[chapter-communicator] In Memory of Marie Aull

From: "BIANCHI, John" <JBIANCHI@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: #Audubon Board of Directors <IMCEAEX-_O=AUDUBON_OU=NATIONAL_CN=RECIPIENTS_CN=BoardOfDirectors@xxxxxxxxxxx>,#Audubon Staff <audstaff@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 18:08:45 -0400


Friends - 

Marie Aull, who through her vision and boundless generosity made it possible
to create Aullwood, passed away quietly last Friday at the age of 105.

Please join me in celebrating her life and the gift she gave to the
generations who will visit Aullwood and learn all that it has to teach.

Charity Kruger, who knew Marie best of all of us, wrote this eloquent
epitaph:


In Memory of Marie S. Aull

Every day there are reasons to celebrate Marie Aull's life!   Marie's loving
legacy is reflected in the sparkling eyes of children as they discover
nature in Aullwood Audubon Center's sanctuary, which she created 45 years
ago with a gift to the National Audubon Society.  Five years later she
started Aullwood's farm where children explore the wonders of a working
organic farm.  Each day young and old find peace walking under the towering
sycamore and oak trees that Marie treasured.  The waving tall grasses in
Aullwood's prairie are a lasting tribute to Marie's desire to preserve
natural areas.  To many, Marie Aull was the godmother of the environmental
movement in southwest Ohio.  She taught us by example to love, understand,
and protect the natural world.  When Marie celebrated her 105th birthday on
January 8, 2002, the sparkle in her eyes conveyed her joy in hearing stories
about that special place called Aullwood.

It was Marie's wish to have her ashes scattered beneath the 500 year old
sycamore tree at Aullwood Gardens, the final resting place of her husband
John, who died in 1955.  She requested that there be no ceremony to remember
her passing.  Marie's only request was that this poem be published.

                                "I want no alien marker on my grave,
                                only the fragrant green trees growing there,
                                wave on rippling wave, blue sky above
                                and a clean wind blowing.

                                I want no monument to my memory;
                                no ugly granite rising from scarred earth
                                bearing a flattering biography;
                                not one word, but let the work that I've
done live on,
                                or if it be worth nothing, let it lie.

                                If it is good, then what I've done
                                will live in men's memories...
                                and satisfy the longing in their souls
                                for song,
                                Myself forgotten and the green trees
strong."

                                                               - Henry
Clepper

In October of 2000, the new Marie S. Aull Education Center was dedicated to
recognize Marie Aull's many gifts to the Dayton, Ohio community.  This
Center is a lasting and loving tribute to the woman who many called a
friend, visionary, teacher or mentor.  Every day we will celebrate Marie
Aull's life by how we care for the Earth that Marie so loved.  Gifts in
remembrance of Marie Aull may be made to Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm,
1000 Aullwood Road, Dayton, OH  45414.   A celebration of her life will be
held when the first spring wildflowers bloom in 2003. 

*       Charity Krueger, 
                                Executive Director, Aullwood Audubon Center
and Farm

[chapter-communicator] In Memory of Marie Aull

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