Cataluna: Liberty House employees hold ‘family’ reunion

The line to get into the party ran out the door and up the hill, and everyone was smartly dressed and perfectly accessorized.

Winston Purdy stood at the entrance near the huge vinyl banner that spelled out “Liberty House” and hugged each person as they came in. “You look the same!” he told them. Or, “You look even better!”

Two years ago Purdy got it in his head to host a reunion for former employees of Liberty House, the beloved Hawaii department store that closed in 2001 after being purchased by Macy’s.

Purdy worked in housekeeping at the flagship store at Ala Moana for 47 years, including through the transition to Macy’s. In 2017 he hosted a get-together at a little bar in McCully and packed the place with LH memorabilia and former employees excited to see one another again.

Randy DeGuzman heard about that mini-­reunion and wanted to make sure there’d be another one. DeGuzman was a driver for Liberty House for 24 years, going between the distribution center and the stores. “I was 18 when I was hired. I was laid off when I was 42,” DeGuzman said. As he tried to sum up what those years meant to him, his eyes filled with tears. “It was such a significant time of my life, those relationships. The guys I worked with were father figures to me. I still think of the things they said to guide me in decisions in my life.”

DeGuzman and Purdy sat down at the Dillingham Zippy’s a year ago to start planning a bigger reunion. Both were apprehensive because neither had any experience in event planning. They made themselves pick a date for the reunion so that they’d have to commit to doing the work. They picked Aug. 10, 2019, exactly a year from their meeting at Zippy’s.

On Saturday night, close to 260 people gathered in a pavilion at the Pearl Country Club for dinner and memories. The tables were arranged by store (Ala Moana, Kahala, Downtown, etc.) and included the warehouse and upper executives. Many wore their Liberty House name tags. Some still had their special pins from the Zooper sale or years-of-service awards. The flag that had flown above Liberty House Ala Moana on the very last day, Nov. 22, 2001, stood sentinel over the party guests, and displays included vintage LH gift certificates, the Employee Handbook and the logo shopping bags.

Former HiBoard members Christie Adams, Gina Kusao and the single-named Tsarkie were there. The HiBoard was a Liberty House program that employed select high school seniors to serve as models and brand ambassadors. Liberty House HiBoard members were pretty close to teen royalty in their day. “We had to project a good image,” Tsarkie said. “I also learned to fold clothes really well.”

Susan Johnson, who worked at Liberty House Kahala for 34 years, manned the reception table. “There was nothing like working for Liberty House,” she said. “We were a family.”

To find former Liberty House employees, Purdy set up a Facebook group. He also made trips through Macy’s to find the “old-timers” still working there to let them know about the party. De Guzman handled the mailed-in dinner reservations and asked everyone to include a note about where they had worked and for how long. Those little handwritten testimonies became very precious to him, and he put them together in a collage to display at the reunion. “I read through all the notes, and it took me on a journey,” he said. “Everyone was proud to tell their story.”

At an event like this, it’s unfair to ask the organizers — their eyes scanning the room to make sure everything is running perfectly and everyone is having a good time — when the next reunion will be held. But everyone does, and Purdy had an answer ready. “In two years it will be 20 years since the demise of Liberty House,” he said. “We need volunteers to plan, so let me know.”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.