9 minute read
In Memoriam
she enrolled in the School of Education and obtained a master’s in teaching. For 21 years, she taught English at San Leandro High School, a vocation she truly loved, and she volunteered in promoting literacy efforts for people at Folsom State Prison and the California Youth Authority. Her volunteerism also extended to Habitat for Humanity, the Alameda County Community Food Bank, and her local teachers’ union.
At Mills, Lynda was a constant presence. When she won the AAMC’s Outstanding Volunteer Award at Reunion 2013, her ensuing Quarterly profile noted that “few AAMC events happen without her involvement.” She said then: “Long before Mills would teach me ‘Remember who you are and what you represent,’ my parents taught me that if you have something to give, then you must give.” In addition to the many events she helped with, Lynda served as vice president on the Board of Governors for several years, starting in 2006. In celebrating her life, Lynda’s family noted how much she loved Mills, and her funeral repast was held at RAH. Lynda died on May 12 in Oakland. She is survived by three siblings, two nephews, many cousins, and a wide array of admirers, beloved students, and friends.
Crisley Haydis Bauer ’84, TCRED ’85, April 3, in Berkeley. The tuberculosis epidemic defined her life: It took her parents when she was 3 and left lasting damage on her lungs. It also prompted her work in wellness, which peaked when she testified about tuberculosis before Congress in the 1990s. Crisley was a resumer at Mills, even appearing in a San Francisco Examiner piece about the journey, graduating with a degree in American civilization 41 years after she finished high school. She is survived by two children, including daughter Lynda Bauer ’77, and many nieces and nephews. Dana Robinette ’01, January 14, in Pensacola, Florida. She later graduated from Pensacola State College, and she earned a master’s degree in accounting from the University of West Florida. Dana worked the business side of retail for many years. She is survived by her father, stepmother, two siblings, and her fiancé, Ron Perry. Cybil Nelson ’09, June 24, 2022, in Klamath Falls, Oregon. She graduated from Humboldt State with a degree in biology, hoping to one day preserve native plant and animal habitats with the US Forest Service. Cybil volunteered with organizations such as Engineers Without Borders and documented her work as a conservation biologist on YouTube. She was also a talented dancer and loved all manner of outdoor sports and activities. She is survived by her parents, a sister, two nephews, and many cousins, aunts, and uncles. William “Will” Gluck, MFA ’15, MA ’16, June 22, 2022, in Lincoln, Massachusetts. At Mills, he won the Margaret Lyons Music Prize for Excellence in Composition. As an Oakland-based musician, Will worked with guitar, piano, pipe organ, and electronic media, and his composition “For Emily Dickinson” was performed at the Center for New Music in San Francisco six weeks before his death. He battled glioblastoma for 10 years, and he donated his brain to the Harvard Brain Bank to help the search for a cure. He is survived by his parents, two sisters, a niece, and many friends.
Faculty & Staff
Peter Dodge, former consulting architect, October 22, 2021, in Santa Rosa, California.
Spouses and Family
James Abts, spouse of Jane Simonton Abts ’51, October 16, 2019, in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Anthony Diez, spouse of Julia Prentiss Diez ’63, April 5, in Oakland. Warren Kunstman, spouse of the late Carol Fleming Kunstman ’48, November 11, 2019, in Florissant, Missouri. Victoria Read, parent of Elizabeth Read McKee ’78 and Susan Read ’80, May 29, 2017, in San Jose. Edmond Emile Reed, spouse of Kimberlee Currans Reed ’95, May 22, in Opelousas, Louisiana. Yvonne Sporer, parent of Michaela Sporer Thompson ’15 and the late Denise Sporer Keefe ’74, January 2, 2021, in Oakland. Robert Sliter, spouse of Stuart Johnson Sliter ’61, May 18, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. Bill Thomas, spouse of Marge Miskelly Thomas ’67 and parent of Katherine Thomas ’88 and Megan Thomas ’93, May 25, in Sonoma. Bernard Widofsky, spouse of the late Joyce Goodwin Widofsky ’59, March 27, 2022, in New Orleans.
Friends
Alpha Mae Beamer, former Associate Council member, October 13, 2020, in Piedmont, California. Elaine Halnan, May 4, in Berkeley. Frances Zavis, March 19, 2021, in Menlo Park, California.
A remembrance of Professor Emerita of English Diana O’Hehir.
BY JANE DOWNS, MA ’96
There is a saying that one retires from a profession, but never from an art. Diana O’Hehir, who died in 2021 at age 99, embodied the phrase.
In 1992, after 32 years, she retired from Mills, where she founded the Creative Writing Department and taught literature. In 2012, the year she turned 90, she published Walk Me To Schenectady, her seventh book of poetry. Diana wrote five novels and published her work in numerous literary journals, including FIELD, The Paris Review, Poetry, and Shenandoah. She was the recipient of awards such as a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Devins Award for Poetry, the Helen Bullis Award, and the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay di Castagnola Award. Her novel I Wish This War Were Over was short-listed for a Pulitzer Prize, and her book Spells for Not Dying Again received a Northern California Book Award for poetry in 1997.
I first encountered her in 1992 in an English class where she’d been invited by our instructor to read several poems. Diana had the look of the quintessential English professor—tall, thin, white-haired, dignified. I was struck by the beauty and power of her poetry and the delight she took in reading her work. Beneath her intelligence, there was a puckish quality, a sparkle.
The next semester, I met Diana as her student in a James Joyce seminar where I learned what an exceptional teacher she was. She led 12 of us through Joyce’s work, including the formidable Ulysses, and she was the ultimate professional while making her students feel that she truly cared about what they wrote and what they said. We loved her. When she handed back my final paper, she said, “I am sure we will meet again.” Although I assumed this was a common expression of hers, I took it to heart, expecting that our paths would cross.
And they did: I began writing poetry. We had writer friends in common. I studied poetry with Diana in independent workshops where her encouragement drew out more from her students than anyone else. She taught me to really listen to the poems that each student read aloud. The way she responded to the work of others taught me to see new things in my own writing. When I left each session, I was excited, ready to write another poem to bring the following week.
But the way I grew to know Diana best was through reading her poetry, where she transformed her life, tragedy, and loss into art. In the title poem “Home Free,” she turned her father’s death into an act of freedom when she describes a bird being released from its cage.
Exactly 20 years ago, former Mills professor Josephine Carson wrote an appreciation of Diana O’Hehir’s work in the fall 2002 Quarterly. Read that piece online at quarterly .mills.edu. Spring the door with your plastic diner’s card, wait for the scrabble, the Head poked out the door, air by your face, And up it goes.
In “Climbing,” the first poem in Spells for Not Dying Again, The Soul climbs a ladder to The Sky Goddess as a man on an airplane “remembers his first car.” The ineffable coexists alongside the knowable concrete world.
Walk Me To Schenectady is about the loss of her husband, Mel Fiske. Diana and Mel were married twice, with 30 years of separation between their two unions. The cover photograph shows a young couple on their wedding day. They are framed in bright yellow—not the color of mourning, but of life. In the poem “Darling,” she writes incorrectly that she
wasn’t the right kind of teacher: I was the wrong kind of teacher. I told my students everything. He’s my ex-husband; he’s been here for three days; I really like him.
They lined up at the classroom window, solemn and intense, agreeing He’s darling.
Of course you’ve got to marry him.
Diana was the real thing. An artist whose teaching and poetry touched and inspired us to keep searching for just the right words. She is dearly missed.
Jane Downs, MA ’96, earned her bachelor’s degree at Syracuse University before coming to Mills to study the liberal arts. She is the author of poetry and fiction that has appeared in publications such as Borderlands, Field, and the Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Her novella The Sleeping Wall was a finalist in the 2010 Chiasmus Press book contest. With book artist Marie Dern, she cofounded the independent press Red Berry Editions, which closed in 2017. She lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Show your pride for Mills College and the AAMC by purchasing a keepsake from our online shop. View apparel, ornaments, stickers, Pearl M pendants, and a newly restocked assortment of gold and silver eucalyptus pins at aamcmerch.square.site.
AAMC Travel Programs
Legends of the Nile
Discover Egypt’s intoxicating allure! Accompanied by an expert Egyptologist, you’ll be awed by millennia-old grandeur, from Giza’s pyramids and the enigmatic Sphinx to Abu Simbel’s colossal statues and Tutankhamen’s treasures in the antiquities-filled Grand Egyptian Museum. Explore royal tombs in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens and magnificent temples in Luxor and Karnak. Cruise along the mighty Nile past fertile valleys and the desert beyond. It’s an unforgettable adventure brimming with extraordinary moments!
Costa Rica and Passage Through the Panama Canal
Journey from the Costa Rican rainforest through the mighty locks of the Panama Canal. The journey begins with one night in a deluxe hotel in San José, Costa Rica, exploring the terrestrial wonders of that country’s national parks, wildlife refuges, botanic gardens, and pristine waters that diverse marine life call home. Then, cruise for seven nights aboard the exclusively chartered, five-star Le Bellot. Experience a daylight passage through the awe-inspiring Panama Canal and visit off-thebeaten-path Cébaco Island, tour Panama City, and enjoy lectures by exclusive onboard study leaders.
