KAPAA, HI — Monique Cleland (nee Tremege), of Norwich, VT passed away peacefully in her sleep on December 27, 2018, in Kapaa, Hawaii, with her family by her side. This brought a tranquil end to a life of extraordinary professional and personal achievements.
Monique, always a Swiss citizen, had a lifelong interest in the sciences, which she pursued first by receiving her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Geneva, then moving in 1954 to Boston and earning a PhD from Geneva for the work she did there. During her studies in Boston, she met Robert Cleland, whose passion for his own work and for scientific internationalism paralleled Monique’s sense of adventure.
They married in 1956 and spent the next several years in New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, where Monique established herself as an accomplished research scientist. She continued her education by earning a Master’s degree in Library Science from Simmons College, which led to her appointment as Science Librarian for Dartmouth College, all while raising her four children: Chantal, Maryke, Andrew and Francis. Her career later continued at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and she returned for a few years to Switzerland, where she worked as the Librarian for the Cantonal Hospital of Vaud in Lausanne and for the European Medical Librarians association.
The family built a home in rural Vermont, where Monique grew to love the natural beauty of the area, in all seasons. Being an avid hiker, she earned her membership of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s “4000 Footers”, having climbed all forty-eight 4000+ foot peaks in New Hampshire. She was also active in the AMC summer camps for many years, hiking in many regions of the US.
Monique was a tireless traveler who thrived on the excitement of visiting countries which were not on the average tourist’s radar. She joined groups of intrepid travelers in the deserts of Africa, spending weeks driving in specially adapted Swiss army vehicles and sleeping under the stars, and visited many other countries in her quest to learn more about their cultural heritage and history. She traveled to many countries with Earthwatch and regaled her children with tales of briefings on how to climb trees to avoid being attacked by rhinos or techniques of how to assess the feeding habits of zebras. She even brought two of her grandchildren to camp and do animal counts in the rain forests of Puerto Rico. A tireless teacher, she worked in a summer program in Lugano, Switzerland alongside her eldest daughter, as well as traveling to such far flung places as Easter Island to teach English – a rich fabric of life indeed!
Following her retirement from Lausanne, Monique returned to her beloved home in the hills of Vermont, and spent many years there, which she used as the base for her travels. Her final years were spent living with her children, moving in the end to Kauai from where she made her way to eternity, in a quiet, tranquil passage.
Monique was predeceased by her husband Robert. She leaves behind her four children, her sister Janine and three grandchildren, Agnetta, Nick and Benjamin. A memorial service will take place at a later date.
Details will be posted at www.spiritoftheearthfarm.org/MoniqueCleland.html.