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Conservancy Day: Remembering Rachel
March 21, 2019 @ 6:30pm–7:30pm
In 1958, Bette Duff had a memorable summer job between her junior and senior year in college. She assisted Rachel Carson who was gathering information for her upcoming book about the dangers of pesticides. After graduation, Bette kept in touch with Rachel and worked briefly for her again in 1960. Bette finds that Rachel Carson’s life and work often provide encouragement for those today who face discouraging challenges as they seek to protect the environment. She recalls the way they did library research in the days before the internet and xerox machines. She describes the quiet yet determined manner with which Rachel Carson faced both personal and professional challenges. Bette’s observations have been quoted in Paul Brooks’ biography of Rachel Carson, The House of Life (1972) and in Linda Lear’s biography, Rachel Carson, Witness for Nature (1977).
About the speaker: Bette Duff worked as a biologist doing research and instructing in the labs at both Case Western Reserve and Yale. She moved to Madison in 1975 with her husband and two sons. She got her Master’s degree in English Literature at the University of Wisconsin. Then, at age 53, she went to McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. She served as Associate Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church here in Madison for 10 years until her retirement.
RSVPs appreciated to conservancyday@pheasantbranch.org
Photo credit: Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images. Rachel Carson examining a specimen.
Directions to the room: enter through Door 3 in the eastern wing of Kromrey Middle School.