Linda Degh-Vazsonyi

Dr. Degh, always an inspiration to those who shared her fascination for the folk tale and legend: her own narrative is a story with no ending. I am ever grateful for her wise guidance. Patricia Haseltine

Linda Degh was my teacher, dissertation director, mentor, and in some ways substitute parent at a time when my relationship with my own family was strained. She taught me so much, not only about folklore, but about how to be (and how not to be) a woman in the academy. She was always generous with her time and resources, providing work for graduate students, feeding me Hungarian specialties she had cooked, passing along books I might be interested in, and supporting my work. She loved to work in her garden and spoiled all of her pets, to whom she was utterly devoted. It is hard to imagine another scholar who has revolutionized American folklore studies to the extent that she has. She goes forth shining, and we will always remember her.

We first met in the Summer of 1968 when I attended the Folklore Institute as a postdoctoral student. I sat in on her course on Southeast European Folklore, and when she found out that I spoke German she gave me repeated assignments to read and report on to the others in the course. In particular she asked me to summarize Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann's wonderful piece on “Interethnics,” dealing with the German settlements in Hungary. How very fitting. I have followed her career through all these years, and repeatedly received encouragement from her for my own work. So, Dear Linda: AVE ATQUE VALE!

Dear Linda, your light is and will be still alive in the mind and the spirit of many generations.Thank you for your inspiring life that opened new ways in Folklore research.
I do believe that you are still looking us above from some other dimension, and such belief makes us feel a little less lonely after your sad departure
Maria Palleiro and research teem, Buenos Aires University, Argentina

I have known Linda as my neighbour at 1212 southdowns when I was a fulbrighter in 2006/2007. She was a friendly lady. We have made superb friends. Linda has proofed distinguished scholarly . Linda and her best friends; Anika and Oliver are images that will survive in my memory for the rest of my life. Linda , you are a great loss for your nextdoor neighbor Ali Saeed alGhamdi, from Arabia

Amazing and inspiring woman! Even though I never had the honour of meeting her, her influence was all over my work as a graduate student. Her contribution to academia and to folklore scholarship will not be forgotten. My deepest respects and sympathy for her passing...What a huge loss for contemporary legend, Folklore, and all of those whose lives were influenced by her. My sympathies to family and friends....

Linda Degh's scholarship was more innovative and ground-breaking in folklore studies than many of us realized some years ago. Odd memory: As a first-year grad. student at the Folklore Institute the spring of 1966 I happened to see her coming out of the Presbyterian Church in Bloomington after Good Friday evening services, reminding me that my profs had lives outside the classroom and office. She was one of a kind and her influence on folk narrative scholarship was truly significant.

Linda was our teacher and indeed one of the greats of Indiana University and the world of folklore. She visited us in Baton Rouge to observe Mardi Gras in the 1990s and that was a marvelous occasion. Frank de Caro & Rosan Augusta Jordan