Elizabeth Pretzer Rail ’44

Elizabeth Pretzer Rail ’44, of Centennial, Colo.; Jan. 27, at the age of 101. After receiving a master’s in science from Columbia, she was offered a position with the Illinois Geological Survey and taught geology at the University of Illinois. She married and started a family while working towards her PhD at the University of Illinois. Her husband’s job took them to Texas in 1951 and to Calgary, Alberta, in 1967, but she managed to do geological teaching and consulting while raising four children. She published in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, and after her children were grown, she returned to teaching geology at a junior college and working in the petroleum industry. In 1975, they were transferred to Houston and she worked full-time in the geology industry and was active at the Unitarian Church. They retired to Colorado in 1983 and enjoyed an active lifestyle. She was instrumental in starting a science day camp at Dinosaur Ridge and continued as a docent well into her 90s. She was a board member and president (1997-1999) of the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge. She moved to Holly Creek retirement community in 2013 and enjoyed the outdoors. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in her 80s. She is survived by four children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.