Mary Beth San Juan touched many people in death as she did in life, with her smiling face and her kind and sweet spirit revealed in articles and television newscasts, neighbor Ruth Freedman said Wednesday.
“We were most touched by her picture,” said Freedman, 75, who met her but once at an open house a few years ago.
San Juan’s body was found the night of July 23, bound, gagged and wrapped in a rug on her driveway off a busy Makiki street. She had been stabbed several times.
Friends, neighbors and strangers have shown an outpouring of aloha for the 56-year-old real estate broker and aspiring actress.
Her driveway, where her body lay possibly for days, is now a memorial. What started July 24 with a bouquet of sunflowers has grown into a huge collection of flowers and cards.
Freedman said people of all faiths have been stopping by to leave cards. She was afraid this week’s storm might ruin the notes, so she dried them and intends to return them to the family. Freedman also wants to offer to play the harp at her memorial service.
San Juan’s family members say they welcome flowers to be placed in her memory at her 1224 Punahou St. home.
Her acting coach, Scott Rogers, said he posted a Facebook message from her sister for 800 former and current students of his, asking them to cover her driveway with flowers “as a way of honoring her and covering the ugliness with beauty.”
A memorial service will be held 6 p.m. Saturday at Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary.
“She was a sweetheart,” said former boss Don Persons, president of Gold Coast Real Estate.
He said she would visit his office on her way to regular swims at Sans Souci Beach.
“If she had a fault, she was too sweet and tried to help too many people, and someone took advantage of the situation,” he said. “She always wanted to make things better for everybody.”
Persons said he suspects Vernon Baker, the man charged with her murder, probably met her through their mutual religious interests.
Baker, 41, also is suspected of using San Juan’s ATM card to withdraw cash.
San Juan and her ex-husband “were as close in divorce as they were when they were married,” Persons said. “They leaned on each other. And they produced a fabulous son.”
