KIHEI - The 2008 recipient of the Humanitarian of the Year award from the Maui Non-Profit Directors Association has died, leaving a legacy of can-do attitude, community service and compassion.
Gladys "Aunty G" Cachola-Gross, 75, of Kihei, died Thursday at Maui Memorial Medical Center.
The Hawaii island native served, among many roles, as a community organizer and a former prison librarian, therapeutic foster parent and longtime Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association official.
"Her community involvement was vast - oh my gosh!" said her hanai daughter, Thelma Akita-Kealoha, Maui community director of Catholic Charities Hawai'i. "She just wanted to improve life for families."
Cachola-Gross served as a foster parent trainer for the PRIDE (Parent Resource for Information Development and Education) program of Catholic Charities Hawai'i.
"She was good at mentoring," Akita-Kealoha said. "She would say, 'I'm not going to tell them what I'm doing, I'm going to show them.'
"She is someone who touched so many lives. She is like that little Tasmanian devil, who hits you before you know it."
Cachola-Gross volunteered for more than a decade at Aloha House.
For Maui Youth and Family Services, she was a foster parent for an independent living program, a therapeutic aide and a therapeutic foster parent; ran an emergency shelter on Molokai; and served as a motivational trainer for MYFS staff.
She was a former board member of the Kihei Youth Center and current secretary of the Keokea Hawaiian Farm Lots Association.
Robin Newhouse, president of the latter Upcountry homestead association, said "Aunty G" was a community pillar and avid volunteer "for every cause." "She was my firecracker up here, my little general. She kept us all in line."
Cachola-Gross' other activities ranged from 4-H and Summer Fun, to the Ewa Community Association, Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE) Maui, and 'Ahahui Ka'ahumanu. A breast cancer survivor, she had captained an American Cancer Society Relay For Life team and volunteered for the March of Dimes Walk and Maui Marathon.
"She gave selflessly of her time and talents toward improving the community, especially youth with special needs," said Jud Cunningham, chief executive officer of the consortium of Aloha House, Maui Youth and Family Services, and Malama Family Recovery Center.
He said the agencies he leads collaborate "with a common, interlocking board and management," and noted that "Aunty Gladys had served on all threeboards concurrently and was instrumental in bringing those organizations together in a partnership."
"Her untimely passing is a great loss to our community. She was a great friend and colleague," he said. "She had a big heart. She was an inspiration to other people around her. She will be missed greatly by her friends and family."
Cachola-Gross was born Feb. 6, 1934, in Kohala. She held an associate of arts degree in library science from Honolulu Community College, and was a librarian at Oahu Community Correctional Center and St. Anthony School in Wailuku. She also served as a preschool teacher for MEO Head Start, and as a special education teacher's aide at Kihei Intermediate and Pukalani Elementary schools.
She is survived by her husband, Michael Gross; two sons, Kevin (Wanda) Espinueva and Eric Epinueva; three daughters, Lisa (Robert) Madeira, Tiona (Clifford) Espinueva and Joni Ramos; a hanai daughter, Thelma Akita-Kealoha; three sisters, Henrietta "Aunty Dolly" Kaleikau, Faith Rocha and Marie "Midgie" Kawai; a brother, Fred Cachola Jr.; and 15 grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren.
A wake will start at 10 a.m. Saturday at Nakamura Mortuary, with memorial services at 11 a.m. Oahu services will be announced.
"She was a great lady, full of fun and energy, always hustling around," recalled sister Dolly Kaleikau of Independence, Mo. "She was a community organizer at heart, really, for nonprofits; a great worker with just a positive attitude about life."
"She had so much aloha," concluded her brother, 36-year educator Fred Cachola, who retired as director of the Kamehameha Schools Extension Division. "She leaves a legacy and a path of service - to keiki, kupuna, Hawaiians, friends and family - that I think others would be proud to follow."
* Kekoa Enomoto can be reached at kekoa@mauinews.com.
