Nelle Elizabeth Tobias
Born: May 11, 1906
Died: April 30, 2005
Nelle Tobias was a petite, sandy-haired woman with birdlike bones, enormous blue eyes and a shy smile. From 1951 until just before her death in 2005, Nelle lived alone in a cabin of her own design, on a piece of land that overlooked the rich green meadows of Long Valley to the west and nearby Jug Mountain to the east. She lived a life of voluntary simplicity during which she gave anonymous donations of money and generous amounts of time. She spent her life doing whatever she felt was necessary to support and protect the natural world and its inhabitants, whether it was writing letters, speaking out at public meetings or helping send out an organization’s bulk mail.
Nelle’s causes included protection of the art of indigenous people, rights of women and minorities, and conservation of the natural world and its inhabitants. Beneficiaries of her generosity include Long Valley Preservation Council, Idaho Conservation League, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Wilderness Society, the Snake River Alliance, Planned Parenthood of Idaho, McCall Community Congregational Church, American Friends Service Committee, Advocates for the West (The LAW Fund), Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary and McPaws Regional Animal Shelter, among others. She left almost her entire estate—in excess of $1 million—to 20 nonprofit organizations, including these.
Nelle had no children. She bestowed on the birds that came to her feeders, the dogs she adopted, the plants in her garden, the indigenous peoples whose rock art she studied, and a myriad of wild places, all the love a mother showers on her offspring. In her words,
“I am neither flag-waver nor fighter, but I love our country.
I love our land as if it were a personality. When I see it being violated,
I feel pain, as if it were happening to a loved one.”
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