Hesse Greif, Elaine 

Born in the United States in 1945 and grew up in Pasadena, California. She had an honours degree in history, did graduate studies in South Asian history at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked as a social worker. After emigrating to New Zealand in 1968 she spent several years, while her children were very young, as a volunteer in community affairs in Dunedin, and completed a post-graduate diploma in history at the University of Otago.

She taught at St Hilda's Collegiate School, was involved in the YWCA.