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When the 120 students of Lanakila Baptist Intermediate and High School gathered for a service in memory of Haruki "Harry" Tokita less than 12 hours after his death Tuesday morning, there was hardly a dry eye in the chapel, said the Rev. Steven Wygle, head of the school.
Tokita, the Ewa school’s caretaker and landscaper for decades, "befriended all them kids," said Wygle, who is also pastor of Lanakila Baptist Church. "He was a mentor to all of them."
Tokita, 84, died when his house at 94-415 Apowale St. in Waipahu caught fire early Tuesday. Also killed in the blaze was his daughter, Karen Tokita, 55.
Patrol officers pulled Harry Tokita’s son Randy, 51, from the yard of the home. He was not injured, but was hospitalized for observation, said Capt. Terry Seelig, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman.
Firefighters responded to the 12:45 a.m. alarm and found the two-story home fully engulfed, Seelig said. Forty firefighters brought the fire under control by 1:20 a.m. and extinguished it by 2:55 a.m., he said.
Both bodies were found on the first floor, one in the front of the house and the other in the back, he said.
Positive identification is pending with the city Department of Medical Examiner, but neighbors and fellow Lanakila Baptist parishioners identified the family members.
Investigators were still investigating a cause of the fire, although officials said it is believed to have started on the first floor. A damage estimate is pending, but the house is a complete loss.
Neighbor Haru Arashiro said he saw and heard two loud explosions from the Tokitas’ carport, where the fire apparently caused the gas tanks of a pickup truck and sedan to blow up. The explosions were so forceful that flames went high in the air and the carport’s roof collapsed.
MILA Juan, another neighbor, said when she ran into the street to see what happened, she saw Randy Tokita in the family’s yard looking on helplessly and calling for his family members. He could not go back in because the flames had overwhelmed the house, Juan said.
Neighbors and Wygle said Harry Tokita was a widower and the sole provider for his three adult children, all of whom have developmental disabilities. Two of the children lived in the home at the time of the fire, they said.
Wygle described Tokita as the senior deacon of the church, who devoted his life to caring for his children and serving God through his church.
It was a life he handled with grace and without complaint, the pastor said.
"He never asked for help from the outside; he always took care of things himself," Wygle said. "The older generation didn’t seek help or handouts from anyone. They just managed on their own."
Besides Randy, Tokita leaves behind another child, Sandra, who has been cared for at an outside facility. "It’s going to be really hard on them because he was such a caregiver for them," Wygle said, adding that he and others were worried about their future. The church was trying to reach family members Tuesday afternoon, he said.
Tokita worked three times a week at Lanakila’s junior and high school. "He kept the grass mowed, the bushes trimmed and looking nice," Wygle said. Even on his days off, he would show up just to talk to students, he said.
While, by all accounts, he was a reserved man, he served as Lanakila Baptist’s senior deacon and, as late as last Wednesday, led a prayer service, Wygle said. "He was a very godly man. I will miss my friend," he said. "My life’s better for having known him."
A Waipahu native, Tokita served in the Army and returned home to work for Oahu Sugar.
Some longtime neighbors recalled when they and Tokita and his family first moved into the Waipahu Gardens neighborhood, off Waikele Road near Waipahu Elementary School,in 1962.
"He was such a nice man," said Eileen Soneda, who lives across the street. "He really took care of them."
Even after his wife died, "he never asked for help from the state for take care of the kids," Arashiro said. "He would always take care by himself."
Jenny Bautista, whose family has lived next door to the Tokitas for 10 years, said Randy Tokita had a daily routine, coming outside to check the mail and roam the yard. Karen Tokita was rarely seen, she said.
"God bless their souls. This was such a tragedy," Bautista said.
The deaths of Harry and Karen Tokita were the first fire-related deaths of the year on Oahu, Seelig said.
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Star-Advertiser staff member Radley Kanda contributed to this report.
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Correction: A previous version of this story had an incorrect address of the house.
