Mildred W. Graham (Millie)
1927-2005

Above Left: 1986 Photograph of NMEA Presidents, including President-Elect Millie Graham (center). Right: President Millie wears "THE TIE" and uses the caulking hammer to get everyone's attention.

 

 

 

Left: Outgoing President (Millie Graham) admires the silver NMEA logo pin she was given in appreciation for her year of service.

 

 

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Some Of Millie's Many Accomplishments In NMEA:

 

Other Achievements:

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Below: Millie as a teenager and then as a junior high school teacher.

 

Below: Millie's Ph.D graduation day.

 

Left: Millie at one of her student's graduations.

 

Below: Millie received the John W. Shrum Award for Excellence in the Education of Teachers of Science, awarded by the Southeastern Association for the Education of Teachers of Science.

 

 

Below: Millie being Millie

 

Below: Millie ..... always the teacher and learner.

 

 

Below: Millie's students called themselves "Millie's Mob.

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Tributes to Millie

“Millie” was one of the most inspirational teacher of teachers the State of Georgia has been blessed with. The legacy she leaves behind is embodied in some of the best and brightest of Georgia’s science teachers who blossomed under her tutelage and encouragement. A professor of Geology and Science Education at Georgia State University, Millie was embroiled in science education and passed that fever on to her students.

I had the pleasure of knowing Millie over the past 20 years through her field trips to Skidaway and Sapelo islands and our mutual involvement with organizations like GSTA, NSTA, the National Marine Educators’ Association (NMEA), and the Georgia Association of Marine Educators (GAME). I spent an enchanting hour on the phone with her last August [2007] as we caught up on people and events while I was sitting on the dock overlooking the Skidaway River. She’d spent many an hour out there and I was able to describe the changes since she had last visited as well as the things that seem perpetual about it, like the dolphins herding fish up onto the mud banks, the ospreys soaring overhead, and the periodic slap of mullet leaping out of the water.

Though I was never officially a student of Millie’s, some of her perceptions and practices on how to educate managed to rub off anyways. Through her introductions I was able to meet a couple of my marine science heroes; Dr. Eugenie Clark and Jean Michel Cousteau. I will miss her along with many others.

By: Bob Williams, GAME

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Millie encouraged me to go into teaching back in 1979. She and I cofounded G.A.M.E. I was one of “Millie’s Gang” when we would go on field trips and meetings in the summer to the national event in Marine Education. Great times and memories....

She will be greatly missed. Millie was a wonderful person, friend and mentor to myself and others.

By: Dr. Tom Howick, GAME

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Millie Graham was a dear friend, mentor and teacher.  I first met Millie in the early 1980’s when I was invited by a friend to the GAME retreat to Sapelo Island.  Well, to say the least, I fell in love with Sapelo and had the honor to meet Millie.  From then on, I signed up for every summer trip/course that Millie offered.  I, being a very hands-on learner, benefited and learned from her method of teaching.  It is because of Millie, that I became interested in Marine Science. 

The first course that I took from Millie was a travel course which covered much of the Northeastern Coastal States. As with all of her trip/courses, Millie included becoming a member of GAME and attending the NMEA conference as part of the course.  So, my first NMEA was the one held in Rhode Island.  Millie at the time was the director of NMEA (I think).  I’ll never forget that trip!  I drove my van and Millie rode shotgun and before the end of the trip, I was dubbed with the job of “Driving Miss Millie”.  Since Millie was very involved with NMEA, we, her students were given various assignments to complete.  On one very rainy day, we, being astute students were sent off somewhere (can’t remember where) in the pouring rain.  I remember driving over this very tall bridge (wishing I could close my eyes) then stopping on the side of the road and climbing down or rather sliding down this steep bank to locate starrolite crystals.  We also made another stop and it was raining so hard that only Julian Hood and myself were brave enough to get out of the van.  We never found what we were supposed to, but figured that since we were soaked to the skin, Millie would think we had found it.  I think we just made up something for our journals.  That evening we were all so very tired and just sat in the hall of the dorm, drinking beer and eating peanuts.  That night I learned how to light a cigarette lighter with my toes.  Maybe not so educational, but fun.

I remember another trip to the Gulf Coast.  This time I was Millie’s assistant and “Drove Miss Millie” everywhere she wanted to go.  I’ll never forget that some of the students wanted to go to New Orleans since we were so close and they had never been.  Millie had told them that she didn’t want them to go.  But of course they did.  I pretended that I didn’t know they had gone and sat with Millie all night keeping her occupied to cover for the errant students.

 

 

Before a trip to Andros Island [Bahamas], we attended the NMEA in Miami.  What a memorial trip.  I have a picture of Millie, myself and two others with Jean- Michel Cousteau.  We had attended a session by some professor who had done research on swimming with Dolphins which came into good use during our time on Andros.  

In this photograph taken in 1989, Millie is standing beside and on the left side of Jean-Michel Cousteau. Margaret Olsen, author of this tribute, is the second person on the left, standing on the right side of Jean-Michel.

 

Below: Millie is standing in the front row in a dark skirt.

We stayed at the Forfar Field Station [Andros Island, Bahamas] and I called it Gilligan’s Island plus two because our lodging was in little huts with grass roofs and we had indoor plumbing and electricity for two hours a day.  I could lay on my bunk and look out over the ocean and watch the moon and/or sun come up.  I’ll never forget how afraid my roommate was of the huge land crabs (I won’t mention your name Marsha).  We would hear them scratching on the outside of our hut and she was afraid they would get inside.  Once, one did get into some of the guys room.  One of these guys was a very large – football player type, but was on the top bunk afraid to get down because of the crab.  I remember that Joe Higgins and I used a broom stick for the crab to latch onto, then we pulled it out of the rock wall of the room and captured it inside a trash can.

Below: Will Hon and Millie Graham are sitting on the steps of a cabin at Forfar Field Station. 

Below: Millie, Will and others enjoy a relaxing evening at Forfar Field Station

In the photograph below, Millie is standing in front of the wall of an Andros Island restaurant.

On that same trip, we would spend from sunup to sundown out exploring the waters around Andros Island.  We swam in blue holes (one that Cousteau had studied), watched a nurse shark under our pontoon boat and swam with dolphins.  We were headed in after a long day, and Millie said that Jean (Adams) was going in the water to take pictures of a dolphin that had come near our boat.  Then we heard Millie say “the dolphin is attacking Jean, no it playing with Jean”.  So, of course we all put on our BCD’s and jumped in the water as well.  We all lined up and using what we had learned about wild dolphins at NMEA, bowed and clicked and acted submissive to it.  It must have worked because this dolphin swam around up and did all kinds of tricks and then took us out to his mate (or at least I like to think that).  We were so engrossed in what we were doing that we did not realize that we had swum very far away from our boat.  Thank goodness we had our BCD’s because we were extremely tired.  But of course, Millie in her excitement had not put her BCD on, and a couple of us had to swim with her back to the boat.

It was through Millie’s insistence that I finally enrolled in the Graduate Program at Georgia State for a Specialist Degree in Marine Science Education.  She said that since I was doing the work, that I should get the credit.  Millie of course was my advisor and the Project that I was working on in lieu of a paper became the Lab Manual that was eventually published by Woodward Academy and used in all the Oceanography classes there for 13 years.

 

Millie was not only my mentor and teacher but also a very dear friend.  Once prior to a GAME trip to Sapelo, I called Millie and told her that there was going to be one possibly two weddings during our trip and to bring appropriate clothes if she wanted to attend.  She felt like she might be coming down with a cold and said that she might now go that year, so I had to tell her, that it was me who would be getting married.  Her reaction was that “this is one D_ _ _ wedding that I am not going to miss”.  Mickey and I and the other couple were Just Getting Married, we had no special plans.  Well, that wouldn’t do for Millie.  She insisted that I have “something borrowed”, “something blue”, a bouquet of wild azaleas and the whole nine yards.  She even sent over to the mainland for a Wedding Cake! We went to the church in an old van singing “Going to the chapel and we’re gonna get married”.  To our surprise, after the ceremony (true Sapelo style), when we left the church, Millie and the GAME crew had decorated the dump truck with cans and streamers and a big heart shaped sign that read “Just Married” and the ladies at the Big House had made a fantastic banquet for us. 

Left: The wedding, May 2, 1993.

The memories go on and on!  Thank you Millie!  We will all miss you!

By Margaret Olsen

 

 

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I knew Millie Graham from 1971, when I was in her Historical Geology class at GSU, until she left us a couple of years ago – too soon, I might add.

When I first took a class from Millie, I observed that her teaching style was very different from most of the professors I had experienced at Chamblee High School, Emory and at Ga. Tech. Her style was probably most like my high school science teacher, Dr. Lucille Burnette – informed but more important, focused on maintaining communication with her students. Even if you did not agree with what Millie said, you were engaged in how she was saying it. And she didn’t mind a student asking her questions. She was open about answering when she did know the answer, and frank about not having the answer as well. She opened the path to finding answers, making her students, nay, requiring her students to be lifelong learners.

I was lucky to have Millie for subsequent classes – workshops in Marine Education at the Georgia Marine sciences center in Savannah, and as a member of my doctoral committee. Millie guided me to believing it was important to research issues of women in science, and she supported and advised me when I chose role modeling as my area of research. I would never have reached that moment of believing in my topic and defending it until I finished the dissertation if it hadn’t been for Millie.

Millie seemed larger than life. She was outspoken in a number of different ways – personally, when we were sharing a rental car at the National Science Teachers Association meeting in Los Angeles, and I was taking too long to get our key and get out; professionally, when she planned Women in Science workshops at GA. State University, before academic women’s issues were an integral part of a quality university’s offerings. I got to hear Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, speak before she went into space. I had the honor of meeting Eugenie Clark, an outstanding whale researcher, introduced by Millie, and got to see Millie receive the lifetime award from National Science Teachers Association for contributions to the profession.

When I decided I had to quit drinking, Millie supported me by drinking fruit juice with me when we had 4 bottles of wine on our table at the banquet at NSTA. When I was forced to take my children and leave my home because of an abusive husband Millie took me in.

Millie changed my idea of what a college professor could be, and influenced my relationships with my college students for the last 25 years. I only hope some of my students remember me as an intellectual and personal friend as much as I remember Millie.

By: Rena Faye Norby, McDonough, GA. June 2008

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The professional books on educational leadership list among other traits “one who takes every opportunity to promote the professional advancement of others.” Millie Graham always stood out as a great leader in many ways. However, I can’t begin to fathom the number of educational leaders today who were encouraged to take the first big steps and fostered by Millie. She always had fun wherever she was, but always kept a professional demeanor. It is a very sad day now that Millie is no longer with us in the flesh to push us all along, but I know that in spirit she will always be a part of those of us who benefitted from her expertise and leadership. Thank you, Millie.

By: Venetia Butler, GAME

 

 

 

 

 

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Once in a great while, a delightful person comes along who is a positive influence on those they meet. Dr. Millie Graham was such a person. She was quite a lady. She never let obstacles block her path. She encouraged others to go over or around road blocks that they encountered in their lives or degree programs. She was the driving force that aided undergraduates to earn the highest degree they possibly could. She was a mentor to so many, many individuals, but even more amazing was the fact that she was the queen of making learning fun. She promoted marine education in unique ways in Georgia. She had so many hobbies; among them were dancing, laughing, geology, ecology, oceanography, politics, friendships, men, and bridge. Yes, she was a fun loving, extremely interesting and very successful person. She was a leader! Millie was more than a professor...she was also a friend.

By: Wanda Loving and Rodie Higginbotham, members of “Millie’s Mob”, GAME

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Millie was one of the most remarkable women I have ever known- so many of us science nerds owe their degrees and their livelihood to her infectious and relentless “you can do it” attitude. She was a shameless as a Jewish mother in praising and promoting her protégés at every opportunity- decorum and respectability be dammed!

By: Martha Griffin, GAME

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I never had the pleasure of actually meeting Millie, but I have certainly benefited from her tireless creative work. She influenced so many that her legacy will live on forever as each successive generation of marine educators build on the work she initiated. I am the proud recipient of the Millie Graham Award for 2005 presented to me by my colleagues in Georgia Association of Marine Education (GAME), and I am thankful to be honored in such a prestigious way. Millie is leaving large shoes to fill, and collectively I know we will each contribute to fill the gap she has left. The good thing is that she will live on within all of us, even those who never had the pleasure of actually being in her stellar company.

By: Cathy J. Sakas

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Below: Millie near the end of her life, pictured with her puppy.

 

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