Elizabeth May (Courtesy photo)

May's Easement on West Bare Hill Road is as pretty as ever this spring, 20 acres of gardens and woodland sprawling behind a mountainous wall of pink and white flowering rhododendrons near the road. Like its longtime owner, Elizabeth May, the sturdy 1930s house presents a no-nonsense face to the world: down-to-earth, modest, and thoroughly comfortable. Passers-by would have no way of guessing that a fair amount of Harvard's current look and feel was incubated and nurtured there, over the course of two decades, by a remarkable woman and her network of like-minded friends.

Elizabeth May, who died at home on March 27 at the age of 103, had set aside most of her property for conservation land over the years and bequeathed the rest, including the house, to the Harvard Conservation Trust. She first purchased the place for a vacation retreat with her husband, Geoffrey, in 1954, when Bare Hill—formerly grazing land—was still relatively bare and the view from May's Easement went all the way to the pond. She moved here permanently in the late 1970s after an illustrious career that included stints as professor of economics, dean, and twice acting president of Wheaton College; the first woman member of the board of the United States Export-Import Bank; an economic analyst with the Treasury Department and principal fiscal analyst with the Bureau of the Budget. She met Geoffrey while studying for her PhD at the London School of Economics, and later packed off to Greece with him to work for the American Mission for Aid there, part of the Marshall Plan. She traveled all over the world and was a widely respected economist, gifted teacher, author, and tireless supporter of higher education for women, in developing countries and here at home. She was active in the American Association of University Women, and served as president of the International Federation of University Women.

Her accomplishments were extraordinary, but Elizabeth was never comfortable with accolades. In the words of her close friend and colleague Audrey Ball, "She was the most gracious person I ever met, very humble but very competent."

As soon as she moved to Harvard, ostensibly "retired," she found a whole new array of outlets for her many talents, and was soon active in the League of Women Voters, environmental issues, conservation, and town planning at all levels. She was an early member and president of the Harvard Conservation Trust, and a driving force behind many of that group's most difficult projects. With several HCT friends she called "the boys"—Walter Levison, Larry Finnegan, and Worth Robbins—she formulated the plans to acquire the old Harvard Inn and then Great Elms on Stow Road to create much-needed affordable housing there. According to Larry Finnegan, she fostered the idea of using a limited partnership to finance those projects. "She was the brightest person I ever met," Finnegan says. "She had the vision, and she knew what was needed. Nothing fazed her."

Worth Robbins remembers "the boys" meeting around a table at Elizabeth's house, putting together plans for the Inn. While others fretted about potential problems, Elizabeth stayed focused on alternative solutions, and her steady confidence never dimmed. You could talk to her about any problem, Robbins recalls—personal, professional, or political—and be empowered by her feedback. She believed in people—that they would rise to the occasion—and she would never challenge you to do anything she wouldn't do herself.

Aside from all that, Elizabeth May was a woman who embraced every challenge and relished every aspect of life. She enjoyed her garden, devoured all kinds of books and her weekly New Yorker, made wonderful cinnamon rolls from her mother's recipe, canned peaches, picked blueberries, concocted a fine grapefruit, lemon, and orange marmalade, and watched McNeil-Lehrer every night. She saved everything, says Audrey Ball, including every letter she ever received from the love of her life, Geoffrey, who died in 1964.

In the year 2000, nearing the age of 94, Elizabeth was named Harvard's Citizen of Note for her many contributions to the town, not only in the area of conservation but also for her service as chairwoman of the Long Range Planning Advisory Committee. Her highest planning priority was open-space preservation because she believed it would give the town more options for the future. Her legacy is Harvard's lush pastoral beauty, which she worked so hard to protect.

On Saturday, June 11, at 11 a.m., a celebration of Elizabeth's life will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church on the Common, with a reception afterward in the Fellowship Hall. Her extended family of nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren looks forward to meeting her many Harvard friends that day and sharing memories of Elizabeth's loving, and sometimes transformative, presence in our lives and in this community. As a family, they have chosen three places where memorial contributions can be made, reflecting her interest in education, community, and caring: the Harvard Conservation Trust, PO Box 31, Harvard, MA 01451; Nashoba Nursing and Hospice Services, Two Shaker Road, Suite D225, Shirley, MA 01464; and Wheaton College, The Elizabeth S. May Project Scholarship Fund, 26 E. Main St., Norton, MA 02766-2322.

Any written condolence messages for the family can be mailed to Audrey Ball at 85 Oak Hill Road in Harvard, and Audrey will pass them on.