GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM Her husband's death in a flood hasn't stopped Sandra Shiner from organizing peace and non-violence educational activities at an intermediate school on Maui.

Maui man’s aim
for nonviolence
lives on in school
peace project

Jim Elliott and 3 others died
Jan. 26 during heavy rains

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> Despite suffering the loss of her husband in a drowning that also left two California visitors dead, Maui resident Sandra Shiner is going forward with a peace project that they supported at Iao Intermediate School in Wailuku.

"I think his spirit is saying, 'Yes, this is fine,'" Shiner said.

Shiner is serving as the organizer of the 64-day "Season of Peace and Nonviolence" at the school, observing the works of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Maui citizens such as her late husband, Jim Elliott.

Elliott, 51, a carpenter, masseur and bass player with the band Jimmy Mac & the Kool Kats, was swept down a flooded stream that he was driving across with four other people the night of Jan. 26.

The four visitors were going to a neighbor's home for a yoga retreat, and Elliott had crossed the stream near Upper Malaihi Road in his four-wheel drive vehicle.

The stream rose rapidly during the crossing. His car was found more than 50 feet downstream.

"He was one of those guys who's always there to help," said James McLemore, band leader of Jimmy Mac. "He'd always say, 'Yes.' He'd never say, 'No.' He would never endanger anyone knowingly."

Shiner said she and Elliott were involved with the Maui group Peacemoves in the 1980s and continued to be active in local peace-related activities, most recently marching on the Valley Isle in observance of Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 21.

Elliott, who worked as a parent volunteer at Iao Intermediate, was helping her organize the peace project, spanning the anniversary deaths of Gandhi on Jan. 30 and King on April 4.

Iao Intermediate Principal Elizabeth Ayson said recent rains delayed a ceremony in the nearby Wells Park, where about 900 students dressed in red forming a gigantic heart that would have been photographed from the air.

The ceremony has been rescheduled for Valentine's Day, with a program that includes students singing the song "Children Singing Peace Around the World" in Hawaiian.

Shiner said organizing the project is helping her family cope with the loss of Elliott.

"I feel like I'm being bathed in an ocean of love," she said.

Elliott is survived by his wife, teenage sons Devin and Corey, father George, uncle Eugene, and sisters Suzy Glasscock and Laurie Tennant.

Funeral services for Elliott will be held 1:30 p.m. today at Unity Church on High Street in Wailuku.