Evelyn Lord Pruitt, 1918–2000

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Acknowledgments

In addition to the letters received, the preparation of this paper has been aided by materials supplied by Gayle Virtue, Janice Monk, Antony Orme, Bill Moran, and Roberta Echard, to all of whom I extend a special thanks. Also, Janice Monk, Antony Orme, James Coleman, and Harry Roberts read the manuscript in draft form. I greatly appreciate their inputs.

Notes

1. “Evelyn” From a poem written by Sue Mangan and submitted by Roberta Echard, both good friends of Evelyn toward the end of her life.

2. Pruitt, E., 1991. From an interview in 1991 with Janice Monk.

3. Personal correspondence with J. Keithan, 2004.

4. Interview with Janice Monk, 1991.

5. Personal correspondence with L. Aschmann, 2004.

6. Personal correspondence with A. Orme, 2003.

7. The 1949 Advisory Committee, which included J. A. Russell, chairman; M. F. Burrill, vice-chairman, C. M. Davis; R. M. Glendinning; G. D. Hudson; L. E. Klimm; H. V. B. Kline, Jr.; W. M. Kollmorgan; R. J. Russell; E. L. Ullman, J. C. Weaver; J. R. Whitaker; and S. B. Jones, was representative of the various research interests in geography extant at the time.

8. The Geography Branch added Maxwell Britton to the staff in 1955 to be a Scientific Officer with the Arctic Program. Under Quam's and Britton's guidance the Program prospered. Evelyn, as Branch Head, had to prepare performance assessments of Branch members. Her 1964 assessment of Max Britton illustrates how good she was with words and how supportive she was of her “team.” In part it states “In all particulars his superlative performance far exceeded the norm. His distinguished activities brought credit to the Navy …”

9. In this nearly 500-page assessment, major credit is given to Berry, Garrison, Chorley, Warntz, and others who did much of their research with ONR grants.

10. Evelyn Pruitt was co-editor with Leonard Bowden (who spent a year at ONR) of the Manual of Remote Sensing, vol. 2 , published by the American Photogrammetry Society in 1973.

11. See 10 National Academy of Sciences (1973) . Acknowledgement of the importance of this program was made as recently as 2001. See 6 Gade (2001 , fn 1, p. 379).

12. While with ONR, Evelyn Pruitt traveled to all of the continents except Antarctica (“it was too cold”). Some examples include: a week spent in Tokyo discussing shoreline instrumentation with Japanese engineers, fieldwork in the Caribbean, numerous trips to Nags Head, NC, with Gayle Virtue (her long-time secretary and friend), and a memorable trip to southeast Asia with Reid Bryson and Richard Russell. Because, on that trip she shared a room in New Delhi with the men, they later referred to each other as “roommates.”

13. Personal correspondence with A. Maxwell, 2004.

14. Personal correspondence with J. Monk, 2005.

15. The eight “tributes” quoted here are from the forty-five letters we received while preparing this article. They help to illustrate the character of Evelyn Pruitt as a person as well as a woman devoted to the furtherance of science.

16. This support is expanded on in the author's article, “Evelyn Pruitt and Coastal Science” ( 23 Walker 2005 ).