Thursday, December 31, 2009

Hilo, HI: Friends, family gather to remember Medeiros

by Colin M. Stewart
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
Published: Friday, January 15, 2010 7:39 AM HST
Pastor praises efforts to raise awareness about domestic violence
Hope was the message friends, family and co-workers of Jolene Marie Medeiros shared as they gathered Thursday to remember her life and mourn her death.

To that end, speakers at her funeral service, held at Dodo Mortuary in Hilo, focused much of their attention on the good she had done both in life and in death, including spreading awareness of domestic violence and serving as an organ donor.

The 24-year-old KTA Super Stores cashier died Jan. 2, a victim of domestic violence at the hands of her estranged boyfriend and father of her two children. Harry Batalona Jr. died shortly after shooting Medeiros and then turning his gun on himself in the driveway of his parents' Hilo home on Dec. 30, according to police.


Medeiros' body lay in an open casket at the head of the chapel Thursday, draped by a laced veil and backed by a row of floral arrangements and photographs.

Among the arrangements was a large wreath with the words "Downtown KTA Ohana."

In his eulogy, pastor Allen Townsend of the Hilo Church of God announced that Medeiros was responsible for saving three lives after her death, donating her liver to an ailing pilot and her kidneys to two elderly grandmothers. Townsend also said that her heart valves were being preserved and there was a chance they could aid in saving the lives of babies or children with defective hearts.

"We celebrate and honor that," he said.

Townsend went on to congratulate the Medeiros family for their efforts to battle domestic violence in the wake of their loved one's death.


Click Photo to Enlarge
Harry Batalona Jr., left rear, and Jolene Medeiros, right rear, appear in this undated family photo with their children, Konan Batalona, 6, and Kaylee-Marie Batalona, 7. - Family Photo
"I have the greatest confidence in this family," he said. "I have seen the goodness of this family. When difficulty would have overwhelmed them, and despair would have seized the day, they have shown their goodness."

He thanked the family for wearing the purple ribbons of the anti-domestic violence movement, and for using the occasion of Medeiros' funeral to hand out fliers and business cards at the entrance to the chapel with information on how to deal with abusive relationships.

Perhaps the most poignant moment of the service came as the 100 or so funeral attendees heard Medeiros' description of her own life, as read by her sister, April Medeiros.

While looking for her sister's birth certificate shortly after her death, April Medeiros said she discovered two essays written by Jolene Medeiros after she returned to school to pursue a nursing degree in 2008.

The first essay was a speech that she had given to her class about the importance of organ donation. April Medeiros said her sister had been excited after the speech, because several of her classmates had been convinced to become organ donors.

The second was an autobiography she had written for a communications class.

Wearing dark sunglasses and reading in hushed tones, April Medeiros made her way through the autobiography, at times taking short moments to compose herself after her voice quavered with emotion.

The essay was written simply, placing emphasis on important names and dates throughout her life, such as the day she met her best friend, Kauai, the days her two children were born, and the day she met Batalona in 2001.

"I was ordering french fries and a drink and he walked up to me," Jolene Medeiros wrote. "He took out a bunch of money and told me, 'I will buy you anything you want.' I told him, 'I can buy my own food, but thanks.'

"He then asked me for my number, but I turned around and there were a bunch of girls standing around a truck looking at us, so I told him, 'No. But if you give me your number, maybe I will call you.'

"Eventually, I called him one night when I was with a bunch of my friends drinking and our driver was too drunk to take us home. When he answered the phone I asked if he could pick up me and my friend Kauai and take us home and he said 'Yeah.' I liked that he didn't try anything, and we became friends.

"He later told me that he had a bet with those girls if he could get my number and lost."

The autobiography also recounted the time that she accepted a full-time job at KTA.

"When I accepted the position, there were a lot of unsatisfied employees that thought, 'Why did she get it, when I was working here longer?' Others had been there for four years.

"This was a really stressful time at work. There was a lot of people who were upset with me and thought I should have turned down the opportunity. But, I was only thinking about what was best for my children," she wrote.

As the funeral service came to a close, friends and family were invited to approach the casket and say their final good-byes. Bowed heads and slumped shoulders sidled along the front of the casket, and several visitors had to reach out for support from loved ones.

As attendees exited through the doors, they were greeted by a pair of photo montages to the right. Medeiros' face could be seen smiling as she interacted with friends, family, and her children, Konan and Kaylee-Marie.

At left was a memory board funeral attendees had littered with messages to Medeiros scrawled in white lettering on a black background. Little jokes, pleasant memories and wishes for a peaceful rest were jumbled together like so many pieces of a jijgsaw puzzle. Among them were the simple words, "Jolene, we love you."

E-mail Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.


Police investigate attempted murder and suicide in Hilo

By Star-Bulletin staff

POSTED: 11:34 a.m. HST, Dec 31, 2009

A Hilo man died last night and his estranged girlfriend is hospitalized in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds in a case police have classified as an attempted murder and suicide.

According to Big Island police, South Hilo patrol officers were called to a reported shooting at the Manaolana Place home of 28-year-old Harry Batalona just after 7 p.m.

Emergency personnel took both people to Hilo Medical Center, where Batalona, suffering a gunshot wound to the head, was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, police said.

The woman, identified as 24-year-old Jolene Medeiros of a different Hilo address, arrived at the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and was listed in critical condition, police said.

Police said Medeiros was Batalona's "estranged female companion."

Preliminary results of an autopsy this morning indicated that Batalona died of a single, self-inflicted gunshot to the head, according to police.

Detectives with the Criminal Investigation Section are investigating the case.

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