A Eulogy for Ruth Shellhorn Kueser from Kelly Comras

STATEMENT FOR CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SERVICES
FOR RUTH SHELLHORN
BY KELLY COMRAS
NOVEMBER 19, 2006


I met Ruth Shellhorn when I was a graduate student of landscape architecture at Cal Poly Pomona in 1978, almost thirty years ago. Impossibly busy at the time, she agreed to be the subject of a report I was preparing for one of my classes.

Even then, she was already well-known for her design of Disneyland’s Main Street Entrance, Town Square and Plaza Hub, as well as her award-winning plans for Bullock’s Pasadena, Bullock’s Wilshire and Bullock’s Fashion Square Santa Ana. Honored as a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1971, she had dozens of awards and honors hanging on her studio wall.

We met again at the end of summer 2004 and I eventually helped her locate an archive for her professional papers. For the last two years I was helping her organize her papers and she allowed me to interview her for several hours every few weeks.

At first, we spoke mostly about her work. But as the months went by, we shared sandwiches at her kitchen table and got to know each other.

She was a terrific landscape architect. She trod lightly on this earth, but her impact was huge. With a few sheets of paper and a sharpened pencil, she was able to produce an enormous amount of beauty and pleasure. And she was a self-admitted pack-rat, which turned out to be her best and final gift to those of us left behind.

So much has been written about Ruth’s professional accomplishments in the last couple of weeks but I want to tell you today about what kind of person she was. She was warm, dedicated, persnikity, loyal, modest, fair-minded. She was a wonderful woman and a good friend. I miss her.

She and her husband Harry had a special marriage. They spent almost every day together working and enjoying each other’s company. Her only regret in life was that she did not have children. She would not have been nearly as prolific a landscape architect if she had had children, but that is a sacrifice she would have gladly made. I like to think that my presence in her life filled that void just a little bit.

There is a saying that the highest tribute one can make to a person is to tell their story when they are gone. I am making that tribute to you, Ruth. Goodbye.