Dr. Vince Au went back last week. Before and after work, he stood on Kalanianaole Highway near the spot where his friend died and he thought of her.

Sunday marked a year since it happened.

On June 19, 2015, Dr. Cynthia Soneda was on her regular morning jog when she was struck by a car. Au works with Soneda’s husband, Dr. John Timtim, at the Kaiser Hawaii Kai Clinic.

“I remember driving to work that Friday morning — having to bypass that area of the accident as police did their investigation,” Au said. “During that morning, her husband received a call that the person from the accident may have been his wife. He had to go to identify her. We were all in shock. We picked up his workload and somehow finished the day.”

Soneda, 54, was an ophthalmologist at Kaiser. She was an avid runner who completed several marathons, a mother of two girls and a physician so devoted to her patients that she learned Braille to help those whose eyesight she couldn’t save.

In the days after the accident, Au struggled with how to honor his friend and support her family.

“I did not feel sending flowers or money would help,” he said.

So he made a sign. His wife helped him. They wrote the words, “Please drive carefully, in loving memory of … ” He didn’t put Soneda’s name on the sign. He didn’t want to focus on her death. He wanted to remember how she took care of people, how that was her life’s mission, and to maybe wrest some meaning from the loss.

On the Monday after the accident, Au went out to where it happened — on the eastbound side of Kalanianaole near the Wailupe fire station. He went before and after work every day for a week. He held his sign.

“During those six days of sign waving I shed many, many tears, prayed many prayers, and sent out as many blessings,” Au said. “I was filled with joy as people waived or tooted their horns, some even slowed down. I was honored as a few people parked their car and walked to chat with me.”

Last week, he went out again with his sign to mark the anniversary. “Tears again shed, prayers and blessing said. In the midst of all that car noise, I felt the quietness of peace,” Au said.

On Friday morning, Timtim drove by, parked his car at Wailupe Beach Park and walked over to Au.

“He took a picture of me and the sign. He will be sending it to his girls,” Au said. “This was a big step because last year he did not like passing the area while driving to work.”

Au, a family medicine physician, isn’t quite sure why what he did seemed to help, but it did.

“I don’t have the confidence to sell a box of Girl Scout cookies,” he said, “yet somehow I can stand on the side of the street all by myself waving a sign.”

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