From Randy Wray

SHONA and Me

We met in Rome in August 1986 at a gathering of all Fulbrighters to Italy; as we were the only two located in Bologna it was inevitable that we’d become acquaintances. She was the Italy enthusiast, and having already lived in the country a year she was well-connected and fluent. Other than a stint teaching elementary and high school in Mexico City, I’d never been anywhere. I had just struggled through a last-ditch effort at a year of Italian at Washington University (with Hyman Minsky sitting in the class—at least he made me look good by comparison!) after I found out that Jan Kregel had moved to Bo from the Netherlands. I’d been forced to watch Fellini films in college and knew second or third generation Italians in California and had no interest in spending a year there. So I was disappointed, and wanted to bail-out of the Fulbright—but Minsky told me I MUST GO! Minsky insisted that Italy is paradise and I reluctantly packed—prepared for the worst.

I was wrong, of course.

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From Jutta Sperling

I'm incredibly sad to loose such a good friend. Shona has been a warm presence in my life from the day we met -- I still remember how she walked up to me at the American Academy of Rome one day to introduce herself to me, showing me pictures of her children. We stayed in touch over conferences, house visits, and, last not least, through a collection of essays we edited together. Our work relationship was always also a very personal one; she helped me a lot when I was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, taking over most of the copy-editing on our book, and offering time to talk. I now wonder whether I ever supported her enough when she went through hard times ... I wish I could have had the chance to tell her how much our friendship meant to me.

Jutta