{"id":216957,"date":"2025-05-30T14:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T00:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=216957"},"modified":"2025-06-02T14:37:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T00:37:51","slug":"in-memoriam-eloise-luzader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/30\/in-memoriam-eloise-luzader\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: Eloise Luzader, cherished Gateway Caf\u00e9 head cashier"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Eloise
Eloise Luzader<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Popular and loved University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa Gateway House <\/a>caf\u00e9<\/a> head cashier Aunty Eloise Luzader died on February 15, at 96. Luzader is remembered for her warm and welcoming personality as she greeted students and customers at the caf\u00e9 for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n

Luzader retired from Gateway House caf\u00e9 at 95-years-old<\/a> and stated that the students her favorite part of her job. She viewed them as her grandbabies, effortlessly remembering the names of thousands of them and making them feel her care and aloha. In addition to her cashiering duties, she also served as an unofficial matchmaker of M\u0101noa, bringing together three successful couples.<\/p>\n

To return Luzader\u2019s love, students would bring her gifts and lei, take and share photos with her, and most importantly, spend time with her even after they graduated from ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

\"luzader
Alumna Taylor Hiraga, nicknamed ‘Miss Lucy’ by Luzader, gifts lei during her visits<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“She always put a smile on my face, always said hello, always hugged me. She\u2019s pretty much family to me now,” said alumna Taylor Hiraga at Luzader\u2019s retirement celebration<\/a>. “Here at Gateway Caf\u00e9, Aunty Eloise is a staple—she\u2019s the face of Gateway Caf\u00e9 and she\u2019s always been for the last 30 years.”<\/p>\n

An adventure-filled life<\/h2>\n

Luzader\u2019s son, Gary, compiled photo galleries of her well-documented life in a memorial website dedicated to her<\/a>. He shared major moments, from her growing up in Hilo, to journeying to New York, to her return to Hawaiʻi<\/span> while she ultimately discovered the activities she loved most.<\/p>\n

“She was funny, she was generous, and she was loving,” wrote Gary. “She drove me nuts like no other person could, and she also loved me like no other person could\u2026that\u2019s what ‘moms’ do I guess. When I look back at her life through the photos, Mom\u2019s life was incredible.”<\/p>\n

Luzader spent much of her life exploring the world and different job opportunities that allowed her to interact with others. She touched ground in countries in almost every continent and touched the hearts of those she met while doing sales work. Aside from family and friends, her main constant was dancing.<\/p>\n

“Mom had a passion for dancing\u2026any kind of dancing,” Gary wrote. “Mom danced well into her 90s. Even in her final days when she couldn\u2019t even walk, Mom would talk about dancing one day again\u2026 She will\u2026”<\/p>\n

Read more about Aunty Eloise at her memorial website.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Eloise
Eloise Luzader<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luzader warmly greeted and cared for patrons at the caf\u00e9 for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":187862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[756,320,9],"class_list":["post-216957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-in-memoriam","tag-student-housing-services","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/manoa-eloise-retirement-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216957"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216960,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216957\/revisions\/216960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}