Grace Lotowycz
| Grace Elizabeth “Betty” Lotowycz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
May 11, 1916 Manhattan, New York City, United States |
| Died |
April 8, 2016 (aged 99) Louisville, Colorado, United States |
| Residence | Mill Neck, NY until 2003 |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Vassar College |
| Spouse(s) | Wladimir "Bill" Lotowycz |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
Grace E. "Betty" Lotowycz ( born Grace Elizabeth Ashwell, May 11, 1916 – died April 8, 2016) was an American botanist, a pioneering woman alpinist, and Women Airforce Service Pilot in World War II.[1]
Early life
She was born in New York City, the first child of publisher Thomas Walker Ashwell and Helen Mariah Buffum Ashwell; in 1919 the family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, living across the street from Maxwell Perkins.[2] As a child she suffered from several serious illnesses, at one point having to re-learn to walk.[3]
Lotowycz studied botany at Vassar College, where she began mountainieering in the Shawangunks and later the Canadian Rockies. She graduated in 1938[1] and then joined the Experiment in International Living, a student-exchange program which enabled her to climb in the Swiss Alps and scale the Matterhorn. She worked briefly as a curatorial assistant at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.[1][4]
Flier
Lotowycz was a pilot in the WASPs in World War II, one of only 1,047. She was a member of Class 44-W-7 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater Texas; and was subsequently assigned to the ferrying service out of Minter Field near Bakersfield, California.[5][6] Lotowycz and the other WASP filers were finally recognized as WWII military veterans in 1977,[7] and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.[1][8]
After the WASPs were decommissioned in December 1944, she applied to several commercial airlines using her nickname "Gerry Ashwell", but was always told "no".[9] She married Navy pilot Vlademir "Bill" Lotowycz, and they movet to Damascus after the war while he worked for Pan American World Airways.[10]
Botanist
Iin 1962, she began working at the Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park where she established and curated the herbarium of preserved plants that currently numbers about 10,000 specimens.[11] She retired in 1984 after 22 years.[4]
Lotowycz was a founding member of the Long Island Botanical Society and lifetime member of the Torrey Botanical Society.
At the age of 88, Lotowycz co-authored a book, Illustrated Field Guide to Shrubs and Woody Vines of Long Island, with Barbara Conolly.[12]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Grace Lotowycz 1916 – 2016". The Daily Camera via Legacy.com. April 24, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/25/archives/thomas-w-ashwell.html
- ↑ https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailycamera/obituary.aspx?n=grace-lotowycz&pid=179725771
- 1 2 "Long Island Botanical Society Newsletter" (PDF).
- ↑ http://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p214coll2/id/5070/rec/1
- ↑ http://twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p214coll2/id/2308/rec/1
- ↑ http://www.poconorecord.com/news/20160515/decorated-wwii-female-pilot-99-dies
- ↑ https://www.denverpost.com/2010/03/10/colorado-women-honored-with-the-congressional-gold-medal/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150522200716/http://www.thedenverchannel.com/sports/local-sports/bolder-boulder/former-wasp-remembers-service-sacrifice-during-wwii-betty-lotowycz-flew-for-her-country
- ↑ http://libotanical.org/newsletters/1403.pdf
- ↑ "Aviation pioneer Grace 'Betty' Lotowycz dies". Newsday. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
- ↑ Lotowycz, Grace E.; Conolly, Barbara (2004). Illustrated Field Guide to Shrubs and Woody Vines of Long Island. Waterline Books. ISBN 978-0976427506.