by Kim Stover
No one person to whom I am not related has had a bigger effect on my life than Shirley Lyster. First, she had established such an outstanding English Department that in 1983 when my University of Tennessee Master’s advisor, Dr. Thomas Ryan, and I were discussing where I should apply to teach English, he said, “Well, THE place to teach English is Columbus, Indiana.” I applied, got the job, and spent my entire 32-year career at CNHS. The cohesive and extensive writing program and the depth and breadth of the literature program continued to enlighten me as I taught my students throughout my career. The department’s structure which provided many mentors, the sequential curricula, the integration of grammar as a means of style, Shirley’s encouragement for us to write and teach new electives, the opportunity to present at state and national conventions, the sheer pleasure of teaching with the highly intellectual and knowledgeable colleagues whom Shirley had hired, and her motivating encouragement and positive modeling created a work environment I could never leave. Shirley’s effect on my professional life was complete; I would not have been the teacher I became without her influence.
Shirley encouraged me to apply to the renowned Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, where I finished a second Master’s Degree – this one in English – over five summers, two of which I spent at Lincoln College in Oxford, England. It remains the pinnacle of my personal educational achievements. It also had a profound effect on my teaching of composition and American literature.
When I graduated from Middlebury, my parents could not come for the ceremony, so I invited Shirley. She flew up for graduation, and then we drove back together, stopping first at Ogunquit, Maine for one day and then at Niagara Falls for a second day. It was the beginning of dozens of trips she and I took over the decades of our friendship. We enjoyed flying into somewhere, renting a car, and traveling 1,500 or 2,000 miles in a large circle over the course of two or three weeks, ending up back at the airport. We saw much of Canada and the coasts of the U.S., as well as many national parks in both countries. We also took cruises to Alaska, Europe, and the Caribbean islands. I saw many parts of this beautiful world with my traveling companion, Shirley Lyster.
Shirley was my dear friend for over four decades, a friendship whose effect cannot be overstated. We talked almost every day – education, literature, current events, politics, religion – whatever. I always wanted to know what she thought about something because of her life experiences, her reading, and her intellect, and I learned something from every conversation. She shaped my views in many ways.
But it is her laughter that I probably miss the most – the joie de vivre for life itself. She held an exuberant appreciation for the seemingly mundane: a sliver of moon in the sky, hot black coffee, the leaves’ colors in the Fall, the grins of children who seemed to be drawn to her smile, oven-roasted beef and potatoes, the quiet passing of the Ohio River, or the crash of an ocean wave. She loved her students as her own children; she loved her colleagues and friends as family. She loved life.
Shirley’s effect on my life is immeasurable, and it continues since her memory walks with me every day.