The
late Helen Jones Farrar was a generous supporter of
the astronomy graduate program at University of Hawaii.
Through the generosity of the Richards family, her estate
now funds the Helen
Jones Farrar-ARCS Scholarshipwhich is
administered via the Honolulu chapter of the ARCS foundation.
Born in Honolulu in the early 1890s, to a long-time,
wealthy kamaaina family (Helen's family founded The
Bank of Hawaii, The Hawaiian Trust Company, and Palama
Settlement.); Helen was educated at Punahou School (Oahu
College, then) and Smith, where she was a science major.
Helen held one of the first driver's licenses ever issued
to a woman on Oahu...Helen was a true pioneer in her
thinking.
Helen married RJH Farrar; and they lived on Oahu, and on the Big Island. Helen
observed the original building of the telescopes on Mauna Kea. She found this
fascinating, and coupled with her science education, began a life-long love
affair with the stars, and developed a respect and love for the young people
who were working on Astronomy. She had no children of her own, but she was
extremely fond of all her nieces and nephews. Her nephew, Russell Richards,
was appointed her legal guardian; and he could think of no more fitting memorial
for Helen than to establish an ARCS Scholarship in her memory.
