CORNELI, Helen McGavran 1926-

PERSONAL: Born June 9, 1926, in Almora, Uttar Pradesh, India; daughter of Donald (a minister and missionary) and Mary (a minister and missionary; maiden name, Howard) McGavran; married Clifford M. Corneli, November 8, 1947; children: Howard M., Steven B., Miriam E., Danielle Hy Kyung. Ethnicity: "Scots-Irish." Education: Attended Washington University (St. Louis, MO), 1943-45; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, A.B., M.A., 1947; University of Wisconsin—Madison, Ph.D., 1974. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Society of Friends (Quaker). Hobbies and other interests: Gardening, lobbying in opposition to the Iraq war.

ADDRESSES: Home—2528 Avenue de Isidro, Santa Fe, NM 87505. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: University of Wisconsin—Madison, worked as librarian and editor at Primate Laboratory; University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point, began as instructor, became professor and served as director of international programs, 1961-91; writer. Vets for Peace, associate member.

AWARDS, HONORS: Selection for outstanding book of 2002, Wisconsin Library Association, 2003, for Mice in the Freezer, Owls on the Porch: The Lives of Naturalists Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom.

WRITINGS:

Mice in the Freezer, Owls on the Porch: The Lives ofNaturalists Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A memoir.

SIDELIGHTS: Helen McGavran Corneli told CA: "I am motivated by my enduring concern for the environment and my belief that field biologists and other hands-on conservationists are hardly known. Their work and importance are not celebrated.

"My method and process? Query, query, query; read, read, read. Listen on several levels. Percolate material. Write, and let rest. Search out and use good readers. Use the editorial process as something quite as creative as the writing itself. Appreciate your copy editor. Remember: if any good (or even casual) reader questions a word, phrase, or construction, it signals 'rethink this.' Enjoy your rewriting!"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Quarterly Review of Biology, September, 2003, Elizabeth Hanson, review of Mice in the Freezer, Owls on the Porch: The Lives of Naturalists Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom, p. 351.