His heartbroken family have remembered him as a loving, joyful and “quirky” person devoted to his family; an empathetic and fierce protector who had great gifts – and faced great challenges.
They wanted people to know his “powerful” story.
‘He was so joyful’
Sammy said he met Jontae at Ōtūmoetai College in 2015.
“He was so joyful and always brought a huge smile to my face. He always made me happy and made my day when he called me up for our chats.”
On the evening of December 4, Sammy and Jontae went to the popular swimming hole with Jontae’s partner, 21-year-old Victoria Tupara, and friends.
Sammy said they planned to swim and then head home to “grab a feed”.
Jontae started jumping off the rocks and, after about an hour, decided to move to another pool area.
He took a 4m-5m run-up and leapt from a rock, adopting the classic Superman pose with one clenched fist thrust out in the air, before shifting into a staple dive into the water.
Jontae Christopher Alden, 21, died after jumping into the water at the Pori Pori swimming hole near Tauranga on December 4.
Normally, he would surface within seconds.
“I noticed he didn’t come back up and that’s when I raced down and jumped in,” Sammy said.
“I don’t know how deep the water was but when I swam down to Jay it felt like I was swimming for ages to get to him.”
He pulled Jontae on to the rocks and began CPR for what felt like the “longest minutes of his life”. Two other men took over, then paramedics arrived.
Jontae’s parents, Krystle and Steve Harraway, understood a woman nearby called 111.
“We don’t know who she was, but we want to thank her, Sammy and the others who made beyond-measure efforts to try to save our son,” Krystle said.
Police have referred Jontae’s death to the coroner.
His family believed he hit his head, and Krystle said her plea to other swimmers was to always “scope the ground before you jump”.
‘A very powerful message’
Krystle said her only son, who she called Jay, struggled with adversity from birth and had been diagnosed with ADHD, an attention deficit disorder, with high levels of impulsiveness.
His “quirky nature” was misunderstood by some. Knowing he would face challenges, she set out to be his “biggest fan” and ensure he had a solid foundation of support.
“This included teaching him empathy, kindness, compassion, trust, understanding, grace and wisdom, and that is how I raised him.”
Jontae Alden (third from left) pictured on a family holiday with his sister Bella (left), partner Victoria, father Steve, friend Karlise, sister Talia and, in front, mother Krystle and his 5-year-old sister Nayla.
She said her “beautiful young man” grew to understand his worth and forged a relationship with Jesus Christ.
She and Steve were proud of how he lived as “a beacon of light and joy, like a life raft that anyone could rest on”.
“Jontae’s passing comes with a very powerful message and he desperately wanted to reach out as far as he could to share that message with others.”
She said he stood up for everybody in need, including bullying victims, and spread “compassion, empathy and love wherever he went”.
“He was a very fast runner, and a top athlete throughout school, I remember he ran so fast at intermediate to get an inhaler to save a kid who had an asthma attack.”
He adored his sisters Talia, 19, Bella, 14, and 5-year-old Nayla, and was “their biggest fan and fiercely protective”.
He loved taking Nayla on walks with his dog, Kado, and watching her dance at school or playing the violin.
“Jontae loved his family and was devoted to all of us, including Victoria, who is very much part of our family.”
‘He wanted to make the most of his life’
Victoria said she met Jontae at her birthday party in 2022 and they had been inseparable ever since. They had been planning to move into their own rented home with Kado last Saturday, then get married next year.
She said she had not known it was Jontae in trouble in the water until she began leading the ambulance staff to the hard-to-reach scene.
“When I was told I ran so fast and got there in two minutes flat.”
Paramedics worked on him for about 30 minutes, but could not save him.
Jontae Alden and his devoted partner of two years, Victoria Tupara.
“Everyone needs to know how much love this boy had to give and all he wanted was pure happiness for everyone, even for those who hurt him,” Victoria said.
“He wanted to make the most of his life, and to make people happy and loved, and he did.”
Taupō-born Jontae attended Golden Sands School, Pāpāmoa College and Ōtūmoetai College. Krystle said he left school at 15 and gained his NCEA Level 1 certificate through Employ NZ. He packed avocados in Te Puke and then landed a manufacturing job.
He loved anything to do with motors, welding, fabrication, fixing and making things, and was a trophy-winning motocross rider as a youngster. His first paycheque went towards his first motorcycle.
Krystle said he only had one speed: fast.
“He talked and moved fast, was loud and spoke with passion. Our son did nothing slowly.”
When the bike’s motor died after being “thrashed”, he put a new one in, breathing “new life into it”.
“That’s what Jontae did to everybody he came in contact with, he breathed life into them and didn’t even realise he was doing it.”
He was made redundant from the manufacturing job. He joined Krystle at Tasman Aluminium and had been happily working as a delivery driver while exploring options to pursue his dream of becoming an engineer.
Steve Harraway said Jontae was” driven to achieve” in whatever opportunities he was given.
“He was very gifted and could fix and get lots of things up and running again. He fixed anything he thought needed to be fixed, and sometimes he would push that to the limits and sometimes motors did not survive him.”
Steve said they were blown away by seeing how many people turned up to the funeral on December 10 and how many lives Jontae had touched.
The service was followed by moving haka by friends and colleagues, then a cremation.
Mourners were asked to donate to the Freedom Centre, as Jontae had wanted to be part of the church’s men’s group.
A family friend has set up a Givealittle page to help ease the grieving family’s unexpected financial burden of paying for the funeral.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
