She literally filled the world with beautiful memories

- In memory of Sylvia Shortt -

By: Jacobien Bückmann, The Netherlands, GRSP 90/91

The first time I met Sylvia was at the international introduction meeting at West Georgia. I was way too late, because in The Netherlands we don’t use ‘AM’ and ‘PM’, so I accidentally had set my alarm clock at 8:00 PM. I rushed into the meeting and there was Sylvia, making me say ‘Hunker Down Dawgs’ until I got the perfect Southern accent. After this ‘punishment’, she became my Southern accent coach, and she was so proud when we sang ‘It’s a West Georgia Tradition’ (to the tune of ‘Family Tradition’ by Hank Williams Jr.) at the International Night of West Georgia. She just couldn’t stop laughing.

Sylvia had all of the world’s cultures in her soul. She understood, respected and embraced the traditions and ways of life of everybody. In 1990–1991, the year that I (sort of) studied at West Georgia, there were over 50 international students. Almost everybody lived at Tyus Hall, where the party was, and she enjoyed stopping by, always interested and caring and of course having a beer ☺.

Facebook reconnected us, and over the past years we contacted each other every now and then. When she became Chair of GRSP Alumni, we made plans to meet again and see how we could get more students to Georgia. I really regret that we never saw each other in real life anymore.

Sylvia left an enormous heritage. There are so many people around the world that have wonderful memories of studying in Georgia, and that is mainly because she made us feel at home, loved and respected.

Sylvia really made the world a little bit better and filled it with beautiful memories. Thank you for everything, Sylvia, I will never forget you.