Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Mount Auburn as a Horticultural Innovator | Page 21

People and Happenings
A Botanist’s Bicentennial: The 200th Anniversary of Asa Gray’s Birth
Asa Gray (Lot 3904, Holly Path), the leader of American
botanists during the 19th century, was born on November
18, 1810, in Sauquoit, N.Y. During his long career, he was a
pioneer of the study of plant geography, and he held firm
against fellow Harvard professors in his belief of Darwin’s
theories concerning the origin of species. In honor of the
200th anniversary of his birth, the Friends celebrates his life
and accomplishments.
Gray built the Harvard department of botany and trained
many of the leading botanists of the next generation. His
home at 88 Garden Street, part of the seven-acre Harvard
Botanical Garden, was visited by scientists from all over the
world. It is reported in Ernest Wilson’s Aristocrats of Trees
published in 1930, that female ginkgo trees growing at
the Harvard Botanical Garden were pollinated by Mount
Auburn’s male ginkgo tree that Jacob Bigelow had planted
during his tenure. Gray, who was then director of the garden,
noticed the unlikely pollination. That male ginkgo, described
as an aristocrat in Wilson’s book, was struck by lightning in
1942 and was subsequently replaced with the ginkgo now
growing there.  
Our Asa Gray Garden, the ornamental showpiece of the
Cemetery, was named in honor of Gray in 1942, and has
undergone many landscape changes through the years to reflect evolving styles. And in 1997, Mount Auburn saved
four Japanese maples from the Boston Public Library’s
renovations and they were planted in the Garden on Gray’s
birthday, which also happens to be the birthday of current
Mount Auburn President and horticulturist, Dave Barnett.
Interments & Memorial Services of
Note in 2010 • David R. Johnson (1919-2010), of Belmont, Mass., age
91, WWII Army-Air Force Veteran, walked in Mount
Auburn nearly every day
• June Beisch (1940-2010), of Cambridge, Mass., age 70,
poet, writer, teacher, interviewer for WGBH’s Pentechnicon
• Judith T. Bonham (1926-2010), of Ft. Myers, Fla., age 83,
celebrated artist whose work was represented in numerous
collections, including the Johnson & Johnson permanent
collection
• Mary Daly, Ph.D. (1928-2010), of Gardner, Mass., age 81,
a theologian, philosopher, poet, and professor at Boston
College for over 30 years
• Bill C. Geissen, Ph.D. (1933-2010), of Arlington, Mass.,
age 77, beloved professor of chemistry and mechanical
engineering at Northeastern University for over 40 years
• Martin B. Green, Ph.D. (1927-2010), of Cambridge, Mass.,
age 82, former professor of English at Tufts University for
31 years, author of 42 books
Remembering One of Our Own
Retired Cemetery employee, Joseph
Killilea, passed away on July 28, 2010.
He continued to remain part of the
Mount Auburn community even after
he retired, volunteering with our
Historical Collections department
where he carried out extensive
research to identify
the history of plantings
in Asa Gray Garden,
and catalogued the
historic periodical
collection. His me-
ticulous writings
will be forever in
our archives.
• William J. Mitchell, Ph.D. (1944-2010), of Cambridge,
Mass., age 65, noted architect, urban theorist, and former
Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT
• Ronald G. Newburgh, Ph.D. (1926-2010), of Belmont,
Mass., age 84, noted physicist, teacher, and scholar
• Marco Ramoni, Ph.D. (1963-2010), of Boston, Mass.,
age 47, accomplished scientist, educator, author, entrepre-
neur, and faculty member of Harvard Medical School
• Ain A. Sonin, Ph.D. (1937-2010), of Lexington, Mass.,
age 72, Professor Emeritus of mechanical engineering at MIT
• Susan E. Tifft (1951-2010), of Cambridge, Mass., age 59,
writer, editor, and journalist
• Gertrude N. Waldron (1920-2010), of Wynnewood, Pa.,
age 89, journalist and writer
Fall 2010 | 19