Grace Elizabeth “Betty” Lotowycz
Born(1916-05-11)May 11, 1916
New York City, New York
DiedApril 8, 2016(2016-04-08) (aged 99)
Louisville, Colorado
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materVassar College
SpouseWladimir "Bill" Lotowycz
Scientific career
FieldsBotany

Grace E. "Betty" Lotowycz (born Grace Elizabeth Ashwell, May 11, 1916 – 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 mountaineering 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 moved to Damascus after the war while he worked for Pan American World Airways.[10]

Botanist

In 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. 1 2 3 4 "Grace Lotowycz 1916 – 2016". The Daily Camera via Legacy.com. April 24, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Thomas W. Ashwell". February 25, 1975 – via NYTimes.com.
  3. ↑ "Grace Lotowycz Obituary – Boulder, CO | The Daily Camera".
  4. 1 2 "Long Island Botanical Society Newsletter" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "MSS 250.44-W-7.Classbook.GLotowycz". twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org.
  6. ↑ "Mss 620c.12.31". twudigital.contentdm.oclc.org.
  7. ↑ Newsday (TNS), Martin C. Evans. "Decorated WWII female pilot, 99, dies". poconorecord.com.
  8. ↑ "Colorado women honored with the Congressional Gold Medal". March 10, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Former WASP remembers service, sacrifice during WWII; Betty Lotowycz flew for her country - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com". May 22, 2015. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Newsletter" (PDF). libotanical.org. 2004. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Aviation pioneer Grace 'Betty' Lotowycz dies". Newsday. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  12. ↑ Lotowycz, Grace E.; Conolly, Barbara (2004). Illustrated Field Guide to Shrubs and Woody Vines of Long Island. Waterline Books. ISBN 978-0976427506.
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