Hawaiian-born artist Lillie Hart Gay Torrey is best known for her large decorative canvases of flowers. Her works are found in the collections of many Hawaii homes.

Lillie's mother was a Hawaiian woman family, and her father was Judge Hart, of British heritage. Lillie had one younger sister, Mae. The Hart home, named 'Sans Souci', was located on what now is the area of today's Outrigger Canoe Club and the public natatorioum off Kalakaua Ave in Honolulu.

Lillie Hart, a noted beauty, was first married to Francis Gay of Honolulu, with whom she lived in Honolulu at a lovely residence named 'Wailele' in upper Kalihi Valley. Together they had one child, a son, Ernest Gay. Her second marriage was to New York based portrait painter George Burroughs Torrey (1863-1942), who first visited Honolulu in the summer of 1912. With Torrey, Lillie returned often to Hawaii, and in 1930 they became permanent residents. In the late 1930s, she occasionally shared her painting skills tutoring others, one young student being Frances Mist, of Honolulu.

Written and submitted by Teta Collins, whose mother, Frances Mist, was a student of the artist.