Ladi Tome, 88, who as owner of The House of Hawaii helped add an authentic touch to Chicago luaus in the 1960s and ’70s, died of pneumonia Saturday in Manor Care Health Services in Palos Heights. A Chicago native who spent most of his life in the Pullman neighborhood, Mr. Tome assembled aircraft parts for the Pullman Co. during World War II and worked for 25 years as a patternmaker for neon signs at Federal Sign and Signal in Blue Island. After traveling with his wife to Hawaii several times, Mr. Tome decided to open a store specializing in Hawaiian goods. He designed and built shelves for the first House of Hawaii store in the Roseland neighborhood, said his wife of 64 years, Amanda. The couple operated the store from 1960 to 1980 and traveled to Hawaii at least five times to purchase merchandise for the store. “It was lovely,” said Amanda Tome. “It was all strictly Hawaiian. We had all the mumus and food that came from Hawaii. We enjoyed it as long as we had it.” Mr. Tome graduated from Pullman Technical High School in 1928 and remained a member of the school’s alumni association as well as the SNPJ Slovenian fraternal organization. In addition to his wife, Mr. Tome is survived by three sons, Conrad, Clark and John; eight grandchildren; and a great-grandson. Funeral services were held Tuesday in Midlothian.
