Marin Women's Hall of Fame

ELIZABETH C. TERWILLIGER

         Elizabeth Cooper Terwilliger remembers carefree childhood days spent enjoying the beauty of a scenic sugar cane plantation on Oahu, Hawaii.   Elizabeth's father was the hospital doctor at the Aiea Sugar Plantation, located on the south side of the island (near Pearl Harbor).   At the time, it was the only plantation that refined white sugar on the island.   She remembers that her mother would often give visiting friends a tour of the island, including a train ride through the rice and taro fields from Pearl Harbor to Honolulu.  She also remembers commuting to Punahou School in Honolulu, having to take that same train ride into town - and always worrying about missing the train and getting stranded in town.

         Elizabeth and her two older brothers grew up enjoying a good ball game.    They loved to swim in the plantation reservoirs and satisfy their sweet tooth by sucking on a chunk of sugar cane. This frustrated her mother, who wished her to learn about how to bake a tasty cake.  Young Elizabeth also spent time listening to the Uncle Remus stories about Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear, but never saw any of those kinds of animals in Hawaii.  Her first sight of the mainland United States was the Farallon Islands, seen from the deck of a boat while on route to visit relatives in Missouri. That love of nature has stayed with her her entire life.

         Elizabeth's father was a doctor, her grandfather was a doctor and her brother became a doctor.  Thus, when it was time for her to leave the Hawaiian islands and attend college, it is not surprising that Elizabeth chose the health field.  First she attended the University of Hawaii.  She enrolled in the Home Economics to appease her mother's desires.  Then, she transferred over to the Stanford University School of Nursing in San Francisco. Taking a short trip during a college vacation, she visited Yosemite.  She loved her days spent hiking with the rangers and listening to the naturalists' programs at night.  She found the nature education program to be marvelous. "I learned about nature from the people who loved it!" Again she felt like she had "come home" to her great love.  While at Stanford, Elizabeth had an opportunity to learn orthopedic nursing in an orthopedic clinic.  It was there that she met her husband, Calvin Terwilliger, "a handsome, tall young man".

        She loved  going for  walks with Cal in Golden Gate Park near the California Academy of Sciences because the woman in charge of the garden there  had signs posted that named the plants.  Often they would rent bikes there and ride out to the Pacific Ocean and back again.    It  was  from  a  bicycle  trip  vantage point that she remembers seeing  the last  ferry boat  to cross  the Golden Gate just before  the Golden  Gate Bridge  was completed; and, she saw the "Delta King" go on its way out the Golden Gate on  its way to work on the Mississippi River.  She also remembers going on field trips over to Marin to visit Sausalito and Mt. Tarn  (her favorite sight out  of her nursing school window).  Throughout her college days she bought books on nature and remembers Outdoor California Magazine as being memorable for misspelling the name of a bird right on the cover.   After college, Elizabeth signed up for a week's hike program through the Yosemite backcountry with a group led by a ranger naturalist.  She loved it.

         When Cal decided to stud orthopedic surgery at New York Orthopedic Hospital, he and Elizabeth decided to drive across the country.  Again, the scenery captivated Elizabeth. But the scenery in New York City is not especially green.  So, often Elizabeth would walk to the Hudson River or walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in order visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and learn about the local flora from their guides. It was an invigorating thing to see something other than concrete pavement. She also took the subway out to Coney Island.  When she was employed at the Community Service Society as a nursery school nurse and a nutrition advisor to the parents, she tried to get trees planted along the streets of the Italian district (one of the few times she has been unsuccessful in her attempts to connect people with nature!).  During this time she also received her M.A. from Columbia University.

        Summers were spent away from the study rigors of New York, amidst the grassy hills of Salinas and Monterey, California.  Here Cal was a "substitute doctor" for the doctor who regularly treated the local population.  Elizabeth remembers best the quantity of beautiful monarch butterflies.  She kept busy in the summers- and helped to pay the rent for their little cottage - by looking after a woman who had suffered a stroke.  She helped to get her more mobile and would wheel her all around so that she could enjoy the scenic beauty of the Monterey peninsula. During World War II, Cal worked at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Elizabeth was in charge of a Day Care Center during the weekdays. Again, when time allowed, Elizabeth made frequent attempts to learn about the area through frequenting museums, public gardens and by taking nature walks.

        The Terwilligers made their first home in Sausalito, in an area called Hurricane Gulch" because it was always so cold and windy and on the shady side of the town.  Here they began to raise their children, with Elizabeth staying at home and Cal commuting to work at Stanford Hospital. There were no playgrounds in Sausalito at that time, so she worked with the Sausalito City Council to build and maintain one so the local children would have a place to safely enjoy outdoor play. They soon relocated to a home in Strawberry and then to another in Mill Valley in order to be closer to the children's school.  She joined the Marin Junior Museum and also did volunteer fundraising work for the Marin Conservation League.

         It was around this time that she began attending the Marin Nature Group at the College of Marin.  The group would meet every other Friday and would go on field trips on Sundays. Here she made a decision that would effect the direction of the rest of her life: she decided to do nature trips for children, ones where she could take  her  children  (then  age  2  and  4).   Soon the groups of children she took on nature walks got bigger and bigger.  Word of mouth about  these nature  walk trips spread.  Mrs. T, as she was now known, became busier and busier with this work.   Off to Muir Woods, down  to the  beach,   Mrs. T. enjoyed sharing her love of nature with children and  instilling in  them at  an early  age a respect  for  their  natural  environment.   She developed unique multi-sensory techniques to teach children and adults about their natural environment.  "You go on a walk and you pick up rocks and shells and bring them home.  Look and see! Use all your senses! Smell!  Touch!" she states with conviction.

        As a conservationist, Mrs. T. has campaigned for bicycle paths over the San Rafael hill and through Mill Valley, both in conjunction with CalTrans.  She helped to establish the Pixie Playground at the Marin Art and Garden Center.  She helped create a canoe launch for Mill Valley.  She worked with Caroline Livermore's committee to create preserves for Monarch butterflies and open space, county, state and national parks.  She helped to form the local Audubon Society and was instrumental in obtaining the Richardson Bay Preserve land from the "goat lady" of Strawberry/Tiburon Peninsula.  Her motto is "Let's see what needs to be done/ I'd better do something about this."  And it is her activism and advocacy with judges, city councils, police departments, county supervisors and state legislators that has led to Marin County being a model for public access to enjoyment of the land, be it by bicycle, by foot, by car, by canal and by sailboat.

         The Terwilliger Nature Education Center was founded in 1975 by admirers of   Mrs. T. and her philosophy and educational techniques.  Every year now, some 90,000 Bay  Area children from nearly 1000 school take trips with  Terwilliger and her 100 volunteer nature guides through the programs  offered  at the Center in Corte Madera.  The Center also has three vans that travel the area with bird and animal exhibits.  Mrs. T. has also written numerous articles for newspapers and other publications and has written the book. “Sights and Sounds of the Seasons.”  She is also the star of the five Tripping With Terwilliger films, entitled "Salt Water Marsh",  "The Oak Woodland",  "The Ocean", "The Chaparral" and "Woods With A Stream".     Several of these films have received awards, such as the CINE Golden Eagle Award and the John Muir Award.  Mrs. T. has been featured on national television and in many newspaper and magazine articles.   Mrs. T. stills leads field trips six days a week, enchanting children and adults with her love of nature.