In the Tennesseean today,
Elsie Quarterman (1910 – 2014)
ObituaryContinue readingElsie Quarterman, Nashville, TN
A Memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 21, 2014 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3900 West End Avenue, with a reception at the church following the service. Guestbook crawfordservices.com.
Crawford Mortuary & Crematory, 615-254-8200.
Today Aunt Elsie stepped over the final fence,
dying peacefully at her home in Nashville, Tennessee,
attended by her nephew Patrick and his wife Ann,
as she had wanted.
Arrangements are still in progress. Perhaps more about the family later. For now, here is a biography with some pictures.
The Wilson Post wrote 20 April 2011,
Quarterman shares fervor for cedar glades,
…her passion for the plant life of Middle Tennessee’s cedar glades blooms ever strong through the generations of students she inspired at Vanderbilt University from the 1940s into the mid-1970s. And those students, many now teachers themselves, continue to inspire new students and conservationists….
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Elsie Quarterman is 102 years old today.
She was born in Valdosta in 1910,
played basketball for Hahira High School,
graduated from Valdosta High School,
got a B.A. from Valdosta State College,
and taught English in Morven, Naylor, Columbus,
Lake Park, and Lyons, Georgia.
Dr. Elsie Quarterman got a Masters and a Ph.D. from Duke University in
in botany and plant ecology.
While studying for her Ph.D., she was a professor at Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, Tennessee, where she
was one of the first women full professors and was the first
woman department chair (Biology).
She specialized in the cedar glades of central Tennessee,
including
one now named after her by the state.
There is an annual
wildflower festival
named after her.
She rediscovered the cedar glade Tennessee coneflower, Echinacea tennesseensis,
which previously was thought to be extinct,
but has
since been taken off the endangered species list,
partly due to her work.
Her wikipedia page
has more information about her work and her many honors.
Aunt Elsie still lives in her own house in Nashville, connected to her nephew
Patrick’s house, where Patrick and his wife Ann live and take care of her.
Here is world traveller Elsie in 2006 leading a family group on the Isle of Skye in Scotland:
Continue readingPatrick, Gretchen, Elsie, Ann:
Patrick, Gretchen, Elsie, Ann
Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Nashville, Tennessee, 2 July 2012.
Elsie, Patrick, Ann:
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