Dear Bruni,
We are celebrating your 90th birthday! Many, many congratulations! I am so glad that you are still healthy and publishing excellent reviews and articles. Many kudos to you!
You have been such a wonderful inspiration for your students, in my case for more than 50 years, imagine! I have many memories and fun times to remind you of on this august occasion:
- 1967. Summer school at the American School of Classical Studies, the first of our many trips together. Two memories stand out from those trips: watching you climb over the 10-foot-tall fence to get into the stadium at Delphi, wearing your somewhat short blue dress. I was amazed that you could do it, but horrified that I had to follow suit. And eating fabulous desserts after every meal, especially in Kalamata.
- 1970. Arguing over which way one of the fragments of the Corinth theater reliefs went, up or down. We were so noisy that Carl Nylander rushed down the hall to see if we were okay.
- 1971. On the AIA tour of Sicily, watching you lie down in one of the graves at Agrigento, meeting your family in Messina, more ice cream. In Syracuse, having a secondo primo, as it was so good (I didn’t gain weight in those days).
- 1974. On the AIA tour of North Africa, in Maktar, where they had to kill all the chickens in the village in order to feed us. At Volubilis, watching you sit down for a minute, as the heat had risen to 120 degrees F.
- 1978-1985, your years as Editor-in-Chief of the AJA, watching you produce one terrific issue after another, while teaching a full load, continuing to publish, and caring for your husband and four wonderful boys. Tireless! I remember that you used to read papers while stirring spaghetti sauce for dinner, with the result that many papers had little red spots when returned.
- 1988, when you received the Gold Medal from the AIA, writing the citation, so full of admiration and pride at the many things you had achieved. And you have continued to achieve in the same vein, putting out yet another book and yet another article, one after another.
I stand in complete awe and am very proud to be your long-term student and good friend.
— With much love, Mary
Brunilde Ridgway, Rhys Carpenter ůůֱ²¥ Emeritus of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, is celebrating her 90th birthday. In honor of this milestone, her former students, colleagues, and friends have been invited to share memories of their beloved mentor, teacher, and friend. View the list of messages.