Obits For Notable Women

From Philly dot com:

Maria Rosa Menocal, 59, formerly of Philadelphia, a Yale University professor and scholar who studied the interactions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in medieval Spain, died Monday, Oct. 15, at the home of a friend in Killingworth, Conn., after a three-year battle with melanoma.

Dr. Menocal was born in Havana. When she was 7, a year after the Cuban revolution, she came to Philadelphia to join relatives.

Her family eventually settled in Wayne, and she graduated from Radnor High School. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1973; a master's degree in French from Penn in 1975; and a doctorate from Penn in 1979 in philology, the study of language as used in literature.

Early in her career, Dr. Menocal lived in Cairo and studied Arabic. She also lived in Spain and France, her husband, R. Crosby Kemper III, said.

A fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, she was a visiting lecturer or professor at Bryn Mawr College, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, and the American University in Cairo, among others.

From the Irish Times:

At a time when it was very unusual for people in their 50s to enter university for the first time, Sheelagh Harbison undertook an undergraduate degree in general studies at Trinity College Dublin, which included history.

Her talent was spotted by the great professor of medieval history Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven, who arranged for her to have special tuition in Latin so she could enter the honour school, and study for a moderatorship BA degree in history and political science.

She took her degree in 1972 and went on to complete an M Litt on William of Windsor, an English justiciar of Ireland in the later Middle Ages, subsequently published in a festschrift for Prof Otway-Ruthven.

She continued to work in TCD as a tutor until the 1990s, working also under Prof Jim Lydon. When he retired, she contributed also to his festschrift an essay on Colony and Frontier in medieval Ireland.

Another important work was her study of Rinndoon Castle on Lough Ree for the Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society.

Alina Fernandez at Wilkes University

From Wilkes University:

Alina Fernandez, the daughter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, will share her first-person, intimate account of growing up in Cuba at Wilkes University on March 22 as part of Women’s History Month. She will speak at 7 p.m. in 101 Stark Learning Center. The event is sponsored by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Diversity Education Consortium and the Office of Diversity Initiatives, and it will be free to the public.

Through her speech, Fernandez guides you through her life in Cuba and describes the surrounding political environment during the 1960s and 70s. Fernandez reveals exciting and suspenseful anecdotes, snapshots of Cuban society, her inside scoop on Cuban politics, and a detailed view of her father.

Celia Sanchez - Castro's Lover?

From BBC News:

Celia Sanchez was at the heart of the Cuban revolution for over two decades and after meeting Fidel Castro in 1957, she became his indispensable aide.

There has been speculation they were lovers. But neither Sanchez when she was alive, nor Castro, ever addressed the rumours. Outside Cuba, little has been written about the role Celia Sanchez played until her death in 1980.

The earliest picture of Sanchez and Castro together was taken when they first met, in 1957, but Sanchez had already played a crucial part in his life.

When Castro came to power in 1959, Sanchez remained his most valuable aide, and worked alongside him until her death.

She was in charge of numerous revolutionary projects. From overseeing the "re-education" of the families of anti-Castro insurgents, to founding parks and ensuring Cubans had ice-cream, Celia was the go-to woman.

Author: Juanita Castro

From Yahoo News:

Juanita Castro, the exiled sister of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro, is set to release a first-person memoir in which she talks at length about her brothers.

The more than 400-page book titled: "My Brothers Fidel and Raul. The Secret Story," is set for release Oct. 26. It is co-written by Spanish-language journalist Maria Antoineta Collins and will be published by Santillana USA.

Juanita Castro left the island in 1964. A longtime Miami resident, she has kept a low profile and for years could be found behind the counter of the small pharmacy she owned. She retired in 2007.

According to a Santillana news release, Castro dictated the story to Collins a decade ago but refused to publish until now.