She was a 54-year-old Kaiser Permanente doctor with a chemical engineering degree to boot.
Cynthia Timtim Soneda, an ophthalmologist who served Leeward Oahu patients at Kaiser’s Waipio clinic, was also the wife of a Kaiser family physician and the mother of two daughters.
"She was a remarkably intelligent woman," said her husband, Dr. John Timtim. "Many people will be affected on the Leeward side and in eye care."
Police said she was crossing Kalanianaole Highway near Wailupe Beach Park on Friday morning when she was hit by a red Nissan Leaf driven by a Hawaii Kai woman.
The Nissan was heading toward town in a carpool lane, which is normally for eastbound traffic but is contra-flowed during morning rush hour.
Soneda was thrown into a town-bound lane, where she was run over by a Chevy truck driven by a Haleiwa man, police said.
The Kalani High School Class of 1978 valedictorian, Soneda went to Stanford University, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. After receiving her medical degree at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, she finished her ophthalmology residency at the White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"She joined HPMG (Hawaii Permanente Medical Group) not long after finishing her residency, sharing her brilliance and talents with us for more than 25 years," reads an excerpt from a letter by a colleague at Kaiser.
But the Hilo-born and Oahu-bred physician was a devoted family woman as well.
"She had a great sense of humor," said her husband, his voice choking with emotion. "She has two amazing kids." Sara and Elise Timtim are both studying to become doctors.
She also was caregiver to her two elderly parents, he said.
"My wife was a fine, fit, remarkable woman," Timtim said. "She regularly ran around Diamond Head and along Kalanianaole Highway."
Timtim said he was worried Friday that his wife hadn’t come home from a jog, but dismissed media reports of an accident involving a 70-year-old female jogger whose identity was unknown.
The incorrect age, he said, "may have delayed our recognition that my wife was missing and I needed to get in touch with the police."
Police and Emergency Medical Services had said the woman, who was not carrying identification, was about 70.
Timtim said he finally called police, who told him to call the Medical Examiner’s Office.
He was told in a polite and professional manner that he had to either come to the office see a photo of the woman’s face or wait for positive ID by the FBI through fingerprints but would not be allowed to identify the body in person.
Timtim said he went down Friday afternoon.
He recalled that the woman in the photo appeared to be his wife, but he wanted to see the body to make sure.
"In that situation, part of your mind is wishing against all hope that it’s incorrect, that it’s wrong … that it’s some 70-year-old woman," he said.
He was told he could not see the body there and would need to get in touch with the mortuary.
Pamela Cadiente, chief investigator for the medical examiner, said the office frequently gets calls from family and friends of someone who "didn’t come home."
If the description fits, they will take a photo of the face, depending on trauma to the face, she said.
Relatives are not allowed to view the body at the office because "we’re not set up for that," Cadiente said.
Without a relative making a visual ID, the Medical Examiner’s Office relies on fingerprints, dental records or body X-rays.
Cadiente urges people who are exercising to carry some type of identification.
