Elsie Trask Wheeler died in Duxbury on Dec. 26, 2022. She was 90.

She adored her childhood in Lloyd Neck and Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. Summers were spent racing dinghies on Martha’s Vineyard, where her father John J. Trask was commodore of the Edgartown Yacht Club from 1954 to 1956 and her family owned a home on Fuller street in the 1950s and 60s. She made memorable trips on horseback, exploring the meadows and coastal ponds of Chappaquiddick.

After attending the Chapin School in New York city, she graduated from Smith College in 1954. She married Halsted (Link) Wheeler in 1970 and they raised five children in Darien, Conn., spending their summers on Scott’s Cove aboard Fat Man, their houseboat.

An early career at Time Life, Inc. sparked a lifelong passion for photography. She was always armed with a camera. In addition to capturing her children in their various water pursuits, her favorite photography subjects ranged from shorebirds and raptors along the Norwalk Islands to Tibetan monks and dramatic landscapes in the Far East. An intrepid traveler, Elsie’s journeys included destinations such as Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, India, China, Russia, Turkey and Cape Horn.

Her passion for and stewardship of the natural world galvanized her and friends to create the Darien Nature Center, a 27-acre education campus, in 1979. The combination of her passion for the outdoors and her keen visual eye led to numerous photography exhibits. Her office was a mix of humorous correspondences intermingled among stacks of photographic slides.

Determined, irreverent, ever curious and not afraid of wielding a power tool, Elsie’s sense of humor meant living in her presence was bound to include adventures, minor mishaps and laughter. Among her greatest pleasures were birdwatching voyages at the helm of her beloved motorboat The Uncle Gil and spending time with her grandchildren. She also loved downhill skiing and piloting a Cessna.

Elsie had a big heart and always made time for everyone she loved and the causes in which she believed.

She is survived by her husband Halsted, her daughter Chelsie and her husband Sandy, her son Blue and his wife Ady, her daughter Roo and her husband Rocky, her son Geoffrey and his wife Mary, and her son Halsted; 10 grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

She is also survived by her brother Dick Trask and his wife Cindy, and her brother John and his wife Jill. She was predeceased by her parents, John J. and Elsie Barber Trask and her beloved dog Jimmy.