Christine Anne Powell

Christine Powell of Ely, Cambridgeshire and Georgetown, Texas, died April 13, 2026. She was born on 2 November 1953 in a house built around 1345; her father, John Fisher, was the Head Gardener at the Bishop’s Palace in Ely. She graduated from Anglia Ruskin University before working for British Telecommunications in Cambridge and Chester.

Christine was an accountant for nine years in Dubai, UAE. During that time, she certified as a professional diver, visiting up to 80 countries on diving or sightseeing trips. In 1990, she came to the US and later become a citizen. She graduated from UT Austin with University and College of Liberal Arts honors, as well as honors in each of her two majors. She was a Ph.D. candidate in the Nautical Archeology Program at Texas A&M University and helped excavate a shipwreck off the Turkish coast. She edited an international publication, The INA Quarterly, for several years. Christine later became an officer of the Native Plant Society of Texas and a two-term President of the Capital Area Master Naturalists. She edited both their newsletters.

She was Headmistress of the Grace Episcopal Church School in Georgetown for a year. More recently, she was very active as an artist, particularly in watercolors. She and her surviving husband, Dale Rye (an Assistant Williamson County Attorney for thirty years) had lived in Georgetown since 1991. As she requested no funeral or flowers, contributions in her name may be made to the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter.