The following obituary was printed in the April 26, 1999 edition of the St. Petersburg Times and was written by Romaine Kosharsky.

Enar Oscar Haige's best-known cafeteria was at Second Avenue and Fourth Street S.

Enar Oscar Haige, former co-owner of a string of popular Tramor cafeterias, died Friday (April 23, 1999) at Palm Garden Nursing Home in Sun City Center. He was 90.

Mr. Haige and three brothers, Henry, Allan and Lander, were involved at one time or another in operating the cafeterias, three of which were in St. Petersburg. Others were in West Palm Beach and Orlando.

Henry, who sold his interest after World War II, died Sept. 18, 1993. Allan died in 1983, Lander in 1991.

The best known of the cafeterias, at Second Avenue and Fourth Street S, served thousands of winter tourists for 44 years.

The Tramor, as it is known today, was designed in 1929 for Bob Ely of St. Petersburg, who called it Bob's Cafeteria. Although the restaurateur had successfully operated previous eating places here, he lost the new cafeteria in bankruptcy proceedings in 1932.

Bought in 1937 by the Haiges, the Second Avenue Tramor was sold by Mr. Haige and his brother Lander in 1981 as they retired. Several years later, the downtown landmark was refurbished to house an employee cafeteria for the St. Petersburg Times.

Other Tramor cafeterias operated earlier in St. Petersburg on First Avenue N in the Arcade and near the corner of First Avenue and Fifth Street N.

The son of a contractor, Enar Haige was born in Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. His mother, who operated a store, felt her sons should have a better opportunity and sent them to live with an uncle, Henry Rawson, in New England.

Rawson owned a cafeteria in St. Petersburg, and the boys learned the business from him.
In a 1982 interview, Enar Haige explained the origin of the cafeterias' name. He and brother Lander, he said, "thought and thought and came up with (Tramor) to make it sound like 'more on the tray.' Atlantic City had a Traymor, but we left off the 'y.'

" 'Y's cost more in advertising," he explained. "The tail goes into another line. We had to be careful of costs."

Promotions often were used to boost business at the Tramor.

At one time, for instance, every customer got a free lottery ticket. The prize was a trip to Havana.

"Back then, it was only about $30 or $40 for the ticket to Cuba," Lander Haige recalled in a 1975 interview. "So it was easy for us to do, and the customers loved it.

"We had a 'mechanical man,' too, a fellow who would stand by the cashier's counter for hours, stiff, just like a dummy. If you could make him laugh, you got a free meal."

With two serving lines pushing tenderloin steak for 21 cents and lamb stew for 17 cents during the winter tourist seasons, the Tramor proved highly successful from the start.

Enar Haige's survivors include his wife, Evelyn Joyce; three sons, Harry and Ronnie, both of St. Petersburg, and Gary Robinson, Tracy, Calif.; and two grandchildren. Arrangements are being handled by Lewers Funeral Home, Ruskin.

Some information in this obituary came from stories by Judy Hill and Michael Marzella in the St. Petersburg Times and from stories in the St. Petersburg Evening Independent.