Elinor Twohy, environmental champion and chronicler of Jenner, dies at 97

A newborn seal pup rescued from the beach last month in view of Elinor Twohy’s riverfront home in Jenner very well might have caught her attention almost any other day in the past three decades.

Twohy, 97, was devoted to the harbor seal colony at the mouth of the Russian River, maintaining a record of daily observations for almost 30 years and laboring for far longer to ensure the marine mammals were safe and protected at their haulout there.

She was instrumental in the campaign to ban dogs at Goat Rock State Beach after several baby seals were mauled or abandoned because of unleashed pets. She also supported creation of a seal watch program through which the rookery is protected.

Twohy’s run as a guardian of the Jenner coast - a scenic stretch she and her late husband, John Twohy, fought to protect for more than a half century - came to an end late last month.

Two days before the newborn seal was rescued, on March 22, Elinor Twohy died in her sleep at her cottage perched just above the Russian River mouth. There, the windows look out onto Goat Rock beach, the ocean and all the wildlife that never failed to pique her interest.

Twohy, whose health had briefly been in decline, was a full-time Jenner resident for nearly ?50 years and had served as the town’s postmaster and historian.

She was among the original defenders of the North Coast - part of a generation of environmental pioneers who first understood what was at stake when developers began to eye open seaside lands for subdivisions, shopping centers and even a nuclear power plant in Bodega Bay.

“What an important presence she was in Jenner,” said longtime friend Buz Rowell, 75. “Everybody knew her. Absolutely everyone.”

Twohy joined her first environmental fight - against gravel dredging in the mouth of the Russian River in the 1960s - while still a Palo Alto resident who spent weekends at the Jenner family house. Later, she and fellow activists battled for years to save the Jenner headlands and the Willow Creek watershed from development.

But it is her legacy as defender and chronicler of the Jenner seal colony that likely leaves the deepest mark. Her records, which contributed to several scientific studies, were compiled initially through a daily drive to a Highway 1 overlook and more recently from her window, using what Rowell called “a very strong but impractically large pair of binoculars.”

Twohy was among a host of women recognized last May for their environmental stewardship at a gathering hosted by Cea Higgins, executive director of California Coastwalk.

Twohy, Higgins said, was an exemplar in the field of “citizen science” before the term was known.

“She was a force to be reckoned with, for sure, but she always used science and observations to back whatever policy or program she was working to establish,” Higgins said. “I think that is what was so unique. Great lady. Another great lady of Sonoma County. But I think her example is state- (or) nationwide.”

Twohy was a founding member of the Stewards of Slavianka - now the Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, which oversees interpretive programs and helps manage public lands across the region. Its Seal Watch program enlists volunteers who help protect and educate the public about the harbor seal colony, particularly during pupping season.

Twohy also was a founding member and longtime officer of the Jenner Community Club, through which she helped staff and create many of the interpretive displays at what’s now the Jenner Visitors Center, operated in partnership with the California State Parks Department.

Taking stock of his mother’s life in preparation for a Saturday memorial service, son Mike Twohy of Berkeley said he was struck by the many interests she pursued over nearly a century. Of course, she was “the seal watcher,” he said. But she was also a devoted mother and wife, dancer, postmaster, art lover, Scrabble competitor extraordinaire, pingpong player and community activist.

“That’s sort of a question in my mind,” said Twohy, an acclaimed cartoonist. “How many lives to talk about if and when I give a little talk at the memorial?”

The daughter of German immigrants who met in the United States, Elinor Gebhardt was raised by her librarian mother in Los Angeles and attended UCLA, where she studied German and dance. She taught high school for ?two years before marrying John Twohy in 1945 and moving north to the South Bay, where they raised their boys, Mike and Chris.

Elinor Twohy worked as an executive secretary at a scientific instrument manufacturer that employed her husband for a time before they bought into a lithographic/fine art printing company in San Francisco.

An ad in a San Francisco newspaper around 1961 led them to the Jenner house, and it took only seconds for them to know it was theirs, though it would be another decade before they lived there full time.

She worked for a year with the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab, then got a job with the post office and later was made Jenner’s postmaster, solidifying her attachment to the community. The Twohys were known for hosting art meetings in their home, with friends coming to draw and paint. Her knowledge of the town’s past evolved into another role as Jenner’s go-to historian. She used a standard typewriter for the job.

She worked hard, as well, at home, where her husband, who lost the use of his legs as a young man, required extra help. He died in 2002.

Her records of Jenner’s marine wildlife began after the enactment of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, after which harbor seal populations steadily grew around the West Coast. Twohy saw local populations range from a low of 60 to a high of 600, and she was instrumental in pushing for additional safeguards that today keep onlookers at safe distance and their dogs at bay.

“I feel very protective of them,” she said in a ?2016 interview about the seal colony. Her observations of the animals became a kind of prism through which to observe her surroundings. “It’s helped me to keep focusing on changes in the natural world,” she said.

A serious Scrabble player - and not a great loser, according to close friend Winnie Hogoboom - she kept current her membership in the North America Scrabble Players’ Association. She and Hogoboom’s last game after a 24-year partnership was Jan. 19.

She had recently been hospitalized for pneumonia and then spent some time in convalescent care, but was released to go home thereafter.

“I will miss her so much,” Hogoboom said.

In addition to her son, Mike, she is survived by son Chris of Lakeport and by three grandchildren.

A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Jenner Community Center.

Two days after her death, when beachgoers became aware of the distressed seal pup across from Twohy’s home, Seal Watch volunteers took over and called for a rescue by the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center.

The arriving rescue volunteer knew of Twohy’s passing.

In her honor, the recovering pup has been named “Scrabble.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.