From Costantino Marmo

Shona on my mind

Today (July 20, 2013) a really weird and moving thing happend to me.

I was thinking of Shona, as often happens, and suddenly the name of a friend of her, Ashley, came to my mind, a friend to whom Shona introduced me many years ago, here in Bologna. At that time she was finding her way in the world of music as singer. Shona, later on, gave me also some tapes of her second album - that I can’t find anymore, by the way -    and I could appreciate her wonderful voice and beautiful songs.
“What did happen to her?” I was wondering and so decided to google “Ashley + Shona Kelly”: one of the result was simply astonishing. The link led me to a page of a small music store on line (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/amaher), where The Blessed Rain, a CD released in 1998 by Ashley Maher (that was finally her family name!), was reviewed by Shona: her voice (in my mind) told me that she loved this CD “The beauty and complexity of Ashley's music is astounding. I never tire of the rich poety of her lyrics sung with her honeyed voice and intricate rhythms. The deep emotions, intelligence, and diversity of her music on this cd are so satisfying. It's why we want music in our lives.” I could not believe it, was almost in tears. I finally downloaded all the CDs by Ahsley and got in touch with her on FB.

Listening to her songs I could still share something precious with Shona.

From Ruth Senturia

As a little kid, Shona loved all things British. Or so it seemed back then. Her favourite music: The Beatles.

Shona and Ruth: Woolsey St.We shared some very good years. Our three families lived just a couple houses apart—the Kellys, the Alexanders, and the Senturias. We three older girls—Shona, Leslye, and I—played and played. Our younger sisters Maggi, Megan, and Martha—played and played. Our parents parented us all and became friends in their own right. The day the Kellys moved away was a loss.

Back in those early years, Shona and I used to go to Sheila Keppel for pottery classes. At one point Shona decided an Egyptian Pharaoh was going to be her project with clay. Which was beyond me—young kids didn’t ordinarily take to ancient civilizations. Later in high school we shared four exceptional years of Latin classes with Mr Mulholland and Mrs Small. Shona’s love of modern dance was perhaps her antidote to all things old.

Shona knew what she liked. And there was always something that she was enthusiastic about. When we’d get together, sure enough, she’d be brimming with excitement about her latest new found passion. Shona never worried what anyone else thought. She had no need to impress. Or question herself. She was comfortable in her skin, and knew what made her happy. Early on she knew she wanted to be a professor. Academics were her love, but she was refreshingly unacademic in her enthusiasm for life beyond academia.

We kept in touch after high school, though only minimally since I wasn’t in the US much after that.. I visited her at UC Davis, and later passed through Denver enroute to India. I’d drop a line every so often, and she made sure I received a copy of her  annual letter.  These past couple years I tried to get to Red Hook and she tried to meet me in western NY—to no avail.

I first met Randy when Shona brought him to my Dad’s in Berkeley/Oakland. Randy was in my good books for figuring out that Shona was a good catch. I knew he was an economics professor in those years, but only of late have I come across his articles with Bill Black, and then come to appreciate that he’d studied under Hyman Minsky. (I was rather excited to stumble upon “Randall Wray’s” articles on the internet this past year, and was planning to write Shona about this.)

The quality in Shona that stood out for me over the years—even when she was a kid: she never could speak ill of anyone. When she didn’t like something, at most one might detect some frustration. But she could only get so far in expressing herself and then she’d stop, because she was simply unable to cross that line of actually criticizing a person or saying something bad of them. To this day I find this to be truly exceptional.

Over the years I’d hoped that my husband could meet her, and that I could meet her kids. And I became more determined that we should get together latest by next year when we’d turn 50.

Maggi, thank you for making this blog possible. My heart goes out to you, and Jim & Celia, and Randy and the kids.  In particular, I hope the kids will have had enough years with Shona to have inherited all that she wanted for them to be able to stand on their feet. And yes, Randy, you have big shoes to fill. To your credit.

Ruth Senturia

From Ginger Alexander

Shona over many years

I met Shona when she was two years old.  She was a delightful child who was very tolerant of her little sister's "melt downs".  She had a very far reaching and high little voice and I thought at that time that we had a future opera diva in our little girls.  But I was wrong, instead we had a future medieval scholar, that we would all still love but not understand the Latin that was the language of her subject field.

My heart goes out to her family and our neighborhood families that loved Shona and the other little girls that were so much the very heart of  our lives at the time.  I have the fondest memories of Shona as a toddler, a teenager, a young adult and especially a mother herself - I loved her in all of these stages of her short  life.  I want to say how very heartbroken I am for  Randy, Shane, Elina, Celia, Jim and and especially for Mags and Brian.  She is/was a light in our lives.

You are all in my hearts and always will be. And Tommy too. Ginger

From Jane Emley

Rememberances of Shona

Shona had an easy grace that made you feel right at home. With her winsome charm, she would light up a room as soon as she entered. Her nose, gently up-turned, was impish and beguiling. Her radiant smile was an invitation to laughter. Her warm hazel eyes were vibrant and penetrating, revealing of the keen and acute intellect that propelled her insatiable curiosity. The roundness of her rosy cheeks seemed to embody the way she so fully embraced life. She was an exuberant woman with an infectious laugh. Shona was a kind and generous soul. She was an authentic and free spirit. I will miss her so much.

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From Wendy Harcourt

Shona was a wonderful friend, we shared many family holidays, many moments in our lives, I miss her greatly. It is hard to put in words, I wanted to share something of what I felt in this poem. It reflects on our last day together in Rome when she was visiting with family and we went off to explore the Maxi museum and walk the streets of Rome together before coming back to join family, promising we would do many more days like that - I had one booked this month in florence with her, and more in the states. I cannot understand she is gone, she gave such a lot of joy and love.

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