Julie Child

I was born June 7, 1934 and lived in the country near Wayne, PA and near Valley Forge Military Academy, where I remember they had very impressive marching parades every Sunday. I aspired to be as good as those cadets were when I was 3. I never attained that ambition. I was the middle child with three sisters and one brother, a place I always thought ideal; I always had someone to play with. We had a very happy childhood together. Mary, who was 1 year older than I, was always drawing, so I did too. She had a very good eye, so I developed one too. She drew men doing sports and I drew insects and flowers.

I first came to Woods Hole when I was about 12, with Mary. We stayed with my aunt and uncle who happened to own the Airplane House, a wonderful place to spend summers. We went to Science School, enjoyed square dancing there, and sailing, though I never became a good sailor; I never understood the wind. We also reveled in the excitement of several hurricanes.

My next experience in Woods Hole was as a chambermaid at the MBL, a great job then for a young college student. We worked from 8 til noon and had the rest of the day off. I made $100 that summer and thought I was rich.

My first professional job as a biological illustrator was with Dr. Philip Armstrong who hired me to draw the normal stages of the development of Ictalaurus nebulosis, the bullhead (catfish). The series was for embryological, development, and behavioral studies. I had to make a drawing every half hour for 8 hours then one every 12 hours, then 18 hours etc, finally getting to only one per day. It took me 2 years to finish that project. And then Phil Armstrong asked me to do a second series of the stages of the development on Fundulus heteroclitus, another two year project. It was fun and I was young and the long hours at my desk staring through a dissecting scope was an adventure, and Frank Child (future husband) had the lab next to mine. Now I felt like a true biological illustrator. I had gotten my formal training after college at Massachusetts General Hospital School of Medical Illustration.

Frank and I spent every summer in Woods Hole after we were married in 1960, he at the MBL and I, a few years later, at Science School where I started a course in biological illustration, that has been taught for almost every summer since. I taught there for 17 or so years and loved it. A great institution.

Frank and I retired here in 1994 and have been involved in Woods Hole activities and institutions ever since. We have three children and five grandchildren, all of whom love Woods Hole and consider it their second home. All of them went to Science School and a number of them have been worked with MBL.

I find Woods Hole a truly wonderful place to live. It has the warmth of a small town and the breadth of a large city. It is also a very accommodating and tolerant place. Almost anyone can find a niche here.