KAPAA — For Glynis Camat, the hardest thing she did after a wreck in Kealia took the lives of her daughter and grandson was explain to her other grandchildren what happened. “I had to tell them they weren’t going to
KAPAA — For Glynis Camat, the hardest thing she did after a wreck in Kealia took the lives of her daughter and grandson was explain to her other grandchildren what happened.
“I had to tell them they weren’t going to see Mommy and Kawai anymore,” she said. “My granddaughter, she took it hard. She kept asking for Kawai, and the youngest one kept asking why Kawai isn’t coming back.”
Chelsey-Lynn Perreira, 28, and her two-year-old son, Kawainakoa Camat, died at Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu after the car they were riding in crashed head-on into a delivery truck on March 31.
A little before 9 a.m., the Nissan Cube driven by Markis Carveiro crossed the center line and crashed into the oncoming truck, according to a police report.
The wreck took the lives of all four people in the car. One of the passengers, 26-year-old, Ashley Gorospe, died that same day at Wilcox Medical Center.
The driver of the delivery truck, a 54-year-old Kapaa man, did not report any serious injuries.
Glynis Camat said her daughter lived life to the fullest.
“She didn’t care what anybody said, she did what she wanted,” she said.
Keoka Camat, Perreira’s brother, said she was a free spirit.
“She was a rebel child — she didn’t care what anyone said,” Keoka Camat said.
Perreira, who left behind three children, was the oldest of three kids.
“I was always yelling at her to get her life together,” Keoka Camat said. “We would always bicker. We had a love/hate relationship, but we loved each other no matter what.”
He said it was his job to keep his sister in check.
“She looked up to me because I was trying to be better than she was,” he said.
Kawainakoa had a big personality, Keoka Camat said.
“He was very outgoing and was really mellow. He was always happy,” he said.
Kawainakoa enjoyed being outside and loved the Minions.
“His favorite Minion was Bob. He had a toy Bob, and he would say ‘Bob’ all the time,” Keoka Camat said.
Of all his siblings, Kawainakoa was the easiest baby to take care of, said Glynis Camat.
“But he had the worst temperament. If his siblings had something he wanted, he would fight them for it,” she said.
Perreira and her children lived with the Camat’s, and Keoka remembers Kawainakoa waiting by the window for his grandparents to come home from work.
“When my dad would come home, Kawainakoa’s face would light up. He would say ‘Papa,’ and greet him with a big hug,” Keoka Camat said.
That is his father’s favorite memory of his grandson, he added.
Knowing they have to be strong for their kids, ages 7, 6 and 4, keeps the family going, Glynis Camat said.
“We all have our own breakdowns every now and then, but what’s keeping us strong is the kids … they all have Kawai in them,” she said.
