May A. Moir
May Arstad Moir, also known as May Arstad Neal, was born on December 4, 1907, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Kaimuki. She graduated from Punahou School and married Charles Micajah Neal Jr. in 1928. They had a daughter and briefly worked in real estate before he died in 1949. In 1950 she married William Whitmore Goodale Moir.
Moir was a well-known floral designer, gardener, horticulturist, orchid breeder, writer, and botanical collector in Hawaii. The couple’s Dowsett Highlands home in Honolulu is famous for its extensive gardens and is recognized by the Smithsonian Institution. She helped breed orchids, and two species were named after her—Dendrobium May Neal and Miltonia May Moir—both bred by her second husband.
In the 1980s she volunteered in the gardens at the Chinese Court of the Honolulu Academy of Arts. She was featured on Spectrum Hawai‘i in 1984, and in 1985 she was named one of Hawaii’s Living Treasures by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii.
May Arstad Moir died on September 9, 2001, at the age of 93. She is remembered for her lifelong love of plants and her contributions to Hawaii’s horticulture.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 09:57 (CET).