Located within the Lihue Cemetery is the Rice Monument, a memorial to the kamaaina Rice and Isenberg families that was created in Paris in 1910 by Norwegian-Danish sculptor Stephan Sinding. Christened by Sinding “The Blessed Souls Wandering Toward Light,” the
Located within the Lihue Cemetery is the Rice Monument, a memorial to the kamaaina Rice and Isenberg families that was created in Paris in 1910 by Norwegian-Danish sculptor Stephan Sinding.
Christened by Sinding “The Blessed Souls Wandering Toward Light,” the Rice Monument is a shaft of white marble weighing 10 tons, upon which are carved in bas-relief many nondescript shrouded figures with faces turned heavenward.
Also carved upon it is the figure of a woman representing Hannah Maria Rice Isenberg (1842-1867) that has turned to look earthward upon statues carved in bronze on the monument’s steps depicting her two grieving children – Mary Dorothea Rice Isenberg and Paul Rice Isenberg.
Born at Hana, Maui, Hannah Maria Rice was the eldest of five children of American Protestant missionary teachers William Harrison and Mary Sophia Hyde Rice, who served at Hana, Lahaina and Punahou from 1840 until 1854, the year Mr. Rice retired from mission support to become manager of Lihue Plantation.
In 1861, Hannah Maria married sugar planter Paul Isenberg, who got his start in the sugar business at Lihue Plantation while Mr. Rice was manager.
Hannah Maria’s son, Paul, had first envisioned the monument as a memorial to his mother.
But, as plans progressed, Paul’s original idea gave way to a monument that would memorialize all the beloved dead of the Rice and Isenberg families.
Paul and his wife were accordingly joined by his aunt, Anna Rice Cooke, and his uncle and aunt, the Rev. and Mrs. Hans Isenberg, in commissioning Sinding.
When Sinding completed his work, it was exhibited in Paris and Bremen before being shipped around Cape Horn to Kauai, where it was set up in the Lihue Cemetery by W. Schrieber, the head mason of Lihue Plantation.
On Sept. 1, 1911, the Rice Monument was unveiled by Anna Rice Cooke in the presence of relatives and friends.
