Marybeth Yuen Maul of Hawai'i remembered for pioneering spirit
Episcopal News Service. May 10, 2010 [051010-06]
ENS staff
Family and friends gathered May 7 at Grace Episcopal Church in Ho'olehua, Moloka'i in the Diocese of Hawai'i to celebrate the life of Marybeth Yuen Maul, who served as an attorney and judge for nearly 40 years.
Maul, 85, who died April 23 in Eugene, Oregon, was the first female judge of Asian-American ancestry in Hawai'i, according to news reports.
In 1988 the Hawai'i Immigrant Justice Center presented her with a Keeper of the Flame Award for leadership and commitment to people of Hawai'i.
"She was a pioneer and a role model," said Douglas Chong, president of the Hawai'i Chinese History Center.
She was born March 26, 1925 in Honolulu and graduated from Punahou High School. The daughter of Yun Kee Yuen, who opened the first plantation store on Moloka'i in the 1920s, Maul "was an inspiration because her roots were from Moloka'i and yet she could achieve so much," Chong said. "It's not often that people move away, become very successful and come back to their roots."
Maul earned a law degree from the University of Wisconsin and worked as a labor lawyer in Chicago before returning to Hawaii in the 1950s.
For years she was the only practicing attorney on Moloka'i, often representing plantation workers.
Maul's "practice was not marked by celebrated causes, famous clients or extravagant financial returns," wrote Karen Holt in a book, Called from Within: Early Women Lawyers of Hawai'i. Maul was Moloka'i magistrate from 1957 to 1971 and served later as a state district judge.
"When you think of judges, they're often sending people to jail and nothing changes," the Rev. Lynette Schaefer, former vicar of Maul's home parish, Grace Episcopal Church, told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "Marybeth did what she could before they got to that level, to give them an opportunity to change and a hope for the future."
Maul served as administrator of the Department of Health settlement for former Hansen's disease patients at Kalaupapa for seven years, retiring in 1992.
"She was pushing me to speak up for myself and also the needs of the patients," said Gloria Marks, who is now president of the Kalaupapa Patients Advisory Council. "She was a good teacher."
She is survived by her daughters, Robin Campbell of Hawai'i and Christy Rice of Eugene; a brother John "Sonny" Yuen and sisters Lilyan Yuen Anderson and Jane Yuen Chang, all of Hawai'i, and four grandchildren.