# Florence Anderson Kiskey 'wonderful benefactor'



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Teacher, 'wonderful benefactor' passed along love of science

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1162397703136620.xml&coll=8

11/01/06 By Susan Harrison Wolffis CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

In life, she was teacher, mentor, scientist. 

In death, Florence Anderson Kiskey will be remembered for who she was, what she did -- and what she gave to the community. 

Kiskey, who died Saturday night at the age of 100, spent the last 25 years of her life sharing her financial gifts as generously as she spread her knowledge in earlier times.

"I don't think people realize to what extent she gave," said Barbara Saint Denis of Muskegon, who had Kiskey's medical power of attorney and was her caregiver. 

Kiskey donated at least $500,000 to community organizations. Among those that benefited from her gifts are the Girl Scouts of Michigan Pine and Dunes, the Muskegon County Museum, Mercy General Health Partners, the Norton Shores Library, Muskegon Community College, Delta Kappa Gamma and the Community Foundation for Muskegon County. 

She also donated to the Monet Garden in downtown Muskegon, the Muskegon Woman's Club, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and a scholarship awarded by the local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a teacher's sorority which she helped found. 

But that was far from her only legacy. 

One of the area's first women science teachers, Kiskey was passionate about passing on her love of biology and nature to future generations. 

"She was so interested in kids getting excited and learning about science," said Peggy Scouten, executive director of the Girl Scouts of Michigan Pine and Dunes. 

The money Kiskey donated to Girl Scouts was used to create and maintain the Fred and Florence Kiskey Environmental Science Center on Girl Scout property in Muskegon. Thousands of schoolchildren from West Michigan have used the science center that Scouten called "an enduring tribute" to Kiskey. 

"She's been a wonderful benefactor to so many places in the community," Scouten said. 

Kiskey earned master's degrees in both math and science from the University of Chicago, and in 1928, she married her former botany teacher, Fred Kiskey. Together they planted more than 31 kinds of trees on the 31/2-acre plot in Norton Shores where they lived and opened it up to students to study on field trips. 

The Kiskeys had no biological children "but, oh, the thousands they influenced," Saint Denis said. "That's just one of their legacies." 

Florence Kiskey taught for many years at Muskegon Public Schools and finished her teaching career as an educational consultant for Muskegon Area Intermediate School District, monitoring elementary school teachers in the classroom. 

She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, Fred and Margaret Anderson, and only sister, Marcella Ludwall. 

Kiskey requested there be no funeral service, but friends are planning a memorial service in the spring. 

Burial will be in the family grave site in Mona View Cemetery. Clock Life Story-Muskegon is handling the arrangements.


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