Elaine Macmann "Mac" Willoughby (March 22, 1926 – November 12, 2012) was an American educator and writer of children's books.

She received her MA and PhD in Education from the Teachers College, Columbia University, from 1954 to 1957.

Her teaching career began with primary school where she taught 1st grade in Norwood, Massachusetts, from 1949–1951, in Arlington, Virginia, from 1951–1952, and Wilmington, Delaware, from 1952–1953.

She also taught at the Agnes Russel Center of the Teachers College while pursuing her MA and PhD.

[3] She married the flutist Robert Hugh Willoughby in the summer of 1957, after having dated him off and on for several years.