Search Archived Marriage Records
Edward Voss
Edward G. Voss, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology, curator emeritus of vascular plants at the University Herbarium and a legendary teacher at the U-M Biological Station, Born in Delaware, Ohio, in 1929, Voss spent his childhood in Toledo. His early interest in plants and insects began at his family’s cottage in Mackinaw City, where he spent summers collecting caterpillars, moths, butterflies and plants. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology with honors from Denison University in 1950, Voss continued his education at U-M, where he earned a master’s degree in biology in 1951 and a doctorate in botany in 1954. He had homes in Ann Arbor and Mackinaw City. He is survived by his sister, Eleanor (Elly) Hendricks, her husband, Tom, and their two sons, Jim and Andy.
He joined U-M in 1956 as a research associate at the Herbarium and was appointed assistant professor in 1960, promoted to associate professor in 1963 and professor of botany in 1969. Voss served as curator of vascular plants from 1961 until his retirement in 1996. He spent 55 summers teaching at the U-M Biological Station at Douglas Lake introducing generations of biologists from all over the country to field botany.
Voss’s focus of research was the vascular plants of the Great Lakes region: their taxonomy, identification, phytogeography, postglacial history and status in natural environments - with special interest in boreal plants generally and in aquatic plants. He also was interested in the history of biology (especially the early exploration in the Great Lakes region) and in Lepidoptera of the northern Great Lakes area.
“There are enough Ed Voss accomplishments to fill a book,” wrote Jim McCormac, a biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, who considered Voss a mentor. “But all of that aside, what Ed did throughout his career that was at least of equal importance to his academic work was his encouragement of others,” he continued in a blog post about Voss.
The new “Field Manual of Michigan Flora” significantly expands and updates the three-volume “Michigan Flora” by incorporating the discoveries of numerous additional species, recent systematic research, and a vast trove of new information on the shifting distributions of Michigan species.
Marjorie Hepburn
Marjorie Hepburn, retired laboratory manager for the reproductive endocrinology program in Developmental Reproductive Biology, born Oct. 31, 1925 in Monroe County, Michigan, the daughter of Edward and Mable (Petersen) Whipple.
Hepburn lived in the Chelsea area all of her life. She graduated salutatorian from Chelsea High School in 1944. She was a member of First Congregational Church, the Chelsea Women’s Club, the Red Hats and was active in the Chelsea Historical Society. She worked at U-M from the 1960s to 1987, and helped develop tests for checking hormone levels in blood. Hepburn was an avid reader and talented seamstress, and she loved her pets. She was an amazing mother and grandmother, family members say.
On July 28, 1945, she preceded in death by two sons, Philip and John; two brothers and seven sisters.
Memorial contributions may be made to First Congregational Church, 121 E. Middle St, Chelsea, MI 48118 or St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 501 St Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
George Estabrook
Professor George Estabrook, age 69, died Dec. 14, 2011 in Tacoma, Wash. She was 87.
preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Donald Graham, who earned both undergraduate and medical degrees at U-M, 1950 and 1955, respectively. She is survived by her four children and one grandchild.
Cremation has taken place. A memorial service is to be arranged at a later date. Contributions may be made in her memory to U-M, the National Parkinson Foundation, the ASPCA or a charity of choice.
Emily Cloyd
Emily Cloyd, associate professor emeritus of English, born Oct. 21, 1930, in Norfolk, Neb. Cloyd earned her Bachelor of Arts in Latin and Greek from the University of Nebraska in 1952. In 1958 Cloyd received a Master of Arts in English and Greek from University of Nebraska. Her doctorate in English was awarded by Columbia University in 1967. She received both graduate and undergraduate awards that enabled her to attend Columbia and to do dissertation research in Scotland.
Cloyd retired as associate professor emeritus of English at U-M in 2000, after having been on the faculty since 1967. She taught at Vassar, Mount Holyoke, and the University of Nebraska prior to accepting appointment as Samuel Johnson Scholar and 18th century literature specialist at U-M. She was the first woman to obtain tenure in the Department of English at U-M. She is the author of a biography on James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, a figure of the Scottish enlightenment, as well as other scholarly works.
She loved to travel, even with her disabilities; she devoted numerous summers and sabbaticals to living in and traveling in England and Scotland, colleagues say. Her last sabbatical in 1995 was spent visiting 18th century gardens. She used this experience and her interest in the relationships between literature and other arts to develop multi-media computer presentations that she used with great acclaim with her students, colleagues add. These presentations included: photographs, music and history as well as literature. She was the first member of the Department of English to use a multi-media approach to teaching. She co-founded a local chapter of the Association for Women in Computing and during retirement was an active member of Mac Techniques, the Ann Arbor computer user group.
Cloyd was equally passionate about art, whether collecting, creating or falling in love with an artist or art form, friends say. Most recently she became fascinated with the glass work of Dale Chihuly. She had a deep fascination with everything creative. She and her friends often gathered at her home to work on various artistic projects.
It was her life practice to lead the way, colleagues say; true to form in her death she has taken the first space in the new Green Burial section at the Marblehead Cemetery in Milan. Hers will be the first Green Burial in Washtenaw County.
Cloyd is survived by her brother, Jerry Stephen Cloyd, and a nephew Donald Stephen Cloyd, both of Lincoln, Neb. Her parents were the late Donald and Florence Wilson Cloyd. She also leaves behind a host of friends and her care team.
Friends say Cloyd was an independent woman and pioneer who in her own words, “Worked to make things just a little bit easier for those who have to follow me.”
