Grace Tower Warren
Grace Tower Warren | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 1, 1878 Sunderland, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | January 1, 1971 (aged 92) Honolulu, Hawai'i, U.S. |
| Occupations | Journalist, columnist |
| Known for | Lei Day |
Grace Hortense Tower Warren (May 1, 1878[1] – January 1, 1971)[2] was an American journalist, literary hostess, and newspaper columnist based in Hawai'i. She is credited as co-founder of Lei Day, and as originator of the annual event's slogan, "May Day is Lei Day".
Early life and education
[edit]Tower was born in Sunderland, Massachusetts, and raised in Pasadena, California,[3] the daughter of George Hammond Tower and Frances Elizabeth Farrar Tower. The family moved to Southern California for George Tower's health, but he died when Grace Tower was a young girl.[4] She graduated from Pasadena High School in 1896,[5] and took extension classes at the University of Hawai'i when her children were young.[6]
Career
[edit]Tower was a reporter and society editor[4] at the Pasadena Evening News after high school.[7][8] She was a reporter in Honolulu beginning in 1909; she reported on the funeral of Queen Lilil'uokalani in 1917.[5] In 1926 Warren attended the Press Congress of the World in Geneva.[9] In 1928, she and her Honolulu Star-Bulletin colleague, poet Don Blanding, created Lei Day, an annual Hawai'ian event.[1] Warren invented the day's slogan, "May Day is Lei Day".[10] In the 1930s she hosted events in her home to honor women writers visiting Hawai'i, including Dorothy Dix,[11] Zona Gale, Fannie Hurst, and Sara Lockwood Williams.[12] She wrote columns and articles for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin into the 1950s.[13]
Warren was an organizer and president of the Honolulu Press Club,[14] president of the Aloha Alumnae chapter of Theta Sigma Phi,[12] and a member of the National League of American Pen Women.[5]
Publications
[edit]Personal life
[edit]Tower married businessman John Trenholm Warren in 1909.[19] They had two daughters, Katherine and Marion. Her husband died in 1967,[2] and Warren died in 1971, at the age of 92, in Honolulu.[20] Lei Day is still celebrated each year with festivals, concerts, and sales in Honolulu.[21]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Taylor, Lois (1968-04-27). "May day, Lei Day and 90th birthday". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Grace Warren, Kamaaina Writer, Dies". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 1971-01-02. p. 18. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Mrs. J. T. Warren Widely Feted on Mainland". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 1941-05-19. p. 10. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 Warren, Grace Tower (1953-01-18). "Former Society Editor Adds Chapter to History". Pasadena Star-News. p. 26. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 de Haven, Helen (1964-02-20). "Kamaaina Writer's Work Brings Pen Women Tribute". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 40. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ College of Hawaii (1915). Annual Catalogue. College of Hawaii. p. 76.
- ↑ Chapin, Lon F. (1929). Thirty Years in Pasadena: With an Historical Sketch of Previous Eras. Southwest publishing. p. 32.
- ↑ "Southern California Journalists See the Paradise of the Pacific". Paradise of the Pacific. 19 (9): 16. September 1906.
- ↑ "Mrs. Grace Tower Warren Back from European Trip". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 1926-12-18. p. 31. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Olupona, Jacob K. (2004-02-24). Beyond Primitivism: Indigenous Religious Traditions and Modernity. Routledge. pp. 329–330. ISBN 978-1-134-48199-6.
- ↑ "Dorothy Dix is Guest of Mrs. John T. Warren". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 1931-09-26. p. 22. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Theta Sigma Phi Alumnae Chapters". The Matrix: 20. April 1936.
- ↑ Warren, Grace Tower (1950-06-09). "Chicago Shows Summer Sheers, Persian Prints". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 17. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Pasadenan Has Article in Magazine". Pasadena Star-News. 1921-12-20. p. 24. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Warren, Grace Tower (November 21, 1925). "At the Crossroads of the Pacific". Saturday Night: 17.
- ↑ Warren, Grace Tower (October 23, 1926). "Honolulu Correspondent in Venice". Saturday Night: 17.
- ↑ Warren, Grace Tower (1950-02-11). "Kamaaina Kolumn". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 26. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Warren, Grace Tower (1947-06-26). "The Spicebox". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. p. 14. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Nellist, George F. (1925). The Story of Hawaii and Its Builders. Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Limited. p. 843.
- ↑ "Grace Warren Dies Here". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. 1971-01-02. p. 37. Retrieved 2026-07-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "How to Celebrate Lei Day in Hawaiʻi". Hawaiʻi Magazine. 2026-04-27. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
External links
[edit]- The 1896 graduating class of Pasadena High School, including Grace Hortense Tower, at Calisphere