The reverend need not have feared.

At a wake attended by several hundred people last night, Kahalehili described how the family of Kenneth Keliipio, the officer killed in a car accident Friday, met Monday at Glad Tidings Church with Officer Jeffrey Darrow, the driver of the car that killed Keliipio.

Darrow sat with his wife in Kahalehili's office in tears.

"Papa" Paul Keliipio put his hand on the young officer's arm, Kahalehili said. "Pau already," the dead officer's father told the grieving survivor.

"Jeff looked up and said, 'Forgive me,'" Kahalehili said. "The healing process had begun."

Keliipio, 35, was on duty when he was killed as he drove from a side street onto Volcano Highway just south of Hilo at night in a driving rain.

His vehicle was hit from behind by Darrow, also 35, who was off-duty and going home with his wife after a police recruit class party.

Darrow was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving. The outcome of a blood test is pending, and Darrow remains on sick leave.

The legal questions didn't matter last night. Kahalehili said what mattered was "mihi," forgiveness.

Darrow visited Dodo Mortuary with his wife and mother-in-law yesterday afternoon before the evening services, Kahalehili said. "Jeff wanted to spend a little time with Kenny. It was a time of healing for him."

It was probably the way Keliipio would have wanted it. "Hatred and bitterness were not Kenny's lifestyle," Kahalehili said.

Officer and friend Van Reyes said, "He was always smiling and laughing. He liked to be a peacemaker. He thrived on challenges. He loved his fellow officers."

And he loved to eat. He'd snack on Mountain Dew and beef jerky, then ask, "Where we go eat?" Reyes said.

Keliipio was also a retired National Guard sergeant.

"In the military, if you were hungry, go look for Ken's tent," Kahalehili said. "He always had grinds."

Fellow officer Moses Kaoiwi Jr., away at National Guard training on the mainland, sent a ranger pin for

Darrow visited Keliipio at Dodo's Mortuary yesterday before the ceremony, Kahalehili said.

Keliipio. Officer Julian Thomas pinned it on Keliipio's uniform before the service.

Keliipio grew up at the Naval Air Station swimming pool at the old Hilo airport terminal where his father taught swimming. At age 2, he fell into the pool, but saved the ashtray he was carrying, a family statement said.

He won his first swimming medal, a bronze, at age 10.

Keliipio asked the pastor to perform the ceremony when he married his wife, Cheryl Ann, on Coconut Island in Hilo Bay. The couple have a son, Kevin, known as "Ini."