Tag Archives: Patrick Quarterman

The whole ecosystem –Elsie Quarterman on Wild Side TV

300x184 People as well as plants and animals. Not just dogs youve got on a leash, but animals that live out there, are part of the whole ecosystem., in A Crusader for Conservation, by Wild Side TV, for OkraParadiseFarms.org, 19 September 2014 Here’s a video about Elsie, A Crusader for Conservation, 19 September 2014, by Tennessee’s Wild Side, “The Emmy Award winning show produced through the generosity of the Jackson Foundation, Tennessee State Parks, and the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.” Lots of good pictures, some video snippets of Elsie, and some narration by her nephew Patrick and by Biologist Tom Hemmerly, who reminds us of Elsie’s work at Radner Lake, in addition to her cedar glades work. Ranger Buddy Ingram explains her biggest contribution may have been in getting numerous different segments of society to cooperate in saving whole ecologies. Botanist Kim Sadler and others explain how inspiring all that is to generations of students.

As Elsie said in 2006:

300x168 The general public needs to know whats around them., in A Crusader for Conservation, by Wild Side TV, for OkraParadiseFarms.org, 19 September 2014 The general public needs to know what’s around them. They need to be learning that there’s a world that is not paved. There are lots of things that have life and function in the whole scheme, people as well as plants and animals. Not just dogs you’ve got on a leash, but animals that live out there, are part of the whole ecosystem.
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Dr. Elsie Quarterman is 102 years old today

Elsie Quarterman is 102 years old today. Tennessee coneflower, Echinacea tennesseensis 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. Elsie, coneflower, Gretchen 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. Elsie, Gretchen, cat 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.

Patrick and Elsie 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:

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Dr. Elsie Quarterman, Prof Emerita of Plant Ecology, Vanderbilt, 101 years and 7 months

Patrick, Gretchen, Elsie, Ann:

Patrick, 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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Early corn Planting —Alla Peek Quarterman

My grandmother wrote this around 1960, when she was around 77 years old. -jsq

I remember when corn in the fields was dropped by hand — 2 grains every two steps. Mule plow opened the furrow & children dropped the grains.

The first corn planter was considered bad — it was sure to keep the seed from sprouting!

My brother Patrick found this text in a notebook his aunt Elsie had kept.

-jsq

At 100, Elsie Quarterman attends her Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival

Dr. Elsie Quarterman pioneered the ecology of cedar glades. Yesterday she attended the annual festival named in her honor, the Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, Lebanon, Tennessee. Aunt Elsie is 100 years and five months old, and isn’t getting around as fast as she once did, so she met with her students and grand-students at a local restaurant. Only a few of them are pictured here:


Kim Cleary Sadler, Assistant Professor of Biology at Middle Tennessee State University and co-Director of the Center for Cedar Glade Studies. (Student of Thomas “Tom” Ellsworth Hemmerly, who was teaching and couldn’t come.)
Dr. Elsie Quarterman, Professor Emerita of Plant Ecology, Vanderbilt University
Carol C. Baskin, Professor of Biology, University of Kentucky

There were classes, botany walks, owl hoots, and musicians. Here’s the schedule. It was sunny this year, unlike last year’s great flood. Next year, you should come! Get out of town, take a walk in the glades.

Elsie got a guided tour, with Tennessee State Naturalist Emeritus Mack Pritchard and his successor Randy Hedgepath. Here they are with Elsie’s nephew Patrick Quarterman, while Gretchen Quarterman photographs a glade.

Here State Naturalist Randy Hedgepath consults with Dr. Quarterman about identification of a cedar glade plant.

Elsie got out of the car to look at this one with Randy and Ann Quarterman: Continue reading →

Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Festival

Dr. Elsie Quarterman, Vanderbilt Professor of Plant Ecology Emerita, with students and some grand-students:

Grand-students

This is Elsie’s 100th year: Continue reading →