As a CHS art teacher and Art Department Head, Miss. Luhr was extraordinary, enthusiastic, enigmatic, excitable and exciting, and exacting. Her students recognized her high expectations and passion for helping them learn. She took a personal interest in those who had the desire, and gave the effort, to learn. Zenaide’s classroom doors were open all day, and many students took advantage of her expertise to learn not only art techniques and skills, but also what it meant to be a friend and to accomplish goals. Zenaide demanded excellence, but she tempered that with deep technical understanding and careful instruction. She was an excellent artist and jewelry maker in her own right and helped establish the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery in Omaha’s Old Market. A comment from her principal succinctly describes Zenaide: “She was strikingly independent, opinionated in a non-offensive way, and a marvelously positive influence on colleagues and students alike.”
L. Zenaide passed away in 2002 at the age of 86.