Dora Chung Zane

Dora Chung was born in Honolulu, one of the eight children of Chung Kun Ai.[1] Her father, who was born in Kwangtung Province in South China, was a classmate of Sun Yat-sen,[2] and became a wealthy businessman and philanthropist in Hawaii.[3][4]

Dora Chung trained as a teacher at the Hawaii Territorial Normal School, graduating in 1924. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii in 1927, and earned a social work degree at Simmons College in Boston. In 1933 she received a scholarship from the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness, to study at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and at the New York State Commission for the Blind.[5]

Zane taught at the Ananhola School on Kauai as a young woman. She was a medical social worker at Kauikeolani Children's Hospital and St. Francis Hospital,[6] and one of the founding members of the Hawaii chapter of the American Association of Hospital Social Workers.[7] She organized public education programs on eye health.[8] She was assistant to Grace Crosby Hamman in establishing and running the Bureau for Sight Conservation and Blind Services in the Territory of Hawaii.[9][10][11] She was elected treasurer of the Oahu Association for the Adult Blind in 1937.[12] In the 1950s she served on the Territorial Commission on Children and Youth.[13]

Zane was also an active clubwoman. She was a member of the Associated Chinese University Women,[14] and represented Hawaii at the Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in Vancouver in 1937.[15][16] She was a leader in the YWCA in Honolulu.[17] She and her husband were active in the Hawaii Kennel Club.,[18] and in 1962 she won an award from the Dog Writers' Association of America for her newspaper story, "Tippy Has Two to Go On", about a dog with two legs.[19]

Dora Chung married Arthur K. Y. Zane, a dog expert. She died in 1991, aged 86, in Maunawili.[20] An orchid hybrid, Dendrobium Dora Zane, was named in her memory.[21]