A fourth-generation Kauaian and former member of the state House of Representatives and Kaua‘i County Council, Abel Medeiros of Po‘ipu passed away at his home Friday. He was 85. Born and raised in ‘Oma‘o, Medeiros served four years in the
A fourth-generation Kauaian and former member of the state House of Representatives and Kaua‘i County Council, Abel Medeiros of Po‘ipu passed away at his home Friday. He was 85.
Born and raised in ‘Oma‘o, Medeiros served four years in the state House of Representatives and four years on the Kaua‘i County Council.
A lifer in terms of public service, he also was elected to the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative board of directors, and served on the boards of Hawaii Health Care Professionals, Koloa Plantation Days, Koloa Community Association, and the Koloa Lions Club.
He also served on the state Sub-Area Health Council, Adult Education Committee, and county Real Property Tax Appeals Board.
He was a captain retired from the U.S. Army Reserve, and worked for 34 years for Kauai Pineapple and, later, McBryde Sugar Company.
The father of three children, Medeiros had seven grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.
Services have been scheduled for this Saturday, April 16, at St. Raphael’s Church in Koloa, with viewing from 8 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., and Mass officiated by Father Biz at 11 a.m.
Phil Scott, who was general manager of McBryde Sugar Company for around three years before Medeiros retired from that company, remembered Medeiros as a jack of all trades who devoted his life to serving others.
“You could always count on Abel,” Scott said of Medeiros, who was an industrial-relations assistant at the now-defunct sugar company.
“He knew what was going-on all over the island,” and suggested ways for McBryde leaders to get involved in activities to benefit the island, Scott said from his Kalaheo home.
“He was a community-minded person. The community and doing the right thing were always the most important things to Abel,” Scott continued.
While officially the industrial-relations assistant at the plantation, Medeiros was the one Scott and others called on when something needed to be done and no one was sure who the right person was to do it. He always got the job done, Scott said.
“Abel will be missed by a lot of people on this island. He did a lot of things on Kaua‘i, all for other people.”
- Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
