Death of Mary Leakey

Domingo Martinez-Castilla (agdndmc@showme.missouri.edu)
Mon, 09 Dec 96 16:18:51 GMT

Group,

Please allow me to share with you the news of Mary Leakey's death, aged
83. An admirable woman who did not cherish the limelight and just kept
working in the field for as long as she could. We owe her a great deal
in our understanding of human origins.

One of my lucky breaks was to share a 2-hour guided tour, that she
gave to a Smithsonian group of visitors in 1993, with her as the guide
at the Kenya National Museum in Nairobi. Smiling, unassuming,
good-natured (as opposed to her legendary harshness when fieldwork was
at stake), she did not mind I joined the bunch. What a woman.

Let us hope we have more like her.

Domingo Martinez-Castilla
agdndmc@showme.missouri.edu