Sister Mary Teresita Kittell (born De Pere,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, November 10, 1892; died Manitowoc, Wisconsin, June 18, 1990) was an American botanist and educator.

Early life

Kittell was born Mildred Kittell in West De Pere, newly consolidated with the city of De Pere across the Fox River. Her parents were railroad man William Orin Kittell (1859-1938) and Elizabeth Louise (Jacobs) Kittell (1863-1939). Her siblings were Raymond Kittell (1891-1932) and Kathryn Margaret Kittell (1901-1984). She graduated from East High School in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1910. In 1918 she entered the convent of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity in Manitowoc and entered vows in 1920. She earned a B.A. from the Catholic Sisters' College (the women's division of the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

) in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

and an MA and PhD in botany (1941) from Catholic University of America, where she studied with botanist

Ivar Tidestrom Ivar Frederick Tidestrom (November13, 1864August2, 1956) was a Swedish-American botanist. He is best known for his volumes on the flora of the Southwestern United States, American Southwest. Early life Tidestrom was born on his father's estate "La ...

(1865-1956).

Career

Kittell and Tidestrom published ''A Flora of Arizona and New Mexico'' in 1941, the first state-level systematic look at the area's flora. Kittell spent nineteen years teaching in various elementary and secondary schools in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Nebraska, after receiving her PhD she spent twenty-nine years as a biology professor at

Holy Family College Schools with the name Holy Family College: *Holy Family College (Wisconsin), United States *Holy Family University, United States (historically known as Holy Family College) *Holy Family College, Abak, Nigeria *Holy Family College, Sydenham, South ...

in Manitowoc. She also spent a year as a guest professor at another Catholic institution,

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. During her time at Holy Family College, Kittell published a guide to the ferns of the area (''Ferns of Manitowoc County'', 1965) and collected many specimens for the college's herbarium. After the closing of the college in 2020 the herbarium was acquired by the local Woodland Dunes Nature Center."Stories from The Herbarium: Sister M. Teresita Kittell", Kennedy Zittel, ''Dunesletter'' (Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve), Spring 2022, volume 190, p. 3

Retirement

Kittell retired in 1971, before Holy Family was separated from her order and became Silver Lake College. She spent her retirement researching local history and the history of her order, contributing articles to local publications and publishing ''Refining His Silver'' (1979), a history of the early years of the Franciscan Sisters in Manitowoc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kittell, Mary Teresita 1892 births 1990 deaths People from De Pere, Wisconsin People from Manitowoc, Wisconsin Third Order Regular Franciscans 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns Catholic University of America alumni American women botanists American botanists