Cheryl Lynette Camara

January 5, 1948 – September 10, 2026

Cheryl Lynette Camara, 78, passed away at her home in Kaneohe, Hawaii, on September 10, 2026.

Born in Honolulu on January 5, 1948, Cheryl was the daughter of Lionel Phillips Camara and Mary Serrao Camara. She grew up with her older sister, Mary Ann Lopes, who passed away only a few months before her. Cheryl loved spending time and talking with her sister, and she was proud to be aunt to her nephew and nieces, John Lionel Lopes, Michelle Marie Rodrigues, and Christine Ann Asing.

Cheryl attended Sacred Hearts Convent during her early school years and later Sacred Hearts Academy, graduating in 1965. She continued her education at Honolulu Business College, enjoying some shared classes with her cousin Priscilla, and receiving an Associate of Arts while studying subjects that included shorthand and legal secretarial work, which prepared her for a career that would span many years.

By the early 1970s, Cheryl was working at the Honolulu law firm Carlsmith. As the firm's name and partners changed over the decades, Cheryl remained a familiar presence there for more than twenty years. She worked as a legal secretary for several attorneys and especially appreciated the kindness of Ronald Shigetani, her longtime boss, and Peter Starn.

After leaving Carlsmith, Cheryl worked for Dia Pacific, a Japanese property development and investment company, where she worked with people including her Hawaii office boss, Mr. Takeuchi, and Jan Cadena. When Dia Pacific's Hawaii operations eventually came to an end, Cheryl moved into another chapter of her working life. Around that time, she began helping her father with the management of the Knights of Pythias building. She continued managing the property after her father's retirement and remained involved with the building for many years, working until she retired in 2018.

Cheryl was rarely limited to just one job. Over the years she sold Tupperware, Avon, and other products to earn extra money. She also worked part-time as a travel agent, arranging travel for family, friends, and people she knew through Carlsmith. Long before anyone could pull out a phone and compare hotel prices online, Cheryl knew how to search out a discount, a special rate, or a good deal.

Travel became one of the great pleasures of her life. Her travel work helped make possible many trips to the neighbor islands, and Portugal held an especially important place in her heart. Cheryl was deeply proud of her Portuguese heritage, with family roots in both Madeira and the Azores. She traveled to Portugal many times, sometimes with her parents and sometimes accompanying tour groups. On one memorable extended trip, Cheryl and her parents rented a villa on top of a hill for months while her father somehow managed to find his way to relatives the family had come to meet.

Her love for Portugal followed her home. In later years, a trip to Ross could easily turn into another search for a bargain—particularly if she found ceramics, soaps, or anything else labeled “Made in Portugal.”

Cheryl's Portuguese heritage was about much more than shopping or travel. She was active for many years in Hawaii's Portuguese community and participated in numerous Portuguese organizations. She enjoyed the culture, language, traditions, friendships, and celebrations that connected her Hawaii life to the places her family had come from. Her Portuguese-language teacher, Cecy Browne, became a friend Cheryl visited often. Cecy was Brazilian, which occasionally produced an amusing result when Cheryl traveled: people in Portugal wondered why this Portuguese-American woman from Hawaii spoke Portuguese with a Brazilian accent.

Cheryl loved people, and she loved to talk. A quick visit could easily become a long one, and saying goodbye at the end of a gathering was seldom a quick process. She kept friendships over many years and was especially attentive to older friends and relatives who needed company or help, including her friend Evelina Downing at Pohai Nani and her cousins Sister Stephen Marie Serrao and Darla Serrao. Visiting someone, checking on them, talking story, or simply keeping them company came naturally to her.

She was also a prolific picture-taker. Cheryl documented vacations, parties, gatherings, people, scenery, and countless ordinary moments. As a result, the family has an enormous photographic record of the people and places she loved—although, because she was usually the one behind the camera, there are far fewer pictures of Cheryl herself.

Organization was another matter. Cheryl wrote everything down, but that often meant notes and lists everywhere, usually accompanied by an overflowing purse containing any number of things she might need someday. She loved shopping, loved a sale, and particularly loved the feeling that she had found a bargain. These were among the little characteristics that family and friends came to know simply as Cheryl being Cheryl.

She loved animals as well, especially cats.

Above all, Cheryl's life centered on family and caring for others. As a single mother, and with lots of help from her parents, she raised her only son, Lionel Joseph Camara ("LJ"). She later welcomed four grandchildren, Hope, Bailee, Grace, and Joseph, and took great joy in watching the family grow. Bailee, now Bailee Malone, and her husband, Eric Malone, gave Cheryl her great-grandson, Ethan. Grace, now Grace Kruger, and her husband, Alexander Kruger, live in Germany, while the rest of Cheryl's immediate family remains in Hawaii.

Cheryl devoted many years to caring for her own parents as they grew older. Perhaps because of that experience, she strongly wanted to remain at home when she herself eventually needed care. She was happy that Lionel was able to come home and care for her during her final years, allowing her to remain in her Kaneohe home rather than move to a care facility.

Her Catholic faith was simple, sincere, and constant throughout her life. Cheryl wanted to remain connected to her church and never stopped hoping that her son LJ might someday “come back” to the Catholic Church, though she also happily accompanied him to his church and enjoyed being welcomed into other Christian communities. In recent years, in addition to the monthly Kupuna Konnection at St. Ann's, she especially enjoyed the people and music at Fellowship Fridays at Anchor Church and the ukulele table following services at First Presbyterian Church.

When Cheryl cared about someone, she cared wholeheartedly.

Cheryl will be remembered for her love of family, her deep pride in her Portuguese heritage, her faith, her travels, her photographs, her bargain hunting, her overflowing purse and countless coupons, her willingness to help others, and especially her ability to turn almost any encounter into a conversation.

She leaves behind a lifetime of photographs, stories, family traditions, friendships, and memories—and many people who will miss having one more long conversation with her.

Services

Services will be held Thursday, October 22, 2026, at St. Ann's Catholic Church, 46-129 Haiku Road, Kaneohe.

Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m., followed by the eulogy at 10:45 a.m. and Funeral Mass at 11:00 a.m.

A reception with lunch will follow in the St. Ann's parish hall.

Burial will take place at 2:00 p.m. at Hawaiian Memorial Park Cemetery, 45-425 Kamehameha Highway, Kaneohe.