Biography

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  Thora Amelia Anne Winter was born 4th July 1927 spent her childhood and teens on a farm near Bulawayo S. Rhodesia. One of five children she roamed the bush and kopjes learning from the tribal peoples in the area: what wild fruits, locusts, and mushrooms to eat. Her passionate engagement with the natural world developed into a career in art and teaching about the creatures she loved. She was happily married to Ken Hartley who shared her love of the wild, the flora and fauna. They took many outings into the bush and learned the local and Latin names of the trees and wildlife.

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  The Hartley’s were keen gardeners; they grew 500 roses for the Trade Fairs, won many awards and grew their own beautiful specimen they called Kenora Duet. Expert pruners, they gave demonstrations all over the country. 

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  Ken died in 2008 and Thora, now in her nineties, lives in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, gardening, and painting and writing poetry...She is a recognized creative artist and authority on the flora and fauna, birds, mammals and insects all the living creatures of Zimbabwe and has written and produced a book of her paintings and sketches.

 

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