From Gretchen Titus-Schmidt

Shona the Scout Mom

Shona and I became friends through our local Boy Scout Troop #381. Shane and my two boys were involved in a TON of campouts and all the things "Boy Scouts" do. Shona and I had some camping experiences with the Troop. Some were down right COLD but... we always seemed to find humor in it all. She always had a smile and a kind word. I will miss her.  

You all are in our thoughts and prayers.

Gretchen, Steven and Matt Schmidt
Prairie Village, KS

From Wojciech Iwańczak

In Memoriam Shona Kelly Wray

I knew Shona Kelly Wray only from the MAMA Conferences. I had an opportunity discuss with her and talk to her. I had an impression she was not only good historian but a charming person, open minded, cordial and sympathetic.

It's very unjust that such a people are passing away so early but we know that justice doesn't exist in our world...

From Dr Adelina Modesti

I was very saddened to hear about Shona's passing. We first met at the RSA conference in Venice in 2010, when Shona introduced herself as a fellow researcher of Bolognese social history. I remember her enthusiasm and genuine interest in my work (seventeenth century Bolognese women artists), and willingness to discuss her own research . She was working on Bolognese professors and their families, and was interested in education in the city in the early modern period, especially of women, on which I had done some work. My last memory of Shona was earlier this year, when she invited me to I Tatti to chat about our latest findings on the material culture of Bolognese households. We passed a lovely afternoon over lunch and a glass of wine, and I felt once again her infectious enthusiasm and good cheer. Little did I know that this would be our last encounter. My thoughts and prayers go out to Shona's family.

From Sara Marsico

Dear Maggi,

I just learned of Shona's passing. I remember that your parents were so proud of her, her experiences and her life. My thoughts are with your father, Jim (my mentor at Berkeley), Celia and you.

My deepest sympathies, Sara

From Dr Philip Morgan

I first met Shona at CU Boulder when I held a visiting Fulbright post there and, to make up some of her requirements, she did a course with me on the medieval English gentry. She was a very scary student. She certainly scared me from the start since it was patently obvious that I couldn't teach her a thing. What made it worse was that she never let on how little she gained from me. She designed her own mini-project on gentry wills, produced a flawless paper (which I still have and use) and employed the time to teach herself more of the trade. She exemplified the difference between those who work as historians and those who have the minds of historians, interested in everything, always looking for connections, and desperate to visit the places about which they write because it is vital. A decade later I was in Missouri and she generously drove from Kansas City to Fulton and back in the day to give a student class on the Black Death. I did the same for her to Kansas City. She couldn't offer much of a dinner in the evening, she explained, since she had the children that night, and they were keen to go to the then newly fashionable Rainforest Cafe. So, we chatted happily about the middle ages for two or three hours, the children glowing with excitement and me with a smile on my face only slightly less broad. You never turned down the chance to be in her company. I saw her last at Leeds - on a staircase when she turned and waved since she was off to visit one of the sites of medieval Yorkshire. It was one I had been to lots and I didn't go, but I had never been in Shona's company, and I wish I had.