James A. and Ragna H. Rath
Couple created
By Harold Morse
Palama Settlement
Star-BulletinIF one believes that behind every great man there is a great woman, James A. and Ragna H. Rath make an interesting study.
Ragna along with her husband formed Palama Settlement in 1906. Still mentally alert and active in her last days, she kept a busy schedule right up until she died at age 102 in 1981.
She and James had met and married at Springfield College, Mass., before the Hawaiian Board of Missions sent them to Honolulu in 1905 to administer the one-room Palama Chapel. Both humanitarians with vision and familiar with settlement work, they quickly determined the chapel could best serve Palama by working with its youngsters. They helped convert it to Palama Settlement in 1906, which today continues to serve thousands after the site marked its 100th anniversary in 1996.
Along with her husband, Ragna Rath was deeply involved in settlement work while rearing their five children. Many girls -- who later became grandmothers, great-grandmothers and great-great-grandmothers -- regarded Ragna Rath as a second mother. She taught them not only cooking and child care, but also to read and write. She visited schools and homes and gave good advice to all.
But it was always her husband credited with pioneering Palama Settlement's growth from nondescript buildings amid taro patches and rice paddies in 1925, into one of the finest medical and recreational centers in the Pacific. The scores of athletic trophies won when the settlement was a power in island sports add to the legend.
James Rath, head worker at Palama Settlement from 1906 until his death in 1929 at 58, is remembered as one who steered youngsters away from gangs and into wholesome activities. Also an idealist who combined a systematic approach with tireless energy, Rath raised funds to establish the settlement on firm ground, then effectively managed it.
