Everybody remembers his smile.

And his upbeat, easygoing personality.

“He was always smiling, always happy,” said Sidney Ho, general manager of Flying Food Group, where 7-year-old Reef Aikau would occasionally hang out while his mother, the company’s financial controller, worked at her office at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

“I love all kids,” Ho added. “But Reef was something special, that twinkle in his eye, that smile on his face.”

Reef, who had just finished first grade at Noelani Elementary School in Manoa, was killed by his father earlier this month in what has been classified as a murder-suicide.

The murder extinguished a young life that by all accounts showed tremendous promise.

Reef learned to surf by the time he could walk — not surprising given his lineage as great-nephew of legendary surfer Eddie Aikau.

With his mother’s help, he founded a hat company, ReefKids808, at age 3 that she said he ran to raise tuition money so he could one day go to Punahou School. He was credited with creating the whimsical designs of marine animals featured on the kid caps.

And he was beloved by many.

“I don’t think there’s anyone on this island who could say one bad thing about him,” his mother, Kat Aikau, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Everybody loved Reef.”

“All the kids had happy memories of him,” added Jon Wong, board president of the Manoa Aquatics swim club, where Reef swam regularly.

Kat Aikau, a commercial pilot, said her son wanted to become an airline pilot when he grew up.

But the two things he enjoyed most were surfing and snowboarding. “He lived and breathed to surf and snowboard,” she said.

Reef also was proud of his Hawaiian heritage and ate fish at every opportunity.

“He could eat fish breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Aikau said. “He’s a true Hawaiian water boy.”

Reef enjoyed school, especially math and spelling, and was learning Japanese.

During visits to his mother’s workplace, he was always well-behaved and would be comfortable joining conversations with the adults, Aikau’s co-workers said.

“He livens up the place,” said Lancer Dacuycuy, account manager for the Flying Food Group, which caters to airlines.

While at the office in February, Reef gave a Valentine’s Day card to Ho, the general manager, that now hangs on his office wall. Also on the wall is a photo of Reef taken on the first day he sailed the boat that his mother purchased in January for the two of them to live aboard.

Reef wrote a short passage, “When I went on a Boat,” to accompany the photo.

“We saw a turtle that was looking at us like we left him,” he wrote. “There were rainbows over Magic Island and Waikiki. When we came back to the harbor we saw many eagle rays jumping out of the water. It was the best day ever!!!”

Reef’s love of the water will be front and center at 11 a.m. today when friends and family are scheduled to paddle out to Waimea Bay to scatter his ashes.

“He was such an amazing kid,” his mother said.