Born as Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha in Honolulu to the Hawaiian Royal family. She received modern education, studying in a royal missionary school learning English, music, and touring the Western world. At 24, she married John Owen Dominis, an American government official. The couple had no children of their own, and they adopted three children. After her older brother was chosen king and her younger brother died, she was announced as the king’s heir and served as a regent during the king’s absence. In the following years, she laid the foundations as a future monarch, establishing various establishments including schools, a bank for women, and an Educational Society promoting education for girls from families with low means. In 1887, while Liliʻuokalani was in England, attending Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, the king was forced by an armed militia to sign a new constitution, which stripped the monarchy of its authorities and transferring the power to American and European businessmen. In 1891, King Kalakaua died, and at the age of 53, Liliʻuokalani became the first queen of the Hawaiian Kingdom. One of her first acts as sovereign was to establish a new constitution and to restore the power deprived of the monarchy and the Hawaiian people, but a group of American, supported by the US government staged a coup and even her attempt to appeal to the US president, Grover Cleveland, and restore the monarchy powers were failed. To avoid bloodshed and spare her people, Liliʻuokalani surrendered, and in 1894 the Republic of Hawaii was formed. In January 1885, a group of her supporters launched a rebellion in a mission to restore the monarchy. The Queen and her sympathizers were arrested and charged with treason. Liliʻuokalani signed a document formally abdicating her throne in return for the release of her supporters; she was imprisoned in her bedroom at the palace for several months. Liliʻuokalani was the last and only queen to rule the kingdom. Afterword, she retired from public life and lived as a private citizen on a small pension she received from the provisional government. Visitors frequently visited her to pay respects. She died at the age of 79 after suffering a stroke and was honored with a state funeral. Read more...

Born Eleanor Lynette, she has decided to take on the short name “Lyn” since “Eleanor was too pink.” From a young age, she excelled in sports – swimming in national high school competitions, playing basketball while studying for her degree in Biochemistry at UCLA, running marathons, and riding bicycles. In 1976 she set the U.S. record for women when she completed the 25-mile bike race. When searching for the next challenge, she heard of the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii, which was established in 1978 challenging extreme athletes to swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, and run 26 miles – without a break. In 1979 Lemaire was among 15 participants, completing it fifth, after 12 hours and 55 minutes. She was the first woman to compete in Ironman and the only woman in the competition that year. Lyn Lemaire continued to work in athletics-related fields – researching, writing, completing her Master’s Degree in Applied Physiology and Anatomy, and publishing Ultrasport magazine, which was described by New York Times as a “magazine for people who like to overdo it athletically.” She also graduated with a Law Degree from Harvard.   Read more...