Jeanette W. Berg Mackenzie, a devoted gardener, teacher, and lifelong student of the natural world, passed peacefully at the age of 85 on May 22, 2025, surrounded by family, after her courageous 73-year battle with diabetes and its complications.

Born April 14, 1940, in Northfield Minnesota, and graduating from Northfield MN High School in 1958, Jeanette cultivated a deep-rooted love for the natural world from a young age - a love that would shape every season of her life.

During her college years, she spent summers in Northern Minnesota at Camp Widjiwagan, teaching children how to swim and immersing herself in wilderness life - a passion she never lost. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1963 with a degree in dietetics and went on to work with Stouffer's, first in Chicago, later transferring to the iconic Top of the Hub Boston location.

It was in Massachusetts, on a church group trip to Old Sturbridge Village, that she met her future husband, George Mackenzie. What began as an arranged outing quickly bloomed into a deep partnership. Together, they settled in Duxbury, MA, where they raised their two children, Heather and Brian.

Jeanette was more than a gardener - she was a botanical historian, a meticulous horticulturist, and a tireless steward of the land. She not only knew plants by their Latin names, but understood their cultural and medicinal histories, their ecological roles, and their aesthetic potential. Whether nurturing heirloom perennials or handcrafting wreaths from foraged materials, her hands and knowledge shaped the land with intention and grace.

A founding member of the Hingham Farmers Market, she attended for over three decades, offering not only fresh arrangements and floral-related crafts, but her experience and knowledge freely given. Her wreath-making workshops became an annual ritual for many, filled with laughter, storytelling, and the crisp scent of pine and eucalyptus. She taught flower arranging at local garden clubs, continuing education programs, and the Marshfield YMCA, always infusing traditional methods with thoughtful innovation.

A devoted and longstanding member of the Duxbury Garden Club, Jeanette contributed her expertise and passion to the club's many horticultural projects and community outreach efforts for decades, helping to foster a shared love of gardening throughout the town.

Her dedication extended beyond private gardens to historic sites including the John Alden House and the King Caesar House, where she helped reimagine and restore colonial-era landscapes with scholarly precision. Drawing on agricultural history and original planting records, she reconstructed working gardens that honored the daily rhythms of early New England life.

Jeanette also authored several articles for local publications on sustainable planting, native species, and historic garden preservation, becoming a quiet authority in her field.

In 2016 she won the Speak for Thyself Award, an award given to women who have chosen their own paths, as pioneers, advocates, community organizers, and business leaders, thereby creating better lives for themselves and their communities.

At Pilgrim Church of Duxbury, where she was a member for over 50 years, Jeanette's seasonal floral displays for Easter and Christmas became awaited traditions. Her arrangements - artful, reverent, and deeply personal - reflected her belief in beauty as a form of service.

Jeanette is remembered for her steady hand, her humility, and her lifelong devotion to cultivating not just plants, but people and places. Her legacy is one of quiet brilliance, rooted wisdom, and enduring care.

Jeanette is survived by Heather Elaine Mackenzie of Nantucket, Brian George and Mickey Mackenzie of Duxbury and a community forever enriched by her work, her words, and her wildflower-covered paths.

A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, June 28, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. in the Pilgrim Church of Duxbury.