Dr. Margery Greene Milne, 94, internationally known naturalist, died peacefully in her Durham home Tuesday evening, February 28, 2006.

Although she grew up in the urban world of New York City, she lived near the Wildlife Park of the Bronx Zoo and developed a life long fascination with the natural world. At a time when few women were encouraged to become scientists, Margery Greene followed her fascination with nature.

At Wadleigh High School she was captain of the basketball team, president of her class, and a serious student of science at a time when women were not welcomed by most scientists.

Dr. Milne was determined to study the science of the natural world. She earned her undergraduate degree at Hunter College, was accepted in graduate science programs at the University of Michigan, Cornell University and received a master¹s degree from Columbia University.

Dr. Milne also passed a demanding teacher exam and became a biology teacher at Theodore Roosevelt High School near the Wildlife Park where her interest in nature began. Becoming a high school teacher was the highest goal a woman could imagine and she intended to be a high school teacher for the rest of her professional life.

She was accepted in a summer seminar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the largest in the world. She was one of only two women in a 12 student seminar but one of the men in the class was Lorus Milne, a young Canadian who was in a doctoral program at Harvard University.

They became close friends and Margery Milne applied to Radcliffe College and received a Master¹s Degree in 1937 and a Doctoral Degree from Harvard University in 1939.

After a quick Justice of the Peace marriage, Lorus Milne became a professor at Southwestern University in Texas while Margery Milne accepted a faculty position at the University of Maine.

It was five years before they could live together. Finally Dr. Lorus Milne joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Margery began teaching at nearby Beaver College.

In 1947 they both received faculty appointments at the University of Vermont transferring to the University of New Hampshire in 1948. Dr. Lorus Milne was appointed Associate Professor and Dr. Margery Greene Milne Assistant Professor. Three years later Dr. Margery Milne was forced to resign her tenure track position because married couples were no longer allowed to both be on the faculty.

Until recently Dr. Margery Milne taught for ten years at UNH Manchester and at Granite College, then called College of Lifelong Learning.
She also taught briefly at Northeastern University and Fitchburg College.

In the first years of their marriage they began a second life as world travelers and writers. They gave workshops and lectures around the world and collaborated on writing articles and books. They collaborated on more than 50 books, 20 of which are still available.

After her husband died in 1987 Dr. Margery Milne continued to teach, give workshops and travel until several serious falls in recent years limited her travel.

From time she arrived in Durham, Dr. Margery Milne was recognized as she walked all over town. She was especially proud of being named The Swan Keeper. She became known for her energy, her enthusiasm for the natural world, her blunt questioning of those she met, and her proud frugality.

Paul Litt of Toronto, Canada, cousin of her late husband Lorus Milne, friends, and Wentworth Homecare and Hospice cared for her in the last weeks of her life.

A memorial service is planned for the spring.

Contributions in Dr. Margery Milne's memory may be made to the Dimond Library at the University where she contributed to The Lorus J. and Margery Milne New Book Room, the Durham Public Library, and Wentworth Homecare and Hospice.