Posted on: Saturday, September 25, 2004
Emmett Anthony Cahill, 90, activist and historian
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Author Emmett Anthony Cahill, a community activist and historian who chronicled little-known threads of Hawai'i history, died Sunday at his home in Volcano. He was 90.
Cahill's books include "The Life and Times of John Young," the story of a young boatswain who became a trusted lieutenant of Kamehameha the Great; and "The Shipmans of East Hawai'i," an authorized history of the noted Big Island family that bought vast tracts of land from the Lunalilo trust in the late 1800s.
Two more of his books will be published later this year and early next year, including a history of the persecution of Catholics in early Hawai'i, and a history of the Royal Mausoleum.
Born in Kenmore, N.Y., in 1913, Cahill served in the Pacific campaigns of World War II, moving to Honolulu with his wife, Bernice, in 1946.
He worked for 22 years for Hawaiian Telephone Co. before retiring in 1968, when he headed the John Howard Association, a nonprofit established to help prisoners. He led the opposition in the late 1960s to a plan to move the Hawai'i State Prison from O'ahu to Maui.
In the late 1970s, Cahill was co-chariman of the United Farm Workers Hawai'i Grape Boycott Committee to support farm workers. He was a longtime supporter of liberal political candidates and causes.
Cahill had an interest in the work of Father Damien at Kalaupapa, Moloka'i, and lobbied for legislation to create a national historic park there, a goal accomplished in 1980. He also wrote a book about the settlement, "Yesterday at Kalaupapa," published in 1990.
He is survived by sons Jeremiah of Madison, Wis., and Timothy of Miloli'i; daughter Winifred of Flagstaff, Ariz.; and two grandsons.
A Mass will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Kilauea Military Camp Chapel. The family requests casual attire and memorial donations to Hospice of Hilo, 1011 Waianuenue Ave., Hilo, HI 96720. A celebration of his life is planned for 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Cooper Center in Volcano.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
