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RACHEL LEI CHAPMAN
1935—1994
Lei Chapman, the first native Hawaiian to serve on a Bahá’í National Assembly, was born in Honolulu in 1935. Her father, William Coleman, was of Samoan—Irish lineage and a member of a large family that included in its number Peter Coleman, territorial governor of the Mariana Islands and later governor ofAmerican Samoa. Her mother, Malia, was Hawaiian—Chinese. Lei attended Punahou School in Honolulu, Centenary College for Women, and later the University of Oregon.
She married Hugh Chapman, and they settled in the village ofVolcano on the Big Island when Hugh completed his tour of duty with the US Navy. They had the intention of starting a new congregation of the United Church of Christ. Then they met Joan and Norman Ives who invited them to a fireside being given by Maury and Lois
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118 THE Bahá’í WORLD
Rar/Jtl Lei C/mpman
\X/illows.7S Lei’s acceptance of Bahá’u’lláh was almost instantaneous. After a period of painful soul—searching, Hugh’s doubts vanished, and together they informed the main Chapter of the Church of Christ of their new-found faith.
Both Hugh and Lei were elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands in 1964. Hugh served as its chairman and Lei as corresponding secretary.
Later they pioneered to Tarawa (Kiribati) in the Gilbert Islands with their three Children. When the children outgrew the available schools, the family returned to Honolulu. Hugh was reelected to the National Assembly, and Lei served on the Rural Teaching Committee, which was establishing the first Bahá’í community in Waianae.
Lei had a remarkable singing voice and a gentle way of teaching, qualities that kept her in demand for Bahá’í events.
75 See Maurice Willows, pp. 274—77.
In the early 19705 Hugh was working for the Federal Aviation Administration, which transferred him to Alaska, first to King Salmon and later to Anchorage. Mass teaching was in full swing, and the Chapman family was quickly committed to the campaigns. Their home became an open—door training center, a dormitory, and a shower and laundry facility for itinerant teaching teams. Lei became the secretary of the National Teaching Committee during this time of intensive growth. Later she became director of the institute program76 taking up the responsibilities of planning, supervising, and carrying out deepening projects throughout the state.
She gave a presentation on the station of women at the International Bahá’í Circumpolar Conference in Anchorage in 1976, and she was the first woman to serve as chairman of the National Bahá’í Convention in Alaska. A friend recalls, “Oh, what a song-filled Convention that was!”
Early in 1976 Hugh suffered a stroke and was given medical retirement. Lei resigned from the National Assembly,77 and the Chapmans moved to a less severe climate on the US West Coast. When Hugh passed away Lei returned to her family’s home on the island OFOahu, Hawaii. After her husband’s death she suffered a mental illness which estranged her from active participation in the activities of her Faith. She died in Oahu on February 7, 1994. On that day the Universal House ofjustice wrote to the National Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the Hawaiian Islands:
OFFERING LOVING PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS SOUL MCHEL
7" Not to be confused with the in5titutes of the 1996—201! plans.
Lei was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of Alaska in the Fall of 1973 and resigned after the Convention in 1976.
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IN MEMORIAM 1992—1997 119
LEI CHAPMAN1 HER DEVOTED SERVICES HAWAII AND ALASKA FONDLY REMEMBERED.
Based in part on an article written by Elena thelltz
