Services set for former police chief, Saint Louis grad Keala

Memorial services for former Honolulu Police Chief Francis Keala will be held Thursday at Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

Keala died of congestive heart failure Jan. 7 at his Honolulu home at the age of 86. He served as police chief from 1969 to 1983.

Visitation will be from 8 to 10 a.m. Thursday at Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary, 2233 Nuuanu Ave., with a memorial service from 10 to 10:45 a.m.

The family will depart at 11 a.m. for a police station drive-by.

An additional memorial service will be held at Punchbowl from 11:30 to 11:50 a.m.

The family requests donations in lieu of flowers to one of the following organizations: Honolulu Police Community Foundation, Palama Settlement, Saint Louis Education Foundation, and Boys & Girls Club of Honolulu.

Keala, a graduate of Saint Louis High School and the University of Hawaii, was the first person with a college education promoted to the helm of the Honolulu Police Department. He retired in 1983 after nearly 30 years with the department.

Before becoming a police officer, he was a paratrooper officer in the 11th Airborne Division in Europe in the mid-1950s.