Shona Elizabeth Marshall Kelly Wray was my niece, the elder daughter of my brother Jim, who went off to continue his studies at Brown, Rhode Island in 1955(?).  It was only for two years but  the next time we saw him was in June 1963.  He and Celia, pregnant with Shona, visited us in Hamilton.  I actually met Shona 3 years later.  I still remember her being rather suspicious of me when we were introduced but in no time at all we were good friends and remained so, despite not being together very often over the years.  Scotland and California are far apart, but it was always so easy to slip back with her and Maggi whenever we met up.
 
I have so many memories of Shona, none of them earth-shattering.  I have been looking back at photographs and other souvenirs , since Jim's devastating news.  Shona was a great correspondent: post cards (she knew, like my mother, her gran, how much I enjoyed receiving them), letters, emails and phone calls, always full of information about the family, whom she adored.  Shona was a wonderful cook, one of the few people I know who could create a terrific meal out of what many would think impossible.  (I like to think she inherited the genes from our mother, although Celia is a great cook, so who knows!)
 
I didn't know Shona the scholar and teacher very well, but now I do know how much admired and loved she was in that sphere too.
 
Shona's smile and laughter have been commented on by so many.  The smile lit the room.  The laugh could be rather naughty but after all she was from the Kelly family.  My grandmother (our father's mother) was apparently renowned for this sort of thing!
 
Unfortunately Shona did not really know her grandmother. I know it was a loss for our mother, who refused to travel to California, but she always loved to hear about the girls and all their activities.  Dad was rather reticent, maybe seeming disinterested, but this was not so. He too was very proud of his family.
 
My thoughts are, of course, with all of Shona's beloved familly, Randy, Shane and Alina.
 
Shona achieved so much in such a short time, loved and admired by so many in so many spheres.