. She was popular not only with students, said Yamamoto, but she was highly regarded by her teachers as well.

She was a bright student with exceptional leadership potential, she said.