"I have definitely been influenced by my parents' Quaker beliefs," said Becky, who was born in Washington DC in 1937. She attended Radcliffe College and in 1958 married Thomas J. (Tom) Shankland whom she had met at Harvard.

The Shankland family, consisting of son Stephen and daughter Susanna, made Los Alamos their home in 1975 and Becky began teaching English at Los Alamos High School in 1976.

Becky has been involved with the League of Women Voters as president, newsletter editor and Voter Service chair. She has been a board member of both the Los Alamos Concert Association and the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Comittee.

The editor of "Flowers of the Southwestern Forests and Woodlands," Becky also wrote articles on wildflowers for the Monitor.

In 2000, she helped found PEEC, the Pajarito Environmental Education Center and was recently appointed to the ad hoc committee which will make recommendations regarding the future of the Municipal Building.

Written by Karen Nilsson Brandt, copyright ©