Mary Heine Lanwi (born February 22, 1921) is an educator, activist, and promotor of traditional handicrafts in the Marshall Islands.
[1] Then, in 1937, she moved with her family to Kosrae, an island in what is now the Federated States of Micronesia, where she studied at Mwot Christian School until 1940.
[2] He would go on to become a doctor and prominent resident of the islands, later elected as a senator in the Congress of Micronesia, and the couple had nine children.
[1][3][4][5] After finishing her education, Mary Lanwi started teaching in mission schools, beginning with her alma mater on Kosrae, becoming "perhaps the first Marshallese woman to begin employment outside the home," although this work was unpaid due to the missions' rules against compensating female staff.
[6][9][10] Ahead of the Alele Museum's opening in the early 1980s, she served on its founding board, described an "instrumental" in its creation.