Elizabeth K. Worley

Kinney was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, the daughter of Asa S. Kinney and Jean B. Tucker Kinney.^[1] Her father was a professor of botany and plant science at Mount Holyoke College.^[2] To mark her birth, her father planted a copper beech tree near Williston Library on the campus of Mount Holyoke; that tree "has become a fixture on campus: enchanting members of the campus community and visitors alike through the seasons".^[3]

Kinney graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1924,^[4] and was active in Mount Holyoke alumnae activities.^[5] She pursued further studies at Washington University, where she earned a master's degree in 1926; she was elected to membership in Sigma Xi while there.^[6] She completed a doctorate at Columbia University in 1940, with a dissertation titled "A Study of the Sperm-Forming Components in Three Species of Decapoda" (1939).^[7]

Kinney taught zoology, anatomy, and physiology courses at Washington University, New York University, and the University of Pittsburgh.^[8][9] At Barnard College she taught courses and co-led the annual Camp Leadership Course for student leaders.^[10] Worley and her biologist husband both taught at Brooklyn College. In the 1940s, they collaborated on research on Golgi bodies,^[11][12] and he acknowledged her contributions to his publications.^[13] As E. K. Worley, she was still co-authoring research papers on marine invertebrates in the 1970s^[14] and 1980s.^[15][16][17]

Kinney married biology professor Leonard George Worley in 1931.^[8] They had two daughters and lived in Manhasset, New York. Her husband died in 1960.^[18][19] She died in 2004, aged 100 years, in Seattle. Two of her diaries are in the Mount Holyoke College Archives.^[20]