After trimming down with a brisk walk before work each morning, Evelyn “Ava” Ogata-Rose planned to celebrate her 54th birthday on Sunday healthier than ever.

But at dawn yesterday the 53-year-old Wahiawa woman had just gotten off the bus 1.5 miles from her Sand Island area office for her daily exercise when she was fatally struck by a pickup truck in Kalihi.

“Even though she had heart problems, she was a very strong person,” said John Rose, her husband of more than 29 years.

“She did a lot of walking. She lost quite a bit of weight, got her blood pressure down, her cholesterol down. She wasn’t pre-diabetic any more.”

Police said Ogata-Rose was crossing Kame­ha­meha Highway at about 5:45 a.m. in a crosswalk near Middle Street and apparently had the walk signal when she was struck by a white 1996 To­yota pickup driven by a 44-year-old man.

The truck was traveling west on Dillingham Boulevard, approaching the area where the road becomes Kame­ha­meha Highway near Airgas Gaspro, when it hit Ogata-Rose.

The driver stopped and remained at the scene and submitted to a blood test.

Ogata-Rose was taken in extremely critical condition to the Queen’s Medical Center, where she died, authorities said.

Kalihi police said the area is heavily traveled, and at that hour traffic is increasing from the H-1 freeway and Nim­itz Highway.

Ogata-Rose was the fifth pedestrian to die this year on Oahu’s roadways and the 18th traffic fatality overall. That compares with nine pedestrian fatalities and 17 total traffic fatalities at this time last year.

“As far as the Department of Transportation is concerned, five pedestrian deaths in 2011 is five too many,” department spokes­­man Dan Mei­sen­zahl said..

In Hawaii from 2001 to 2006, driver error accounted for 47 percent of pedestrian fatalities, while 53 percent of pedestrian victims were crossing the street improperly, according to a state Department of Health report.

Ogata-Rose worked as an office assistant at the state Department of Agriculture’s Measurement Standards Branch on Auiki Street since 2005.

Agriculture Department spokes­woman Janelle Sane­ishi said, “She was just telling me yesterday she felt really good. She was walking to get healthy, and she was doing really well, too.

“She was a really nice lady. We’re really sad. It was … a shock for everybody. We’re really going to miss her so much.”

Ogata-Rose worked at several newspapers in classified ad sales, including the Star-Bulletin, where she was the classifieds manager in 2004-05. She also worked at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Press Dem­o­crat in Santa Rosa, Calif., and the Mercury News in San Jose, Calif.

John Rose said the two met in California when she worked at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center in San Francisco and he worked for the U.S. Postal Service.

Ogata-Rose is also survived by mother Tokuko Ogata, brother Albert Ogata and sister Flor­ence Barry.