FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Services were held at the Kailua boat ramp yesterday for Peter Miller, a pilot killed last Wednesday in a Hawaii Air Ambulance crash on Maui. Friends and family on surfboards gathered in a circle near Flat Island and scattered his ashes to sea. CLICK FOR LARGE VERSION
|
|
Service for pilot draws 500
The ashes of pilot Peter Miller, killed in a plane crash, are scattered off Kailua
About 200 people paddled into open waters off the Kailua Boat Ramp yesterday as the ashes of pilot Peter A. Miller of Hawaii Air Ambulance were scattered into the sea.
"He's a super kid," said his father, Emmett, yesterday as he and his wife, Barbara, were consoled by many family members and friends.
More than 500 people attended the ceremony, including Miller's co-workers, many friends and fellow surfers.
Miller of Kailua; Marlena L. Yomes, paramedic, Honolulu base station supervisor and Waianae resident; and Brien P. Eisaman, nurse and Waipahu resident, were killed when their Hawaii Air Ambulance plane crashed into a BMW lot on Maui last Wednesday night. They were on their way to transport a patient from Maui Memorial Medical Center to Honolulu.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Miller's father, Emmett, mother, Barbara, and twin brother, Michael, looked on during the ceremony.
|
|
Miller's friends formed a large circle in the water as Miller's twin brother, Michael, and older brother, Tony, scattered his ashes. Others swung lei toward the center of the circle and caught small waves, some in unison, to celebrate Miller's life. A helicopter dropped a flurry of rose petals.
"He was my hero," said Boogie Molina, flight paramedic with Hawaii Air Ambulance. "There were many times that Peter got us out of bad weather and got us back home safely. He always made you feel safe. He always made you feel comfortable."
Miller's friend Rob Wurlitzer said he was a positive mentor for youth and a well-respected person. Miller was an active member of Hope Chapel-Kaneohe Bay and best friend of Jason Bogle, a surfer who died two years ago due to complications from Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.
At the ceremony, Miller's friends wore T-shirts with Miller's name emblazoned on them.
Professional surfers Fred Patacchia Jr., Kalani Robb and Sunny Garcia joined the circle to remember Miller.
"I looked up to them. ... It's sad for one of them to leave us," said Patacchia, who grew up with the Miller brothers and entered amateur surf competitions with them.
Garcia said Miller was a very gifted person and a close friend. "Peter was a good guy. It seems like we're losing a lot of good people. Peter was not one I was ready to lose yet. He's in a better place."
The Rev. Carl Moore, associate pastor of Hope Chapel-Kaneohe Bay, said the number of people who attended the ceremony was an incredible testimony of his life. "Look how many lives Peter touched. This isn't everybody," Moore said.
"He was one of Kailua's heroes, definitely," he said.
Services for Miller were to be held at 7 p.m. today at Hope Chapel-Kaneohe Bay.