LIHU‘E — Many people who knew Sandra Galas — even if it was just for a short amount of time — will tell you about her strong, yet caring personality and matching leadership skills in the same sentence. “She was
LIHU‘E — Many people who knew Sandra Galas — even if it was just for a short amount of time — will tell you about her strong, yet caring personality and matching leadership skills in the same sentence.
“She was kind and always very thoughtful,” said Kapa‘a resident Alma Umalla, who knew Sandy since they were 5-year-old students at St. Catherine’s School. “She always thought about other people rather than herself. She was an amazing person all around — no matter what it was, she was 100-percent committed to it.”
Nearly 50 people, including some of her family members and friends, gathered under cloudy skies in front of the YWCA’s new women’s center on Hardy Street Wednesday to attend a memorial ceremony for the young woman who was simply known as “Sandy.”
Galas, a 27-year-old former assistant food and beverage manager at the Grand Hyatt in Po‘ipu, was found dead on Jan. 25, 2006 in her parked car in the garage of her ‘Ele‘ele home. An autopsy report determined that Galas was asphyxiated and suffered blunt force trauma to the head.
Her estranged husband, Darren Galas, was arrested in October 2012 — nearly six years after her death — for allegedly killing Sandy and will make his next court appearance on Sept. 30.
“We really miss her a whole lot,” Umalla said. “It’s really unfortunate about what happened to her because she thought he was someone different.”
To help share her story with others and increase awareness of violence against women, YWCA Executive Director Renae Hamilton said the Lihu‘e-based nonprofit erected the memorial earlier this year ahead of the women center’s tentative opening date in late June.
It is a fitting tribute that, some say, is matched by the spirit and memory that Sandy left behind.
Oma‘o resident Misha Taylor, who worked as a waitress for about three or four years at the Beach House Restaurant in Koloa, said Sandy was a responsible and “very, very caring person,” who was able to work her way up from a waitress to the restaurant’s manager in about a year.
Sandy, she explained, had just secured a new job, new boyfriend, and was “at the very beginning of getting her life back together” when she was killed.
“Everybody there really respected her,” Taylor said. “She was so tiny and little but was so strong and had a very big presence.”
But what was even more important, Taylor said, was Sandy’s love for her two sons, who were later raised by Darren Galas after Sandy’s death.
“She was an amazing mom,” Taylor said as she fought back tears. “She loved her two boys — everything she did was for her them.”
Another co-worker at the Beach House Restaurant, Wailua resident Christa Hall, said she wanted people to remember Sandy’s story and reach out to someone who may be a victim of domestic violence.
“If you know someone who is a victim of domestic violence, try to help them as quickly as you can and keep supporting them,” Hall said. “There were a lot of people that helped Sandy, but I don’t think anyone could have seen this coming.”
• Darin Moriki, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-3681 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com.
