Elizabeth Florence Gilbert

Elizabeth Florence Gilbert, a resident of Dorset, Vermont, died peacefully March 7, 2022, in the presence of beloved family members. She was 93. Betty was born Feb. 14, 1929, in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, the last child of George Holley Gilbert and Helen Herrick Gilbert of Wellesley, Mass. She was reared in Dorset and in Ardmore and Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Betty had a life-long love of learning. She earned a bachelors in Botany at Wellesley College, a masters in Botany and doctorate in Botany and Ecology at the University of Michigan and a masters of public health in Pathobiology at Johns Hopkins University. Choosing an academic career, Betty’s teaching and research work spanned 31 years and three continents. She held various positions at the University of Michigan, Oberlin College, St. Johns College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kirkland College in Clinton, New York, Duke University and the University of North Carolina, as well as Haile Sellassie I University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Birzeit University in West Bank. She authored or co-authored numerous monographs, book contributions, articles and book reviews. Betty served as a board member of the Dorset Nursing Association and Vermont Assembly of Home Health Agencies in the late 1980s. She was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Public Health Association and Association pour l’Etude Taxonomique de la Flore Afrique Tropicale. An avid outdoors woman, Betty grew up enjoying hikes in the Green Mountains, sleeping under the stars, and picnics anywhere. She was an intrepid traveler, driving solo from Dorset to northern Alaska twice — on long stretches of then-unpaved Canadian roads — each a roundtrip of nearly 9,000 miles. Always curious, she preferred taking back roads everywhere to find interesting places and striking scenery. She traveled much of the world with only a backpack. An avid birder, Betty kept binoculars at the ready. She kept meticulous records as she tracked and counted local populations for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, posted news to VTBIRD and made bird-banding trips to northern Australia. Her home was filled with books on everything from World War II naval history to mathematics, the sciences, mysteries, Christianity and cowboys. Betty is survived by her nieces and nephews, Ken (Peggy) of Dallas, Texas; Holley of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Peter (Cindy) of Montpelier, Vermont; Anne of Oberlin, Ohio; great nieces and nephews, Allen, Blair, Jimmy, Carolyn, Julia and Tamzen; and a host of cousins. In her final scientific contribution, Betty donated her body to a New England medical college to be used for teaching or research. A memorial service will be held later this year. Betty spent the last years of her life under the compassionate care of the staff at Equinox Terrace in Manchester Center, Vermont. Her family is grateful for their extraordinary kindness, support and professionalism.