Ethel Awburn Holmes Looff, 101, died Sept. 18, 2002 at Careage of Whidbey in Coupeville.

Mrs. Looff was born April 29, 1901 in Chicago to Ralph Thomas Holmes and Mary Awburn Holmes. She completed one year of study at the University of Chicago College of Science before moving with her family to Hollywood, Calif. In 1922, Mrs. Looff received her elementary school teacher’s credential and junior high school credential from UCLA and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley. She received her general secondary school credential in 1926.

Mrs. Looff was employed as a teacher in the Los Angeles City School System from 1922 to 1927. During the summer of 1926, she met her future husband, Henry B. Looff, on the steamship Alaska on her way home to California after visiting her older sister in Anchorage.

At the time, Henry was employed by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in Alaska. Henry and Ethel were married Oct. 29, 1927. For the next 18 years, they spent April through October on Kodiak Island and winters on Whidbey Island. Their two sons, David and Donald, were born in 1928 and 1930.

While living on Kodiak Island, Mrs. Looff collected botanical specimens which she donated to universities around the country. She discovered a new variety of arctic willow which was named for her: Salix pulchra var. Looffiae. She is one of only approximately 200 persons for whom taxa have been named, including George Washington.

In 1943, Mrs. Looff received a War Service appointment as a junior fiscal accounting clerk at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. She eventually became administrative assistant (chief clerk) of the Public Works Department. In 1957, Mrs. Looff took a job as an English teacher and later as the head librarian at Anacortes High School. During the summers, Mrs. Looff attended the University of Washington School of Librarianship, and in 1960, at the age of 59, she received her degree of Master of Librarianship.

Following retirement in 1966, Mrs. Looff was asked to set up a library at Peninsula College, and she commuted by air to Port Angeles weekly for three years. In 1970, at the age of 69, she established a library at Pima College, a then new community college in Tucson, Ariz. From 1971 to 1972, Mrs. Looff was the creator and director of the Learning Resource Center of Whidbey Branch, Skagit Valley College and from 1974 to 1980, she was the Education Center librarian for Chapman College at NAS Whidbey. In 1980 Mrs. Looff moved from Oak Harbor to a retirement center in Seattle. While there, she organized and cataloged the library at the University of Washington Herbarium. Mrs. Looff was a member of University Presbyterian Church. In 2000 she moved to Careage of Whidbey in Coupeville.

Mrs. Looff’s biography has appeared in World’s Who’s Who of Women, Who’s Who in Library Service, and International Biography. She was a member of Pi Lambda Theta (national honor society in the field of education) and Beta Phi Mu (International Library Science Honor Fraternity). In 1975 Mrs. Looff was awarded Emeritus Membership in the Washington State Association of School Librarians.

Mrs. Looff was preceded in death by her brother, Ralph G. Holmes; her sisters, Catherine (Ruth) Malone, Madeline G. Holmes, and Viola (Grace) Carrigan; her husband, Henry B. Looff; her son, David H. Looff; and her great-granddaughter, Erica C. Jenkins. She is survived by her son, Donald L. Looff of Oak Harbor, and her six grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren: John Looff of Lexington, Ky. and his children Rachel, Sarah, and Megan; Mary Sallee of Cincinnati and her children Jenny and Bryan; Jean Looff of Liberty, Mo. and her children Adam and Christopher; Alan Looff of Bellingham; Debra Jansen of Oak Harbor and her children Jessica, Jonathan, Jacob, Justin, Jennifer, Jember, Joshua and Juliann; and Cheryl Looff Yoder of Salem, Ore., and her children Lishan, Aklilu and Isaiah.

Graveside services were held Sept. 20 at Maple Leaf Cemetery with Rev. Marshall McBride officiating. Arrangements were entrusted to Burley Funeral Chapel.

Remembrances may be made to the Gideons or to a favorite charity.