Born in Brooklyn, NY she was the 3rd child of T. McCants Stewart, a civil rights lawyer and activist. She came to Hawaiʻi in 1898 with her father and stepmother. She graduated from Punahou in 1902 and began teaching at the Punahou Normal School, a training school for teachers. By 1909, she had been promoted to principal at Koʻolau Elementary School on Kauaʻi. In 1916 she married Yun Tim Lai, the sales manager at Garden Island Motors. She continued to teach on Kauaʻi until 1951. She is buried in Oahu Cemetery.
