Louise McNeill

Louise McNeill (9 January 1911 – 18 June 1993), also known as Louse McNeil Pease, was an American poet, essayist, and historian of Appalachia.

McNeill was born January 9, 1911 in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, West Virginia, USA on a farm in Buckeye that her family had owned since 1769. Her father, G. D. McNeil was also a writer and published a collection of short stories about the forests of Pocahontas County, West Virginia and the decline of the wilderness entitled The Last Forest. She wrote her first poem at 16 on a friend's typewriter, and thereafter decided to be a poet. She graduated from Concord College (now Concord University) and then obtained her master's degree from Miami University in Ohio. She received a doctorate from West Virginia University in History, and also received a honorary doctorate in the humanities from the university later. She also studied at Middlebury College at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference with the poet Robert Frost, and at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. In 1939, she married Roger Pease. McNeill taught English and history for over 30 years, beginning in rural one-room schools in West Virginia and eventually teaching at Potomac State College, Fairmont State College, and West Virginia University. McNeill's husband Roger died in 1990. McNeill died on June 18, 1993 in Malden, West Virginia, survived by her son Douglas McNeill.