Charity Cannon Willard

Mrs. Willard had been a mentor and friend since my college days at Ladycliff where I was fortunate to have had her as a teacher. I spent a memorable summer with her in France where she and her husband introduced me to so much culture and history, and treated me as family. I will miss her very much, she was an amazing woman.

Charity and Sumner represented the "Greats" of the Harvard Romance Philology generation. They both took an interest in my career from the beginning, and meeting them at various MLA, ICLS or K'zoo venues was always a treat. I remember especially Charity's warm hospitality at a medieval conference she helped organize at Ladycliffe in the 80s. Sumner and she were at my banquet table in Amherst at the ICLS Congress, 1992. Losing Charity now leaves me sad, sad, sad. -R. Cormier, Longwood University.

Charity Cannon Willard was a lovely lady and a solid scholar, and I know I am just one of very many who benefited from her scholarship in the area of late medieval literature.

Charity Cannon Willard had already been the doyenne of Christine de Pizan studies for a good many years when I entered the profession. I was grateful to her for her kindness to yet another graduate student interested in Christine. Mrs. Willard's books were among the first volumes on the shelves of my working library and they are well worn by now. I will miss her at scholarly meetings!

Charity Cannon Willard was an inspiration to us all. Her memory will live on in her many published books on Christine de Pizan.

Christine McWebb
University of Waterloo

A grand lady and scholar--I will miss her warmth and vitality.

All of us in Christine de Pizan studies--indeed, 15th-century Romance Languages and Literature--are grateful to Charity Willard for her many accomplishments as a scholar and teacher. She and Sumner have already been missed as a model academic couple at so many learned congresses through the years.

Charity was a friend, inspiration, resource, and role model. She knew more about Christine de Pizan's life and works than anyone else. She'll be sorely missed throughout the professionand the world, and by her colleagues and friends.

I am very saddened to hear of Charity C. Willard's death. When I decided to begin my dissertation with a chapter on Christine de Pizan's portrayal of women's education, I first read Charity's biography and used her other works for reference. I was privileged to meet her on two occasions, once at a conference at the UW-Madison (1994?) and once at the Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo where we had a relaxed conversation while travelling between sessions. She was a person who never stopped...