William Mulloy - Legacy

Legacy

Mulloy died of lung cancer in Laramie on March 25, 1978. His remains were interred on Rapa Nui in full view of the Tahai Ceremonial Complex, one of his more important restoration projects. His widow, Emily Ross Mulloy, his son Patrick, his daughter Brigid and his grandson Phineas Kelly were present. Colleagues and friends joined the Rapa Nui community in paying their respects to the scientist whose work had brought their island to the attention of the world.

The Mulloy monument at Tahai bears inscriptions in three languages: Rapa Nui, English and Spanish. In Rapa Nui, the epitaph reads: Hai hāpī, hai haka tutu‘u i te ‘ariŋa ora, to‘ona here rahi mo Rapa Nui i haka tikea mai ai (By studying and raising up the living faces (moai), he showed us his great love for Rapa Nui). The commemoration in English states: "By restoring the past of his beloved island he also changed its future." Finally, the Spanish tribute says: Grande fue - como sus obras - su amor y entrega a Rapa Nui (As his works were great, so too was his love and sacrifice for Rapa Nui).

The Mulloy restoration projects at Ahu Akivi, the ceremonial village of Orongo, Vinapu, Ahu Ko Te Riku, Ahu Vai Ure and the rest of the ceremonial center at Tahai now constitute an integral part of the Rapa Nui National Park, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

Following his death, in May 1978, the Trustees of the University of Wyoming named him Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. In 1997, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Wyoming established the annual Mulloy Lecture Series in recognition of Mulloy's "four-field" approach, which integrated archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology and linguistic anthropology into a unified program at UW. In 2003, twenty-five years after his death, the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wyoming named him to their roster of Outstanding Former Faculty.

Mulloy's Rapa Nui protégé, Sergio Rapu Haoa, completed a BA degree in anthropology at the University of Wyoming and went on to graduate studies at the University of Hawai'i. Upon his return to the Rapa Nui, Rapu directed the island's archaeology museum and conducted his own research and restoration projects, notably at Ahu Nau Nau in the Anakena district of the island. Rapu would later become the island's first Rapa Nui governor.

Mulloy's personal library forms the core of a research collection now located on Rapa Nui at the Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum. For many years, the William Mulloy Library had been maintained in Viña del Mar, Chile by the Easter Island Foundation, who supported it, added to its collection and planned its eventual transfer to the island.

Emily Ross Mulloy, who died in 2003 at her home at 'Ualapu'e on Moloka'i in Hawai'i, is now buried with her husband at Tahai. The Mulloys have three children, Kathy, Patrick and Brigid; three grandchildren, Francisco Nahoe, Josefina Nahoe and Phineas Kelly; and two great-grandchildren, Rowan Kelly and Liam Kelly. Two of the Mulloy grandchildren, Francisco and Josefina, are ethnic Rapa Nui through their father, Guillermo Nahoe Pate.