Anyone who's cared about the Kickemuit River over the past 60 years, or who has sailed on or dug clams out of its sandy banks, has probably run into Ann Morrill at one time or another.

For decades, the retired school teacher and charter member of the Kickemuit River Council  has been as fierce an advocate for the river as Warren has known. If there was a town council meeting with something having to do with the river on the agenda, she was there. If a proposed development on Metacom Avenue threatened to increase runoff into its brackish waters, you could count on a letter to the editor or a phone call. If you were on the wrong side of a water quality issue, you got little patience. But if you care for the river, she is a friend.

As torrential rain poured down at the Laurel Park beach Saturday afternoon, dozens of her friends and family got happily soaked as they unveiled a plaque in her honor: "Ann Morrill, Guardian of the Kickemuit."

"It's easy to be here when it's sunny and bright," the Laurel Park Improvement Association's Phil Keefe called out to the crowd shortly after 4 p.m. "But Mrs. Morrill was always here: When it was tough, when we were ready to fight, when we were trying to keep this river clean for all of us to appreciate. And we really appreciate that!"

Friends from far and wide traveled to be there Saturday. Rebecca Holter, Ann and Ken Morrill's youngest daughter and one of seven children, came up from North Carolina: "I wouldn't miss it."

Ms. Holter remembers many long nights with her mom, who never missed a meeting when the river was on the line. She was a public school teacher for 31 years, and would often come home from a long day at work, make a quick dinner for the kids and start rallying support for the night ahead.

"She'd say, 'Who wants to go to the hearing?'"

"She would stay there till 10:30, they'd put her off, put her off. But she wouldn't leave until she gave her speech about protecting it for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

Ms. Morrill began her formal advocacy in the early 1970s after she and a friend, Carolyn Demko, started asking questions about the muck that had taken the place of once sandy river bottom in the upper Kickemuit. Out of the publicity created, state politicians took note and the former Bristol County Water Company was ordered to cease flushing effluent from its backwash filters at the Child Street treatment plant. into the Kickemuit.

Out of that effort grew the formation of the Kickemuit River Council, of which the Morrills are charter members and which has remained active since its founding in 1973.

The council has spoken out on a myriad of threats to face the river: On sewage issues, the impact of runoff from the Metacom commercial corridor, and fertilizer and waste threats. She spoke out against developmental pressure,  impacts from the Brayton Point power station, including increased water temperatures in Mt. Hope Bay, and the pollution that long forced the Kickemuit's closure to shellfishing (it is now open again).

Recently, she was an outspoken opponent of the proposed construction of an LNG facility at the former Brayton Point site, a battle that advocates for the Kickemuit and Mt. Hope Bay won. And she is a regular critic of the Bristol County Water Authority and its plan to dismantle the lower and upper Kickemuit River dams at Child Street and Schoolhouse Road.

Telling boards what she thought aggravated politicians and developers over the years, but Ms. Holter said her mother never backs down.

"At first people didn't know what to do with her. But she said, 'We need to speak for the river because the river can't speak for itself."

"When you love the environment, when you love something, you protect it."