Memorial Service
Obituary of Louisa Rawle Tine
Louisa Rawle Tiné 80, of South Salem, NY died on September 2, 2023 at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut.
Louisa was born in Philadelphia to James Rawle 2nd and Mary Cheston Morris Rawle and grew up at Castlefinn Farm in Bryn Mawr, PA where she developed a deep love of nature and the outdoors. Weezie, as she was known to family and childhood friends, attended Agnes Irwin School and graduated from Garrison Forrest School in Garrison, MD. She went on to receive a BA in European History from Wheaton College in Norton, MA and pursued an MFA in Film at New York University.
Louisa’s career began in theater as an actress and manager at the Boston Theater Company, Charles Playhouse, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Trinity Rep in Providence, RI. She moved to New York and worked for Actor’s Equity before becoming one of the first women to receive a Ford Foundation grant - enabling her to study theater management at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. At the Guthrie she met set designer Hal Tiné. They returned to New York, married in 1971 and had two sons Christopher and Matthew.
Louisa was a lifelong artist and gardener and was happiest in her garden or working in her studio. For 50 years she worked as a watercolor artist and botanical illustrator and was a prolific product designer for Caspari and Lillian Vernon, among others. With her husband Hal she exhibited miniature gardens at the Philadelphia Flower Show and her illustrations were regularly featured in magazines such as Fine Gardening, Kitchen Garden and Shephard’s Garden Seeds. Her fine art has been exhibited in over 300 group and solo shows, won numerous awards, and is held in public and private collections including New York Botanical Garden, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and the Hunt Collection.
Sharing her love of art and plants through teaching was particularly important to Louisa and she was nationally sought-after for her botanical illustration and watercolor classes. She taught at PHS, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the Henry Foundation for Botanical Research and Chanticleer Garden. For two decades she taught at The New York Botanical Garden where she also ran the exhibition program and developed a popular course on the history of botanical illustration.
Louisa was an active member in the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, the American Society of Botanical Artists, the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators, and the Bedford Garden Club. She was twice recognized for her work in botanical art and horticulture by the Garden Club of America, first with the Elizabeth Platt Corning Medal and with the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal. She volunteered with environmental causes she cared about and sat on the board of The Henry Botanic Garden, Gladwyne, PA, the steering committee of The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College and the Luquer-Marble Wildflower Garden at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Cross River, NY.
Louisa is survived by her two sons, Christopher and Matthew, both of New York, NY, as well as several nieces and nephews. She is pre-deceased by her husband Hal, her parents, her brothers James Rawle 3rd and William Morris Rawle, and by her sister Mary Elizabeth Morris Rawle Slattery.
A Memorial Service will be held at 11am on Friday, September 29th at the South Salem Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Lewisboro Land Trust (https://lewisborolandtrust.org/donate) or The Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College (https://www.sunywcc.edu/about/npc/donate/) “In Memory of Louisa Rawle Tiné.”
