Elaine Anne Nowick, 70, retired faculty, of Cañon City, Colorado, died Jan. 28 after a brief battle with cancer.
Nowick served in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln libraries as faculty and agriculture subject librarian from 1995 to her retirement in 2011.
Nowick was born in Denver on March 6, 1948 to Hardy and Anne (Kopic) Maytag. Upon graduation from high school, she studied plant science and genetics, earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado; master’s degree from Colorado State University; and doctorate from Iowa State University.
She was hired at Nebraska to serve as an assistant professor and agriculture subject librarian in the University Libraries in 1995. She received tenure and promotion in 2001 and was promoted to a full professor in 2007. Nowick retired with emeriti status in 2011.
During her tenure at Nebraska, Nowick’s love of plants drove her to research and catalog native prairie plants. The research led to the publication of two books: “Historical Common Names of Great Plains Plants, Volume I: Historical Common Names” and “Historical Common Names of Plants, Volume II: Scientific Names Index.”
Her connection to plants carried into her personal life as Nowick was a founding member of the Nebraska Native Plant Society. She also restored 20 acres of prairie at her Lincoln-area home.
After her retirement, Nowick returned to Colorado and built a home on her family’s homestead.
Nowick was an environmentalist and donated to many causes. She was also a lover of animals and nature who enjoyed hiking on her land in Colorado. She also enjoyed traveling, sewing, knitting, music, reading and building furniture. She was a recent volunteer for the Court Appointed Special Advocate Association in Fremont County, Colorado, and enjoyed the opportunity to work with children in the program.
Nowick had one child, Matthew, with her first husband, Charles Nowick. On Nov. 25, 1995, Nowick married her second husband, Robert “Bob” Hill. He preceded her in death. She was also preceded in death by her parents and first husband.
She is survived by Matthew and his wife, Michelle Phillips, of Madison, Wisconsin; brother, Stephen Maytag of Carnegie, Pennsylvania; cousin, Charles Kopic of Cañon City; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
A celebration of life will be held at Nowick’s home west of Cañon City, in Webster Park, 2126 County Road 3, at 5:30 p.m. May 5. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested to the Nebraska Native Plant Society, David Sutherland, treasurer, Department of Biology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 6001 Dodge St., Omaha, NE, 68182-0040; or the Nature Conservancy, 4245 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 100, Arlington, VA, 22203-1606.
