Geraldine Ellis Watson was born February 8, 1925 in Bon Ami Louisiana. The Ellis family, Herbert Guy and Retha Goznell, migrated to southeast Tesxas as Herbert worked for the timber companies and railroads of various sawmill towns. Geraldine explored the creeks and forests of the area that she later helped save for future generations. Some of her early nemesis became her most admired friends as they watched corporate America take over and destroy thousands of acres of magnificent hardwood forests in order to plant fast growing slash pine forests. She became involved in a large number of environmental causes which led her to study under the most renowned botanist as her studies became the background for many authors, journalists and historians who wrote about the Big Thicket. She guided, along with her oldest sons, field trips for the National Park Service study groups, expeditions by government leaders such as George HW Bush, Senator Ralph Yarborough, Congressman Bob Eckhart and Charlie Wilson as well as local high school and college science classes. She testified before congress which led to the preservation of the forests by he development of the Big Thicket Preserve and her work for the National Park Service as botanist. She always cared most for the local people and culture. Her work led her to write a weekly article in the rebellious "Pine Needle" newspaper of Hardin County, leading to the paper being fire bombed, her famiy threatened and persecuted. In 1964 she was a founding board member of the Big Thicket Association and a busy speaker. In 1974 she acquired properties along Lake Hyatt at Warren and managed her own sanctuary. The Watson Long Leaf Pine Preserve lies in a natural bog system. She was also a talented artist and painted pictures of the "Good ol' Days" She authored books about the wildflowers and plants of Texas as well as contributing extensively to two other major works of botany and flora of Texas. She started the herbarium at Lamar University which later moved to Texas A&M. She despised the modern world and its destruction of the beauty of nature.