Friends and family gather in Hilo to pray for Billy Kenoi

HILO >>

There were blue T-shirts with his name across the front, wristbands and buttons, signs planted along the grass. It was like a campaign rally, the ultimate campaign rally.

Just before noon Saturday, the motorcycle clubs came roaring into Lili‘uokalani Park and Gardens along Hilo Bay. They came to pray for former Hawaii island Mayor Billy Kenoi, a man many in the crowd of family, friends and supporters know as “Braddah Billy.”

“God loves unity and God loves desperate prayers,” the Rev. Renee Godoy told the gathering of close to 250 people who stood on the sloping park lawn in the gentle Hilo rain. Some wept under their umbrellas, but most had a look of focus on their faces, like there was a mission to accomplish for a friend.

Kenoi disclosed in March that he is battling myelofibrosis, a rare form of chronic leukemia. He is being treated in a California hospital.

“How’s he doing?” one person in the crowd called out.

“As good as can be expected,” another answered.

Just that morning, musician Brandon Nakano had spoken to Kenoi on the phone. Another friend posted a photo on the group Facebook page of Kenoi smiling and looking well, standing in his hospital room.

“He looked good to me,” said Nakano, who performed a song he had written for Kenoi.

Along with the motorcycle clubs, whose members wore names like Koa, Rock &Roll, Red Legion and Apostles on their clothes, the crowd included people who had worked with Kenoi on various initiatives, like efforts to combat crystal meth use in rural areas, or people who came because they were grateful for the way he kept up county parks or listened to them when they came to him with their concerns.

Kenoi was a rising political star when he served as mayor from 2008 to 2016. He appeared destined for bigger things until charged with felony theft related to misuse of a government-issued purchasing card. In November 2016, a jury found him not guilty of the crimes.

He remained popular and beloved by many on the Big Island, and his most devoted supporters were in attendance at the prayer rally.

Kenoi did not ask for their prayers. In fact, several of the organizers of the gathering said Kenoi asked instead that their prayers be for the residents of Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens affected by the Kilauea eruption, and for the family of Lyle Kaaihili, a Hawaii Electric Light Co. lineman who died while on duty two weeks ago.

“He wants us to pray for Puna, but I told him we still going pray for him,” Nakano said.

Pastor James “Tex” Texeira drove from Kona to attend the service. He joked that if he had known there was also a prayer rally at Kona, he would have saved himself the drive. Messages on social media encouraged Kenoi’s friends to pray for him at the appointed hour wherever they were, and friends posted pictures of a prayer rally from Oahu’s Makaha beach.

The Rev. Billy Mitchell got down on his knees to offer a prayer. “We come here not in sorrow and pity, but in belief,” he said. He asked for a miracle, then he prayed for all the people Kenoi wanted the crowd to pray for.

As the midday gathering came to a close, people joined hands across the park lawn and sang “Hawaii Aloha,” led by Desiree Moana Cruz. Someone held up a cellphone on a selfie stick and panned over the crowd. “For Billy! Billy is watching!” he yelled. And people waved at the phone and shouted, “We love you!”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.