Jean Andrews (1) (1923–)

Jean Andrews was born in Kingsville, Texas and graduated from boarding school at age 16. She attended Texas A&I University, majoring in home economics, before transferring to the University of Texas.

In 1944, she spent her honeymoon in Mexico, the first of more than 100 countries around the world she would eventually visit. She took courses in marine science in response to her new-found love of seashells, began painting, and obtained her master of science degree in education at Texas A&I. Jean began collecting seashells and took up scuba diving to expand her collection, eventually diving for shells in the Philippines, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Costa Rica, Panama, the Canary Islands, and the Red Sea.

At age 50, she began work on her doctorate in art at the University of North Texas, earning her degree in 1976.


In 1971, she published her first book, Sea Shells of the Texas Coast, which at her insistence, included photos of the shells alongside their descriptions. She photographed all the specimens herself.
The book became an instant classic.
In 1984, she published her best-known book, Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums, which included scientific, cultural, and historical information. Over seven years preparing the book, she had taught herself botany, grown her own peppers, and painted each of the book’s illustrations. This and her 1999 book, The Pepper Trail: History & Recipes From Around the World, became the ultimate sources for information on peppers, and earned Dr. Andrews the nickname "The Pepper Lady."
She also wrote The Peppers Cookbook: 200 Recipes From the Pepper Lady’s Kitchen (2005). Other notable works included The Texas Bluebonnet (1986), Seashells of the Texas Coast (1972), and American Wildflower Florilegium (1992). Dr. Andrews received the Distinguished Alumna award from both the University of Texas and the University of North Texas, and was the first woman to be named to the Hall of Honor in the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas. She was a visiting scholar in the Department of Botany at the University of Texas, and served on the advisory boards of both the School of Human Ecology and the College of Natural Sciences.