 "Photo: Lauren Whitacre")
Liza Whitacre had only been working at Edgewater’s Metropolis Coffee Company for a few weeks when she knitted each of her coworkers a pair of mittens for Christmas. She had all of them trace their hands and write down their favorite colors so she could personalize them.
“She wove herself into everyone’s lives,” said Tony Dreyfuss, 35, co-owner of Metropolis.
Whitacre, a junior at Loyola and a barista trainer at Metropolis, died on Oct. 21 in a bike accident near the intersection of Damen and Wellington Avenues. While she was riding, she slipped off her bike and fell under a truck. She was 20 years old.
Whitacre loved to practice what she learned. She baked vegan food, knitted and spoke French. She could fix the machines at Metropolis Coffee Shop where she worked and she sewed her own dresses for dances in high school.
People who knew Whitacre, who is from the northwest suburb Palatine, remember her thoughtfulness and enthusiasm.
“She was just so caring to everyone around her and made everyone her family,” said her sister, Lauren Whitacre, 18, who attends Columbia College. “She was just really sweet to everyone.”
Her friend, Tinu Oyelowo, 25, knew Whitacre from working at the coffee shop with her.
Oyelowo described Whitacre as a “ball of energy.” She loved hanging out with Whitacre outside of work as well as in the coffee shop. Oyelowo, as well as other people who knew Whitacre, described her endless enthusiasm.
Before Whitacre was a barista, “she would constantly ask to get on bar,” Oyelowo said. “She said she was working on her latte art in her spare time.”
Whitacre was a French major, and she had recently added an international business major, according to her sister. She wanted to open a coffee shop in France.
The faculty of the French department remembers Liza’s “radiant presence,” said Andrew McKenna, Ph.D.
David Posner, Ph.D., said he looked forward to a class more if he saw Whitacre’s name on the roster.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that she improved the mood of a class just by walking into the room,” Posner said.
On her hip, Whitacre had a tattoo that said “toujours optimiste toujours la tien,” French for “always optimistic always yours.” On her back she had a tattoo of the Giving Tree, from the Shel Silverstein book of the same name. She also had one of an Arabica coffee plant on her left arm.
A memorial service was held at Madonna Della Strada Chapel on Oct. 23 from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Her funeral was Oct. 24 at 11 a.m. at Willow Creek Community Church Chapel in the northwest suburb South Barrington.
She is survived by her parents, David and Cecilia Whitacre, younger sister Lauren and younger brother, Max.
On Sunday evening, friends and family rode their bikes from Metropolis to the place where Whitacre died.
“It was very quiet, very surreal,” said Lauren Whitacre. “It was kind of cool to see the last things she got to see.”
The group installed a ghost bike — a bike that is painted white and locked up near the scene of a fatal bike accident as a memorial to the rider. On the ride, Lauren Whitacre wore a set of fairy wings an aunt had made for her sister when she was a child. Lauren left the wings on the bike.
Participants in the group ride shared memories of Whitacre and left flowers and notes in a basket on the bike.
“She was always there for everyone,” Dreyfuss said. “I think that’s probably what we remember most.”
For others, Whitacre’s excitement will be how they remember her.
“When you meet energy like that, it’s infectious,” Oyelowo said. “You want to be around it.”
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