Her parents were Charles and Kate (born Watson) Swineford and she was unusual in deciding to choose geology when few women were involved.

[2] She moved to Western Washington State College in Bellingham where she became a full professor in 1969.

She and Frye looked at the particle size of loesse and compared it with local dust.

They found a high degree of similarity and this strengthened the evidence of Russell's theory that they had been formed from dust.

The clay is said to have the consistency of Vaseline and is found in a mine in North Carolina.