(copied from the Oregonian, Sept. 17.)
Gail Margaret Kelly
KELLY, GAIL MARGARET Professor Gail Kelly's friends, students, and admirers will hold an evening of remembrance at 6 p.m in the Heathman Hotel on Oct. 7, 2005. Dr. Kelly was a fascinating woman -brilliant, intimidating, and beautiful. To her friends, she was reminiscent of Myrna Loy as the Judge in "Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer." To her students she was John Houseman in the "Paper Chase." An intensely private person, she handled her different roles efficiently -frightening the wits out of her upper division students in the morning at Reed and advising Saks Fifth Avenue on their Portland store in the afternoon. She was born in Deer Park, Wash., and attended Reed College and the University of Chicago. After receiving her doctorate from Chicago and completing 18 months of field work in Ghana, she returned to Reed where she taught for the next 40 years. She advised over 60 thesis students and was responsible for close to 100 undergraduate theses written at Reed. She loved the theory of anthropology. As a disciple of Franz Boas, Max Weber, and Talcott Parsons, she disdained applied anthropology. Her classes were challenging and stringent. In this informal era, she insisted that students phone in a request to miss a class. Her opinion of physical anthropologists would need to be censored before it could be repeated. Most of us remember her sense of humor. One student wrote: "In discussing totemic animals, she said that since the Brown Beaver bus line passed by Reed, we would all be 'people of the beaver' and as such we would not eat any beaver." She expounded, "One would not expect Bo (a bright, female anthropology major in the class) to be walking around with a bit of beaver hanging out of her mouth." When she left her Houseman role behind at the end of the day, she was a vivacious and glamorous friend. Her frequent visits to Portland gatherings were marked by martinis and Noel Coward double entendres. She was not above organizing her friends' lives-selecting their homes, advising them on their dress, and recommending social engagements. She loved excellent food, clever repartee, fur coats, and good books. Disdaining cars, she was a master of the Portland bus system. Gail's friends and students extend an apology for Gail's far too brief obituary. The terribly short notice reported her birth and death, but omitted much of what lay between. For most of us, only the "in between" really counts.
Gail Margaret Kelly
KELLY, GAIL MARGARET Professor Gail Kelly's friends, students, and admirers will hold an evening of remembrance at 6 p.m in the Heathman Hotel on Oct. 7, 2005. Dr. Kelly was a fascinating woman -brilliant, intimidating, and beautiful. To her friends, she was reminiscent of Myrna Loy as the Judge in "Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer." To her students she was John Houseman in the "Paper Chase." An intensely private person, she handled her different roles efficiently -frightening the wits out of her upper division students in the morning at Reed and advising Saks Fifth Avenue on their Portland store in the afternoon. She was born in Deer Park, Wash., and attended Reed College and the University of Chicago. After receiving her doctorate from Chicago and completing 18 months of field work in Ghana, she returned to Reed where she taught for the next 40 years. She advised over 60 thesis students and was responsible for close to 100 undergraduate theses written at Reed. She loved the theory of anthropology. As a disciple of Franz Boas, Max Weber, and Talcott Parsons, she disdained applied anthropology. Her classes were challenging and stringent. In this informal era, she insisted that students phone in a request to miss a class. Her opinion of physical anthropologists would need to be censored before it could be repeated. Most of us remember her sense of humor. One student wrote: "In discussing totemic animals, she said that since the Brown Beaver bus line passed by Reed, we would all be 'people of the beaver' and as such we would not eat any beaver." She expounded, "One would not expect Bo (a bright, female anthropology major in the class) to be walking around with a bit of beaver hanging out of her mouth." When she left her Houseman role behind at the end of the day, she was a vivacious and glamorous friend. Her frequent visits to Portland gatherings were marked by martinis and Noel Coward double entendres. She was not above organizing her friends' lives-selecting their homes, advising them on their dress, and recommending social engagements. She loved excellent food, clever repartee, fur coats, and good books. Disdaining cars, she was a master of the Portland bus system. Gail's friends and students extend an apology for Gail's far too brief obituary. The terribly short notice reported her birth and death, but omitted much of what lay between. For most of us, only the "in between" really counts.
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