JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Bruce Fehring, center, comforted members of Wayne Rotstein's family -- brother Gary, left, father Paul and sister Sandy -- on Kahili Quarry Beach in Kilauea, Kauai, yesterday during a service to honor the seven people killed in March in the Ka Loko Dam break. More than 300 mourners led by Fehring remembered the victims by marching down to the beach, where a half-billion gallons of water rushed into the ocean after the dam breach. Some of the victims' relatives flew in from the mainland.

Dam victims mourned

The parents of Aurora Fehring lead a procession on Kauai

KILAUEA, Kauai » Mourners, more than 300 strong, traced yesterday the path of the destruction left by the March 14 Ka Loko Dam breach.

Led by Bruce and Cyndee Fehring, who lost their daughter, son-in-law and 23-month-old grandchild, the procession led to Kahili Quarry Beach and the river mouth where a half-billion gallons of water, clogged with debris, met the ocean.

Seven people died in the flood just before dawn on March 14: Aurora Fehring, Alan Dingwall, Rowan Fehring-Dingwall, Timothy Noonan, Wayne Rotstein, Cristina McNees and Daniel Arroyo. Four bodies remain missing.

And, just like the scars still left on the land, which was ripped clear down to bedrock in places, friends and family still suffer two months later.

We "have deep gashes, painful wounds," Bruce Fehring said. "We are battered but we are whole."

After the procession, Fehring and relatives of those lost in the dam breach spoke about their loved ones. They then scattered the ashes of Dingwall and Aurora Fehring in Kilauea Bay.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Above, Bruce Fehring and wife Cyndee led a procession of about 300 supporters to Kahili Quarry Beach yesterday during a service to honor the victims of the Ka Loko Dam break.

But after time the whirlpool subsides, he said, "the wounds heal, sometimes itching ferociously."

And the memorial service was to give the community a chance "to right the mast and set sail to where the brisk winds will take us," Fehring said.

For the family of Wayne "Banyan" Rotstein, it was a chance to see where Rotstein, 49, the third of six children, found happiness and peace.

"None of us have been here before," said Wayne's younger brother, Gary. "This spot could be no more different than where he grew up" in inner-city Pittsburgh.

Rotstein became a different man from the brother he had known, Gary Rotstein said. The "Banyan" people on Kauai knew he was a "gentle, peaceful man ... who lived off the land."

He was a man who had undergone an immense spiritual transformation thanks to the teachings of the Krishna.

Rotstein's father, Paul, said his son "went from the concrete to the soil."

The horticulturist "didn't have one dream come true; he had about 10 dreams come" true with his move to Kauai, Paul Rotstein said. "Wayne went the way he would have wanted to."

Cristina "Sunny" McNees, 22, and Daniel Arroyo were to be married just four days after the dam burst. They were also expecting their first child.

Kurtis Kunesh, who shared a home with the two, said that with McNees, "anything and everything is possible."

She was a caring, vibrant person, very much looking forward to becoming a mother, he said.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Below, clutching mother Cyndee, Dylan Fehring carried a basket of flowers and leis while father Bruce led the procession. Behind them is the still-barren path that the water took to the ocean.

Her co-worker at Kilauea's Healthy Hut, Monique Dehne, said she was always learning from McNees, especially about being nonjudgmental and finding the good in all people.

"I always looked forward to working with her ... because I would learn something new," Dehne said.

Arroyo, 33, was described by a co-worker at All-Star Lending, a mortgage company, as a hard worker, someone with a calm spirit who promoted a healthy, clean lifestyle.

Arroyo and McNees met two years ago on Kauai and planned on buying a home and raising a family on the island. He was excited about his upcoming marriage and ready to be a father, his co-worker said.

Arroyo and McNees' best friend, Timothy Noonan, moved in with the couple just two days before the dam burst.

Noonan's teenage daughter and her mother, Natalie Mudd, made the trip from the mainland to be part of the ceremony.

"He touched me very deeply," Mudd said. "I continue to miss him."

Noonan was a humble man of few words, with a beautiful daughter who is "little Miss Tim," Mudd said.

"The ways that we remember them will always improve us as people," she said.

Rowan Fehring-Dingwall was just a few days from his second birthday.

Bruce Fehring said grandson Rowan, "my joyful Pooh Bear," said "Yesh" a lot and was a "proud potty trainee" who loved to read and "loved food above all."

Aurora Fehring, 24, was "a radiant Venus" and "a mother hen," he said, "bossy and bosomed ... wise beyond her years."

Aurora, "a teacher, a leader, a guide," was a strong woman but "nurturing, embracing," he said, "beautiful inside and out."

Aurora's husband, Alan Dingwall, was "here, there, gone and back again," Bruce Fehring said, "strong, kind, gentle, handsome ... appreciative, thoughtful, a devoted dad and adoring husband ... a great cook."

Dingwall, 30, was also a big fan of the outdoors and loved to get his feet dirty, Fehring said, adding that he walked the procession barefoot to honor his son-in-law.

After a hula performance, dozens of surfers paddled through the tradewind chop to scatter flowers and ashes in the sea. They were joined by a double-hulled canoe packed with family members, as more than 200 people watched from the beach.

A private ceremony for immediate family followed at another Fehring home in Kilauea.