Beth Lynn McGee, the director of science and agricultural policy for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and a longtime scientist, died of breast cancer June 4 at her Chesapeake Bay home in Churchton, surrounded by family. She was 61.
. . .
She earned her master’s degree in ecology from the University of Delaware in 1988 and completed her education in 1998 with a doctorate in environmental science from the University of Maryland.
Ms. McGee loved the water, especially the Chesapeake Bay, which is what brought her to Maryland.
While getting her education, she worked several jobs at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds; the Maryland Department of Environment; and the University of Maryland Wye Research Center.
After completing her doctorate in 1998, she joined U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and worked there until 2003.
She spent the last 20 years of her life as director of science and agricultural policy at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
She met her wife, Ann Wearmouth, in 2000, when the two were working on an oil spill together. The two started dating a year later and married in 2018.
Ms. Wearmouth, a retired environmental engineer, described her wife as a doer, waiting for a new adventure to discover each day.
“She was a force; she was passionate about the things she believed in and the people that she cared for. She was an amazing scientist and amazing wife, amazing partner through life. Always ready to try something new to do,” Ms. Wearmouth said.
Just one month after their wedding, Ms. McGee was diagnosed with breast cancer. They spent the next five years making the best of the situation with spontaneous adventures, like a bike trip to Vietnam and spending time on the water, her favorite place.
“She loved being outdoors and came to life walking on the beach, hiking, biking, kayaking, fishing. That was her place. And so when you experienced those outdoor places with her, you saw it in a different way. You felt it at a deeper level because you’re experiencing her joy, her vision of it,” Ms. Coble said.
I knew Beth a bit, having knocked around the same Chesapeake Bay related meetings for years, and knew her wife, Ann, better, having actually done some work for her, while she was an environmental engineer for the old power company, PEPCO, and Exelon, which bought them. An odd couple indeed, one working for the Bay Program, the other for the "other side." But I never sensed any insincerity from either of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment