Anne Bowden McCrary, age 85, died peacefully in her home on Wrightsville Sound, November 7, 2011. Professor Emeritus of Marine Biology at UNC-W, she was a passionate teacher and researcher, often consulted both formally and informally, locally and internationally about the ecosystem she knew intimately.
As a child accompanying her father, then as a teenager, she navigated the sloughs and channels of Wrightsville Sound, learning the names, rhythms and patterns of what lived there, loving what she learned. In college, at a time when women did not enter the field, she persisted in her studies although, in spite of stellar academic performance, she was actively discouraged by some professors because of her gender.
During a period of time when her formal education was interrupted, she educated herself, going out in a wooden boat with a small book, Field Book of Seashore Life by Roy Waldo Miner. She keyed out animals, learning their biological habits and relations. By the time she completed her undergraduate degree and entered graduate school, she was already an expert on the marine life of Wrightsville Sound.
She completed a two-year degree at Wilmington College, then BS, masters and doctoral degrees from UNC-Chapel, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She taught at UNC-W for 21 years.
She discovered a number of new species of marine invertebrates, two of which were subsequently named for her, Malmgreniella maccraryae, collected from Banks Channel in 1967, and Upogebia maccraryae, collected off the coast of Playas, Ecuador in 1974. At least two rare specimens that she collected are now part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institute.
She was co-founder of the Society to Preserve Masonboro (now merged with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust) and served on the Advisory Board for the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Anne McCrary Park on Randall Drive in Wilmington honors her long-term commitment to teaching and learning, and demonstrates environmental practices that homeowners and businesses can adopt.
Anne Bowden McCrary, widowed when she was young, is now survived by a daughter, Anne McCrary Sullivan of Florida and a son, Marcellus Everett McCrary of Hawaii; three grandchildren, Rachael Keli McCrary of Los Angeles, Jolyon D. Sullivan of Knoxville, and her devoted, long-term caregiver, B. Kenyata Sullivan of Wilmington; two daughters-in-law, Linda Miller Sullivan of Knoxville and Grace Evanko Sullivan of Wilmington; and four grandchildren: Bremen and Anne of Wilmington; Miller and Grace of Knoxville.
She was "Aunt Sis" to a multitude of much loved nieces and nephews, including Susan Hale, Laurel Anne Gainer, Jay Bowden (recently deceased), Bert Bowden, Jr., Richard Bowden, Jasa Bowden, Austin Kirby-Bowden, Jack Bowden, Joyce Bowden Kirby, and their many progeny.
Obituary provided by Laurel
As a child accompanying her father, then as a teenager, she navigated the sloughs and channels of Wrightsville Sound, learning the names, rhythms and patterns of what lived there, loving what she learned. In college, at a time when women did not enter the field, she persisted in her studies although, in spite of stellar academic performance, she was actively discouraged by some professors because of her gender.
During a period of time when her formal education was interrupted, she educated herself, going out in a wooden boat with a small book, Field Book of Seashore Life by Roy Waldo Miner. She keyed out animals, learning their biological habits and relations. By the time she completed her undergraduate degree and entered graduate school, she was already an expert on the marine life of Wrightsville Sound.
She completed a two-year degree at Wilmington College, then BS, masters and doctoral degrees from UNC-Chapel, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She taught at UNC-W for 21 years.
She discovered a number of new species of marine invertebrates, two of which were subsequently named for her, Malmgreniella maccraryae, collected from Banks Channel in 1967, and Upogebia maccraryae, collected off the coast of Playas, Ecuador in 1974. At least two rare specimens that she collected are now part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institute.
She was co-founder of the Society to Preserve Masonboro (now merged with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust) and served on the Advisory Board for the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Anne McCrary Park on Randall Drive in Wilmington honors her long-term commitment to teaching and learning, and demonstrates environmental practices that homeowners and businesses can adopt.
Anne Bowden McCrary, widowed when she was young, is now survived by a daughter, Anne McCrary Sullivan of Florida and a son, Marcellus Everett McCrary of Hawaii; three grandchildren, Rachael Keli McCrary of Los Angeles, Jolyon D. Sullivan of Knoxville, and her devoted, long-term caregiver, B. Kenyata Sullivan of Wilmington; two daughters-in-law, Linda Miller Sullivan of Knoxville and Grace Evanko Sullivan of Wilmington; and four grandchildren: Bremen and Anne of Wilmington; Miller and Grace of Knoxville.
She was "Aunt Sis" to a multitude of much loved nieces and nephews, including Susan Hale, Laurel Anne Gainer, Jay Bowden (recently deceased), Bert Bowden, Jr., Richard Bowden, Jasa Bowden, Austin Kirby-Bowden, Jack Bowden, Joyce Bowden Kirby, and their many progeny.
Obituary provided by Laurel
Anne Bowden McCrary, age 85, died peacefully in her home on Wrightsville Sound, November 7, 2011. Professor Emeritus of Marine Biology at UNC-W, she was a passionate teacher and researcher, often consulted both formally and informally, locally and internationally about the ecosystem she knew intimately.
As a child accompanying her father, then as a teenager, she navigated the sloughs and channels of Wrightsville Sound, learning the names, rhythms and patterns of what lived there, loving what she learned. In college, at a time when women did not enter the field, she persisted in her studies although, in spite of stellar academic performance, she was actively discouraged by some professors because of her gender.
During a period of time when her formal education was interrupted, she educated herself, going out in a wooden boat with a small book, Field Book of Seashore Life by Roy Waldo Miner. She keyed out animals, learning their biological habits and relations. By the time she completed her undergraduate degree and entered graduate school, she was already an expert on the marine life of Wrightsville Sound.
She completed a two-year degree at Wilmington College, then BS, masters and doctoral degrees from UNC-Chapel, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She taught at UNC-W for 21 years.
She discovered a number of new species of marine invertebrates, two of which were subsequently named for her, Malmgreniella maccraryae, collected from Banks Channel in 1967, and Upogebia maccraryae, collected off the coast of Playas, Ecuador in 1974. At least two rare specimens that she collected are now part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institute.
She was co-founder of the Society to Preserve Masonboro (now merged with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust) and served on the Advisory Board for the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Anne McCrary Park on Randall Drive in Wilmington honors her long-term commitment to teaching and learning, and demonstrates environmental practices that homeowners and businesses can adopt.
Anne Bowden McCrary, widowed when she was young, is now survived by a daughter, Anne McCrary Sullivan of Florida and a son, Marcellus Everett McCrary of Hawaii; three grandchildren, Rachael Keli McCrary of Los Angeles, Jolyon D. Sullivan of Knoxville, and her devoted, long-term caregiver, B. Kenyata Sullivan of Wilmington; two daughters-in-law, Linda Miller Sullivan of Knoxville and Grace Evanko Sullivan of Wilmington; and four grandchildren: Bremen and Anne of Wilmington; Miller and Grace of Knoxville.
She was "Aunt Sis" to a multitude of much loved nieces and nephews, including Susan Hale, Laurel Anne Gainer, Jay Bowden (recently deceased), Bert Bowden, Jr., Richard Bowden, Jasa Bowden, Austin Kirby-Bowden, Jack Bowden, Joyce Bowden Kirby, and their many progeny.
Obituary provided by Laurel
As a child accompanying her father, then as a teenager, she navigated the sloughs and channels of Wrightsville Sound, learning the names, rhythms and patterns of what lived there, loving what she learned. In college, at a time when women did not enter the field, she persisted in her studies although, in spite of stellar academic performance, she was actively discouraged by some professors because of her gender.
During a period of time when her formal education was interrupted, she educated herself, going out in a wooden boat with a small book, Field Book of Seashore Life by Roy Waldo Miner. She keyed out animals, learning their biological habits and relations. By the time she completed her undergraduate degree and entered graduate school, she was already an expert on the marine life of Wrightsville Sound.
She completed a two-year degree at Wilmington College, then BS, masters and doctoral degrees from UNC-Chapel, where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She taught at UNC-W for 21 years.
She discovered a number of new species of marine invertebrates, two of which were subsequently named for her, Malmgreniella maccraryae, collected from Banks Channel in 1967, and Upogebia maccraryae, collected off the coast of Playas, Ecuador in 1974. At least two rare specimens that she collected are now part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institute.
She was co-founder of the Society to Preserve Masonboro (now merged with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust) and served on the Advisory Board for the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Anne McCrary Park on Randall Drive in Wilmington honors her long-term commitment to teaching and learning, and demonstrates environmental practices that homeowners and businesses can adopt.
Anne Bowden McCrary, widowed when she was young, is now survived by a daughter, Anne McCrary Sullivan of Florida and a son, Marcellus Everett McCrary of Hawaii; three grandchildren, Rachael Keli McCrary of Los Angeles, Jolyon D. Sullivan of Knoxville, and her devoted, long-term caregiver, B. Kenyata Sullivan of Wilmington; two daughters-in-law, Linda Miller Sullivan of Knoxville and Grace Evanko Sullivan of Wilmington; and four grandchildren: Bremen and Anne of Wilmington; Miller and Grace of Knoxville.
She was "Aunt Sis" to a multitude of much loved nieces and nephews, including Susan Hale, Laurel Anne Gainer, Jay Bowden (recently deceased), Bert Bowden, Jr., Richard Bowden, Jasa Bowden, Austin Kirby-Bowden, Jack Bowden, Joyce Bowden Kirby, and their many progeny.
Obituary provided by Laurel
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