So, it seems that Mrs. T had a huge freezer that her husband, Calvin, bought to store steaks, chicken and other foods. She slowly commandeered it, making it the final resting place for dead woodland creatures she came across on her walks - retaining them for demonstrations at wildlife lectures.

"When you opened the freezer, the smell was sort of interesting," said Mrs. T's daughter, Lynn Ellen Terwilliger.

Mrs. T, of course, was Elizabeth Terwilliger of Mill Valley, the beloved naturalist and pioneer environmental educator who died in November at 97.

Among her many accomplishments were helping create the Marin County Audubon Society, educating legions of children in wildlife lore and being at the forefront of efforts to preserve open space and establish parks and wetlands.

The freezer story and numerous others were told at a memorial for Terwilliger on Saturday at the Mill Valley Community Center - a standing room-only affair attended by more than 300.

The mood was celebratory, and the center's lobby and auditorium were peppered with photos of Terwilliger wearing her trademark straw hat in one outdoor setting or another.

Jean Banning, a longtime friend, recalled that the frozen birds and animals "were a little limp" by the end of a lecture, and had to go quickly back to the freezer - which within a short time after being purchased by Calvin was loaded cheek to jowl with teaching props.

One day, said Banning, she and Terwilliger were returning to Mrs. T's Mill Valley home and were hit with a peculiar odor when they got near the door. " 'I know what that is,'" Banning recalled Terwilliger saying. The freezer was on the fritz and all within had defrosted, and then some.

Mrs. T's son, John Terwilliger of Fresno, said the family house was filled with pets, including at one time or the other cats, dogs, parakeets, chickens, parrots and for a brief time a gibbon ape.

Unfortunately, one day the gibbon - whose name was Big Mama - "bit the paper boy, and that was the last of the gibbon," said John Terwilliger.

Besides introducing her children to the great outdoors, Mrs. T was determined that they be exposed to the artistic refinements of civilized society.

"We were going to be cultured whether we wanted to or not," he said, adding that they frequently went to symphonies and operas in San Francisco.

"I remember falling asleep in front of some remarkably talented people."

Dr. Marty Griffin, a founder of the Audubon Canyon Ranch and the Environmental Forum of Marin, first met Mrs. T when he was a student at Stanford University Medical School and she was at the university's school of nursing. It was there, too, that she met her husband, Calvin, who became an orthopedic surgeon.

At Stanford, he first learned "you couldn't say no to Mrs. T. She had a very powerful personality."

After they all moved to Marin in the mid 1940s, Griffin became the pediatrician for Mrs. T's children.

One day, Griffin's phone rang and on the other end was Mrs. T., armed with an idea that would brook no resistance.

"I always trembled when I got a phone call from her," said Griffin, smiling.

" 'We are starting an Audubon Society, and we want you to be on the board of directors, and I won't take no for an answer,'" Mrs. T. told Griffin.

In a more serious vein, Griffin said of Mrs. T.: "You were Mother Nature at its best."

Lynn Ellen Terwilliger, who lives in Idaho, recalled that her mother had no patience with her children after they reached their teens and wanted to sleep in on the weekends.

"Teenagers like to sleep a little longer," she said. "Mother never recognized this as a possibility. She would wake us at the crack of dawn (saying), 'You don't want to miss anything. You can sleep when you are dead.'"

Mrs. T's daughter smiled and said, "Sweet dreams, mother."

Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com