Former Homewood trustee Mary Cameron Woodland died on Feb. 18. She was 99.
Woodland and her husband, Bertram, who survives, came to Homewood in 1958, according to her obituary. She served as trustee from 1971 to 1979.
She was involved in a number of community organizations, including the League of Women Voters and the Izaak Walton Nature Preserve. She was a founding member of the Homewood Historical Society.
She held degrees in geology and geography from Smith College, Clark University and Bryn Mawr College and earned her doctorate from University of Glasgow, Scotland, where she studied under a Fulbright Scholarship. She was one of the first women to receive a Fulbright.
She served as a research geologist on the Manhattan Project and on projects for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the U.S: Geological Survey. She taught geology at a number of colleges and universities. Later in life, she founded the consulting firm Environmental Geoservices, producing among other things the Illinois State Handbook on Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control.
She was deeply concerned about flood control in the South Suburbs. The Dr. Mary Woodland Reservoir in Lynwood is named in her honor.
Homewood Mayor Richard Hofeld said he met her when he served on the Board of Trustees, and when he became mayor in 1997, he tapped her to chair the newly formed Storm Water Committee.
“When I came in the first thing I did was reach out to her,” Hofeld said. “She was a very lovely lady. She gave back to the community.”
In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons, three grandsons and a number of nieces and nephews.
Memorial services were held Friday.
Her family asked that memorials be given to Homewood Historical Society, P.O. Box 1144, Homewood, IL 60430 or charity of choice.