For those grieving his death, words often used by Jus­tin Joseph Kelii helped ease the pain: "No matter how hard it rains, withstand the pain."

Those lyrics from a DMX rap song titled "Ready to Meet Him" were emblazoned on the black T-shirts many wore at Kelii’s memo­rial service yesterday.

"Whenever he was away in basics (training) and when his cousin was away on the mainland, he would write letters, and he would write that quote and just reassure them things will get better," said friend Candi Serai, 20, who made the shirts that also bore his photo.

Kelii, 29, one of five men killed April 8 in a fireworks explosion at a Waikele storage bunker, was remembered by about 400 at Hope Chapel Kane­ohe Bay.

The others, who also worked for Donaldson Enterprises, were Robert Kevin Freeman, 24; Bryan Cabalce, 25; Neil Sprankle, 24; and Robert Leahey, 50.

Ralph Moore, a Hope Chapel pastor, said Kelii helped build the church where his body lay in a closed wooden casket at services yesterday morning.

"As young as Jus­tin was, he lived a full life," he said.

After the service, his mother, Danielle Battisti, her eyes filled with tears, said, "I’m full of hope because I know I’ll see him again."

His colleagues have shared with her that he "did above and beyond what was expected," she said.

"He knew what he was doing, did it very well, and he was a very good leader," Battisti said, adding he was a leader among his friends as well.

Kelii’s grandmother Priscilla Kelii, who with his grandfather raised him, said, "I only had girls and he was my boy."

She added, "He loved his job. He begged me to go to that school."

She paid $10,000 to send him to "bomb school" at Texas A&M.

"He also loved fireworks," she said. "New Year’s Eve was his day," even as a child. "He always wanted to learn about bombs."

Kelii "wanted to be a pyrotechnician, but here they don’t have many jobs," said his aunt Debo­rah Dulatre. "I think that’s why he changed over to ordnance disposal."

Cousin Keoki Dulatre, who delivered the eulogy, said Kelii received his unexploded ordnance technician 1 certificate from Texas A&M and was about to receive his technician level 2 certification.

Hanz Kane, 64, who had worked with Kelii, Freeman and Sprankle, also went to Texas A&M. He said a marble memo­rial with Kelii’s name is going up at the school.

Kane said they were trained well in military ordnance, but there’s a big difference between bombs and fireworks.

"We know to a T what to do with military ordnance," he said. "We feel safe. Fireworks, we don’t know enough."

He welcomes new federal regulations governing the handling of fireworks.

"They think of fireworks as toys," but black powder in fireworks becomes unstable when it gets wet and dries, he said.