Born: 27 May 1883, United States
Died: 11 February 1966
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Enid Reeve
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Enid Michael
Yosemite National Park
Park Ranger & Naturalist, 1921-1942
• Born Enid Reeve on May 27, 1883 in Gilroy, CA.
• Moved to Los Angeles in 1897 where she attended the State Normal School.
• Moved to Pasadena, CA around 1907 to work as a 3rd grade teacher.
• Regularly attended Sierra Club outings, where she met Charles Wilson Michael, the Yosemite assistant postmaster, around 1909.
• Married Michael and join him in Yosemite National Park in 1919.
• Soon after her arrival, as a volunteer she helped create a wildflower, shrub, and tree display on the porch of the administrative building.
• Hired as a seasonal park ranger from 1921-1927.
• Beginning in 1928, she was hired under the temporary ranger-naturalist title.
• Was one of the most prolific writers at Yosemite, submitting 195 articles to Yosemite’s Nature Notes, 357 articles to the Stockton Record, and at least 19 other articles to different publications.
• By 1929, she had collected and mounted over 1,000 different plant specimens and recorded 120 different species of birds.
• Established and cultivated a large wildflower garden behind Yosemite’s museum.
• Worked as a temporary ranger-naturalist each summer until 1942, when, due to World War II, the NPS eliminated many naturalist positions.
• After her NPS career ended, she returned to L.A.
• Her husband Charles died in 1941. She remarried a man named Benson in the late 1950s.
• Died February 11, 1966.