Mary Horton, a long-time Animal Science staff member, retired October 1. She spent most of her adult life with the department, receiving her B.A. in 1963 and M.S. in 1966, both in Animal Husbandry. She started working for Dr. Harold Cole in 1963, breeding pony mares and collecting pregnant mare serum (PMS). She helped develop the second international standard assay for PMS and measured gonatotropins using a rat bioassay. She graded papers for Dr. Cole's  Introductory Animal Science class of 200 to 300 students.

Mary worked for Dr. Perry Cupps until he retired in 1982, mostly with dairy cattle, incubating ovarian, adrenal or testicular tissue with radioactive hormones and separating, quantifying and identifying end products. Dr. Cupps was a leader in initiating the embryo transfer program at UC Davis in the early 1970s. When Professor Gary Anderson arrived (1974), Mary began working for him as well when he and Dr. Cupps collaborated on several twinning trials in cattle and sheep involving embryo transfer. In 1983 Trish Berger inherited Mary, and she learned the successes and frustrations of semen collection in swine. Mary did a number of in vitro procedures using sperm from several different species and hamster or pig eggs.

Mary was the department's safety coordinator since 1994 and Meyer Hall Common Teaching Space Supervisor since 1993. She also served as teaching coordinator for a year.

Mary plans to continue her swimming, including two swim meets in Greece in June 2003. She also teaches CPR and First Aid for the Red Cross. The next docent class for the UC Davis Arboretum will include her, and she is a new member of The Friends of the Mondavi Center, the recently completed performance arts theatre.

 Alida Morzenti retired from the department in July after 30 years, mostly with Avian Sciences. After receiving her B.S. (1971) and  M.S. (1974) degrees in Avian Sciences, she became a teaching and laboratory assistant in 1974 and was appointed lecturer in 1975. For three years she also taught night classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. Working with Dr. Ray Burger and Akin Orhun, she computerized the office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. This followed the computer instruction that she and Dr. Burger offered to staff at the request of then dean Charles Hess.

Throughout Alida's career, birds have been her focus, particularly wild ones. In 1972, she helped Dr. Ogasawara start the Raptor Center. Alida belongs to many bird groups, including the World Center for Birds of Prey, the Raptor Research Association, Santa Rosa Bird Rescue, the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, the Yolo Basin Foundation and the Pacific Flyway Center. In 1998 and 1999, she was chair of the California Duck Days Committee Wetlands Festival. Currently she is director of the Cache Creek Conservatory.

Alida has written a dozen scholarly papers, often about raptors and their rehabilitation. Her dedication was recognized by an Avian Sciences departmental award in 1971, special departmental performance awards in 1983 and 1988 and, significantly, a prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award from the Academic Federation in 1998.

Alida gifted herself with a trip to Italy this summer to visit her many relatives. She is revitalizing her grandparents' Sonoma County vineyard and returning to her first love of grape growing. She also manages the family properties in San Francisco

 Eileen O'Farrell retired from the University in July after 32 years. For the past ten years, she assisted Dr. James H. Meyer, Chancellor Emeritus of UC Davis and former professor of animal nutrition, editing his manuscripts. She also edited the Animal Science newsletter,  Highlights, and continues to do so, along with working on the department's facilities development and public relations.

Transferring in 1973 from the medical school at the University of California, San Diego, Eileen first worked in Davis for the Division of Family Practice, writing articles on the Family Nurse Practitioner movement. For 11 years she worked for Animal Resources Service, cataloguing buildings and animal space, editing veterinary manuscripts and writing an animal care protocol guide. After stints as editor in the Division of Clinical Nutrition and in Agronomy and Range Science, she met Chancellor Emeritus Jim Meyer at an Animal Science barbecue and applied for a vacancy in his office. “Dr. Meyer was the best boss ever,” says Eileen.

Eileen and her husband Reid Borgwardt are eventually moving to Healdsburg to Reid's family farm with their horses and cattle. They enjoy foxhunting and three-day eventing. She plans to continue doing free-lance writing and editing.