Pastor ‘was everybody’s best friend’

Eldean Kukahiko, a cultural educator, senior pastor at Hope Chapel Kahaluu and retired Honolulu police officer, died Saturday after he was found unresponsive in waters off Kualoa Regional Park.

His family called firefighters for help Saturday night after he didn’t return from skin diving for tako alone in the bay, said his wife, Darling Kukahiko. An autopsy is scheduled for today.

About 15 firefighters responded to the scene at about 7:15 p.m. with a rescue boat, a helicopter and two engines and began a shoreline and water search, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Kendall Ching.

A private watercraft operator found Kukahiko in the water, and firefighters took him to shore while performing CPR. Firefighters transferred Kukahiko to paramedics on land at about 9:05 p.m., but he was pronounced dead at the scene, an Emergency Medical Services report said.

Darling Kukahiko said about 200 people turned up at the park Saturday night after hearing about the apparent drowning. She said her husband always tried to help others, performing funerals and weddings for free.

Kukahiko, 63, of Kahaluu, retired as a sergeant from the Honolulu Police Department after 25 years of service about 20 years ago. He began serving as a pastor at Hope Chapel Kahaluu 22 years ago.

Kiha Pimental, an associate district supervisor of the Foursquare Church in Hawaii, which oversees Hope Chapel Kahaluu, said Kukahiko was passionate about Hawaiian culture, and his impact on the community was wide-reaching. For example, he said, Kukahiko taught children how to raise and harvest taro and pound it into paiai, a type of poi.

He was positive and tenacious, laughing all the time, even when faced with an obstacle, Pimental said. Kukahiko “was always looking to grow, to get better, to help people get better, to contribute, to find ways for people to be engaged. (He) loved the people.”

Pimental recalled asking Kukahiko for help in May to organize a last-minute cultural event for 100 Foursquare missionaries from around the world. Kukahiko organized a poi-pounding event, providing food and labor at no cost.

“That’s him, just full genuine aloha — we call it kahiau when you give without any expectation of return,” Pimental said.

Peter Field, Kukahiko’s dive partner for more than two decades, said Kukahiko was a skilled diver who kept busy with community projects. “If somebody had a problem, Eldean was the guy in the community who solved it,” Field said. “Eldean was everybody’s best friend.”

One project Kukahiko started recently was creating poi-pounding boards for Kahaluu Elementary School students. He came up with the idea after a storm toppled a large monkeypod on campus grounds, Field said.

Also, Kukahiko started the Kahaluu Ukulele Band at the school. The program teaches kids how to play the ukulele and rewards them with their own instrument. Through the program, the children have traveled to the mainland to perform and share Hawaiian culture, Kukahiko’s wife said.

In addition, Kukahiko served as program director for Project Holomua, a Hawaiian culture-based academic transition program for youth at Key Project, a community center in Kahaluu.

Kukahiko unsuccessfully ran for state House District 48 in 2014, but his wife said the loss was fortunate because his youth programs became busy at about the same time. “His main purpose in life was keeping children out of trouble,” Darling Kukahiko said. “He felt that they are our future.”

Besides his wife, Kukahiko is survived by daughters Kehaulani and Kainoa Stankus, sons Kaipo and Kalae, hanai sons Brian and Chauncey, and 22 grandchildren.